DAY 1

Drive from Marrakech to M’Hamid via Aït Benhaddou and Zagora

Your driver will collect you from your accommodation in Marrakech and drive you over the spectacular Tizi n’Tichka mountain pass, the highest motorable road in Morocco. Once across the pass, we head to the UNESCO World Heritage site of Aït Benhaddou. This traditional fortified settlement (or ksar), surrounded by high walls with impressive corner towers, is the best-preserved example of a ksar in Morocco.

Continuing our journey, we drive across the Anti-Atlas Mountains via Tizi n’Tiniffift and along the palm-lined Draa Valley to reach the desert town of Zagora. We stop for a tea break before then continuing to M’Hamid el Ghizlane where the road runs out and where we spend the night.

DAY 2

Drive from M’Hamid to Erg Chigaga and take a camel ride across the dunes

After breakfast, you will start your exploration of the old village of M’hamid el Ghizlane, the village often referred to as the “End of the Civilisation.” With no fewer than seven kasbahs, dispersed amongst the palmery, there is much to see here.

We return to the hotel to take our lunch either in the restaurant or by its refreshing pool.

At 4 pm, as the heat of the day recedes, we transfer to our desert camp, driving for two hours along remote deserted tracks.

Once at camp, we re-organise our bags and set out on our camel ride across the sands and witness a fantastic sunset over the “Moroccan Sahara”. Dinner is served under the open, star-filled sky and we can choose to spend the night either in our Berber tent or outside under the desert sky.

DAY 3

Drive from Erg Chigaga to Marrakech via Foum Zguid and Iriqui National Park

We wake early to admire the sunrise over the dunes and enjoy our breakfast before we head off further into the desert in our vehicle along the route of the Paris to Dakar Rally, crossing Lake Iriqui to reach Foum Zguid.

Iriqui National Park was established to protect the fragile biodiversity of 123,000 hectares of south-eastern Morocco, and specifically to preserve the unique temporary wetlands of Lake Iriqui, found here at the heart of the desert.

We continue our journey across the desert till we emerge at the Berber village of Tazenakht where we stop for lunch before completing our return to Marrakech.