4Days Tour From Marrakech to Erg Chegaga

Marrakech – Tizi-n’Tichka Pass – Ait Ben Haddou –Ouarzazate – Agdz

This private vacation will be served early enough for you to be ready for 8.30am departure – or make arrangements with them for this.  We need to leave promptly at 8.30.am. Thank you. As we leave the plains around Marrakech the road soon begins to climb into the High Atlas Mountains via the stunning Tizi-n’Tichka Pass with dizzying hair-pin bends, small Berber villages and iconic landscapes. This is the highest vehicle pass in Morocco with dramatic rugged scenery – stop for photos! Once over the high Pass, leave the main road to drive down the starkly beautiful Ounila Valley and visit Kasbah Telouet.  Once the seat of the powerful Glaoui dynasty, this large complex is partly restored and a fascinating look at life in those times. Continue to Ait Ben Haddou, Morocco’s most famous Kasbah and the setting for many blockbuster films e.g. “Lawrence of Arabia”, “Gladiator” and “Jesus of Nazareth” and more recently “Game of Thrones”.  Walk to the top of the hill to sense the importance of this fortress as it once guarded the surrounding plain, hinting of its once strategic place on old camel caravan trading routes. Enjoy lunch along the road.  At Ouarzazate see Kasbah Taourirt and/or international film studios (visits optional and may depend if the film studios are open and not filming). The last part of the route today crosses the barren Tizi-n’Tinififft Pass to your overnight accommodation.

Agdz – Draa Valley – Tamegroute – Désert (Erg Chegaga)

 After breakfast, continue your journey south following the +100kms of the Draa Valley with its countless traditional towns, villages and vast palmeries. South of Zagora, stop at Tamegroute to visit the famous Koranic library which was once home to over 40,000 important parchments, manuscripts, and scientific and mathematical books from which a number of European texts originated through the Moors in Spain; visit the underground Kasbah and traditional pottery.  Lunch along the road. The final 2.5 hrs is off-road across the outer desert where shepherds may be seen with their herds of goats, sheep & camels. Later in the afternoon reach the majestic sands of Erg Chegaga and the Atta Desert Camp where you will stay in the luxury camp. Be welcomed with glasses of hot sweet Berber tea, then the activities are up to you – explore your “neighbourhood” or try sand-boarding perhaps? Climb the nearby high dunes before sunset to watch the sun sink below the distant horizon and take time-out to enjoy the panorama – bring your camera/phone! After dinner gather round the camp fire to enjoy Berber entertainment with drums and singing.  Before returning to your tent, gaze in awe at the Milky Way above.

Desert – Desert Explore – Visit nomad family/desert school

Rise early to climb the high dunes behind the camp and watch the sun rise.  Enjoy your breakfast, then when you are ready, drive by 4×4 across the outer desert to visit a nomad family and share hot sweet Berber tea with them, visit the nearby school. Depending on the weather, enjoy a picnic lunch in an oasis or have lunch on your return to camp, enjoy a 1hr camel ride and free sand-boarding. Perhaps walk to the very high dunes not far from camp (to heights of approx. 300mts, the highest in Morocco) and take in the stunning panorama. On return to camp, watch your last desert sunset on the nearby dunes before dinner and after this wonderful traditional Berber meal, join the staff round the campfire again for more memorable desert entertainment. Search the immense night sky for passing satellites and fleeting shooting stars as they streak across the silent desert darkness high above. FB

Note: Due to the time of year some of the camp activities may be done early in the morning, or later in the afternoon when the day cools. Camp time must be flexible, and we work to the weather.

Desert – Fossil Mountain – Foum Zguid – Tazenakht – Marrakech

Wake to the quietness of the desert dawn and climb the adjacent dunes to watch the desert sun rise. After breakfast depart camp about 8.30am. Drive by 4×4 across the flat dry salt pan of ancient Lac Iriki, previously part of the Paris-Dakar Rally route, to Foum Zguid on the edge of the outer desert, and re-join the sealed road. While in the remote region, visit a ridge of black rock embedded with marine fossils, proof this vast area was once under oceans.  In the Anti-Atlas foothills, visit the village of Tazenakht, famous for its carpets and visit a women’s carpet co-operative to see traditional carpet weaving. Lunch here or earlier at Foum Zguid. Continuing north through spectacular and remote mountain scenery, by-pass Ouarzazate and continue over the High Atlas Mountains to Marrakech where this tour will end at your accommodation later in the afternoon.