Day 1: Marrakech
Welcome to Morocco. Your first night will be spent at our pre-expedition hotel in the centre of town. Dinner and overnight - Marrakech
Day 2: Marrakech - Telouat - Ait Ben Haddou - Ouarzazate 220 Km Total 32 km off – road:
After the morning breakfast, reception of your car keys at the hotel desk. Departure to Ouarzazate trues the Tichka pass, crossing the high Atlas at 2260 meters. All along the road you will discover the beautiful Berbers village. Few kilometers after the Tichka you will leave the main road for the Telouet track; the Telouet Kasbah is the highest Kasbahs in Morocco and used to be the house of the Glaoui manager of the south Morocco in the 1930 years. The track will then go down up to Ait Ben Haddou, this fortified village is a site classed by UNESCO. This village has been filmed on many movies such as Lawrence d 'Arabia, Nil Diamante, Cleopatra.
Few kilometers more and you will arrive at Ouarzazate, the Morocco city of movies.
Ouarzazate (sleepover)
Ouarzazate sits on a high plateau at 1160m and enjoys a fantastic climate.
Not to be missed, Ouarzazate is an ideal spot to begin an enchanting journey towards the southern oases as it is just at the meeting point between the Drâa and the Dadès rivers.
Day 3: Ouarzazate – Skoura – Kelaa Mgouna - Rose valley - Dades Gorges – Boumalne- Tinghir- Todra Gorges 270 Km Total 50 Km Off-road
Leaving Ouarzazate around 8:30am towards Skoura where we’ll have a quick 20 minutes visit of the Amredhyle Kasbah, one of the wonders of the southern “Route of the thousand kasbahs”. Continuing our journey through the Valley of the Roses where cross 50km off-road on Valley tracks.Ait Youl Kasbah . Before heading Boulmane, we lunch on top of Dades Gorges, reaching Tinghir and 20km after, its fabulous views, and the Todra gorges Canyons.
Diner and over night in hotel.
Day 4: Todra Gorges – Tinjdad – Touroug- Erfoud - Merzouga 160KmTotal 35 Off-road
Morning walk around the Tinerghir Palm Plantations. We drive to Tinjedad to have lunch and visit Touroug Palm Plantations reaching Erfoud town for a visit of a local fossil craft workshop. Continuing to the fascinating dunes of Erg Chebbi, The Dunes of Merzouga. We now switch from our 4×4 to camels, where you’ll be taken on a camel ride on the dunes to enjoy the Sun set on the dunes and overnight on a true nomad bivouac.
Dinner and over night in a bivouac.
Day 5: MERZOUGA - ZAGORA.
The route takes you through Rissani (Morocco’s former economic capital city and the 1st imperial city in the country’s history to be called Sijil Massa). The route continues towards Alnif up to Tazzarine where its follows the track of Tizin’Tfilalate villages. Possible encounters with nomadic tribes.
Day 6: Zagora –Tamegroute – Mhamid - Chegaga 155 Km Total 65 Off-road.
Starting from Mhamid through Tamegrout, up to Chigaga for bivouac.
Visit of the Coranic library Zaouia Naciria (manuscripts in gazelle’s skins) and pottery factory. Possible crossing of the palm grove of Has Esfoul and the Jewish villages (by track). TCrossing of the mountains of the Anti-Atlas with panoramic views. Then towards Mhamid (last village of the Drâa Valley, previously an important camel market and still a meeting place for nomadic tribes from the Sahel and Sahara). The road then becomes increasingly desert. Stopover at the sacred Oumlalag oasis still thriving despite of the drought that struck the area. Possible encounters with nomads. Arrival at the dunes of Chigaga (bivouac).
Day 7: CHIGAGA – TATA.
Dirt track to Foum-Z’Guid (army post controlling all passages across the Sahara). Stopover inTata. Arrival in time for sunset.
Dinner and accommodation.
Day 8: TATA – TAFRAOUTE.
Tafraoute, also known as "the Pink Town”, is a magnificent oasis at the meeting point of several rivers flowing down from the -Atlas. Numerous Ksours (adobes).
See the various Women’s traditional dress from the Berber’s
all-black to the Bedouin’s brightly coloured.
Day 9: TAFRAOUTE– TIZNIT.
Homeland of the oriental slipper.
Outstanding site. It is recommended to spend the night there to see the sunrise very early the morning, or better still the sunset in the evening, when the rocks are painted in all bright colours. Gleaming ornaments. See the superb barrier of pink granite mountains with surprising shapes piling up on the top of one another.
(the almond trees flower in January/February).
Day 10: TIZNIT– ESSAOUIRA.
Tiznit is renonwned for its Medina. It is located on the edge of Western Sahara.
Adobes spread among palm trees.
Day 11: ESSAOUIRA– MARRAKECH.
After the breakfast departure for the visit of the to Marrakech.
Sight Seeing of Marrakech city : A day to discover the city where the Berber and Arabian Nights fantasy is based on reality – magical Marrakech. While your half day tour takes in sights such as the Koutoubia Mosque, Saadian Tombs, Menara Gardens, souks and the medina, you will be blown away by what you see on the famous square of Jamaa El Fna, especially at night. While impeccably dressed chefs grill sausages and kebabs under the stars, musicians, snake charmers, monkey handlers, merchants, medicine men, preachers, storytellers, magicians, dancers and acrobats all perform in a wonderful blaze of humanity. Order a drink from a balcony seat in one of the square’s upstairs cafés, sit back and be amazed.
DAY 12: After breakfast, transfer to the airport for the flight home. |
