The blue men

Morning departure from Ouarzazate to the Dades gorges and Todra gorges, passing the oasis of Skoura, where numerous ancient kasbahs, some sadly in ruins, stand amongst the palm trees. From here, our route takes us through Kela’a M’gouna, the valley of roses, where we stop to have a berber tea. From here we drive off-road along the road of a thousand kasbahs to the Dades gorges for lunch. If anyone would like to, it can gladly be arranged to share lunch with a berber family. After lunch, there is time for a walk alongside the Boumalne Dades river before continuing to the Todra gorges for the night.

After breakfast, we go off-road from Tinghir to N’Qob, passing the Tizi-n-Tazzazert mountain in the Saghro mountain range to the village of N’Qob for lunch. In the afternoon, the journey takes us to the Draa valley where we drive along the ancient caravan route so as to discover the valley of Draa, with its huge palm trees and ancient villages. At the end of the afternoon, the kasbah of Tamnougalte near the village of Agdez offers dinner and a night’s rest.

We depart in the morning from Agdez to M’hamid along the Draa valley to Zagora for lunch. In the afternoon, we stop at Tamegroute for a visit to the Koranic library, the underground kasbah and the potteries before driving south to M’hamid (the gate to the desert) to enjoy the sunset in the dunes of Erg Lihoudi. Here we have dinner and spend the night in nomad tents.

We trek by dromedary for three days and three nights to discover the most beautiful sahara desert of Morocco and its vast dunes with varying features of the desert; ‘erg’, ‘reg’, ‘hammada’, oases. We arrive in the afternoon of the sixth day at the famous Chagaga dunes, where you can climb Erg Chagaga to watch the sunset from the top (300m). We have dinner and spend the night in nomad tents among the dunes.

– Walking time is approximately 6 hours a day (3 hours in the morning, and the same again in the afternoon), although it is also possible to ride the camels. Other camels are there to carry the equipment. Meals and tents are prepared by our guides and camel drivers.

After breakfast, the road takes us through another 100 km of off-road driving in the sahara desert with varying scenery; lake Iriqui, the mountains and fossils. Lunch will be in Foum Zguid. From here the drive back to Ouarzazate is along paved roads via the village of Taznakht, famous for its Berber carpets and rugs, and we arrive to Ouarzazate in the course of the afternoon, dinner and night in a hotel.