Authentic Morocco Desert Tour 5 Days

Departure early morning from your riad/hotel in Marrakech and travel through the High Atlas Mountains via the Tichka Pass (2260 m) – the highest road pass in Morocco offering spectacular panoramic views of the mountains and valleys with a snaky road, beautiful landscapes with different colours and the Berber villages along the way. Visit several kasbahs along the way, including Tamnougalte and Ait Benhaddou. A 16th century UNESCO site, Ait Benhaddou is one of the best preserved and most spectacular kasbahs in Morocco. A famous site for Hollywood films, Ait Benhaddou was used for the blockbuster film of 2000, Gladiator. The trip continues through the palm-lined Draa river valley. Arrival to Zagora and overnight in a traditional kasbah.

After breakfast today you will pass a tableau of magnificent desert scenery little known to tourists. Discover authentic Morocco at the crossroads of the old caravans, which once brought sugar, cotton, and rice across Morocco. Also, our journey will take us on part of the Paris-Dakar Rally routes used in the Moroccan section of the prestigious race. We will cross the Draa Valley, the Oum Geran Plateau, travel through Berber villages seemingly lost in the middle of nowhere and cross the black desert ergs. We will have a picnic lunch under an Acacia tree . Later in the afternoon we will reach our hotel in Ouzina Desert.

The morning is devoted to visit the village of Ouzina inhabited by just 14 families living in amazing adobe houses, we will also visit the bakery where women gather to chat while baking the bread, the association of Ouzina, the school and we will end up having tea with a local family. Later on we will continue to Khamlia, a traditional Saharan village (with its people originally from Mali). Here you can enjoy traditional music, drumming and dancing before taking a casual walk around the village and its farmed plots in the sand. Upon reaching Merzouga, switch gears and transfer to your personal camel to begin your trek over the sands and to your Bedouin-style camp. Hike to the top of a nearby dune to watch the setting sun, before enjoying a warm meal by the fire.

Wake up early to catch a spectacular desert sunrise and enjoy an open air breakfast in the camp before you leave the Merzouga region and dunes behind. Make our way to the oasis town of Tinghir before reaching Todra Gorge, a series of deep-sided canyons with cliffs reaching a height of 300 m (985 ft), These are the most impressive cliffs in southern Morocco. Todra Gorge offers incredible natural landscapes with dramatic cliff-like terrain and streams flowing into the palmeraies. You will have time to explore this majestic gorge with a local guide, relax in the cool water of the Todra River and have lunch in this enjoyable place. Leave Tinghir behind and drive to Dades Valley. Upon arrival to Boumalne Dades, we will deviate into a secondary route heading up to Dades Dorges, a surprising landscape that is known for its stunning rock formation, kasbahs and attractive stone and pisé villages. On the banks of the river is a cultivated land that grows almond, fig and walnut trees and polars — its a glorious road that offers one of the most scenic drives in the world.

After breakfast, we will take a short walk in the gorges before we continue our 4 days morocco desert adventure. We will follow the Dades Valley through El Kelaa Magona known as Valley of the Roses and the road of a thousand Kasbahs. We visit of Ouarzazate and stop for lunch in Ait Benhadou village. We will have time to explore the famous protected UNESCO site which is the nest of many films like the Gladiator, lawrance of Arabia and much more. We will drive via Tichka pass to arrive to Marrakech.