Camels in Mhamid, stars in Erg Chagaga - 3 days 2 nights

1st day : Marrakesh – Agdez 

We depart at 8 am. Marrakesh, cross the High Atlas Mountains. After the Tichka pass, we leave the main road, take a side road to Telouet Kasbah, which belonged to the Glaoui family (Lords of the Atlas), it is in ruins now after the French left and the last Pasha fled. 

We continue along a beautiful connecting road and have lunch at Ait Ben Haddou. When lunch is over we can visit the Kasbah. It is the most famous in Morocco and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. After lunch we travel south to Agdez, where the Dra’a Valley starts. We spend the night in a guest house or Riad or kasba. 

 

2nd day : Agdez – Chagaga Dunes 

Following breakfast there will be time for visiting the rest of the Kasbah. We will then take travel off-road and along some of the ancient caravan between the mountains and the river, we will pass interesting villages and gardens so that you will get a better perspective of the way life is lived along the oases. We drive to M’hamid, the gate to the desert, to Erg Lihoudi, where and have lunch. Then, we continue to the Erg Chagaga dunes (300m) with 60km of off-road driving. This route includes different features of the desert ; ‘erg’, ‘reg’, ‘hammada’, oases. The dunes you will see are far away from civilization, in the desert proper. And the peace and the vast expanse of the sand are an overwhelming sight ! Once there, you can take a camel ride for an hour and a half. In the evening we have dinner and then a good night’s sleep in a bivouac of nomad tents. 

 

3rd day : Chagaga – Marrakesh 

After breakfast, we take the route through another 90km of desert enjoying various scenery : Lake Iriqui, the mountains and fossils. We have lunch in Foum Zguid, it’s the first village after the desert. There we can take a refreshing shower. The drive back to Marrakesh is along paved roads by way of the village of Taznakht, famous for its Berber carpets and rugs. After that we cross the High Atlas to Marrakesh at the in the afternoon.