Departing from your riad in Marrakech around 7am set off with your driver over the Glaoua Plain to cross the High Atlas Mountains via the fabulous Tizi n’Tichka. This road doesn't look too far on the map but with so many twists and turns it is a slow but incredible climb up and over one of very few routes across the High Atlas. There will be opportunities to stop and take pictures at suitably dramatic moments.
From the Tichka pass your journey down offers such a dramatic change of scenery, continue to reach the Kasbah of Tamdakhte and then the world-famous Ait Ben Haddou - time for a visit and lunch in a restaurant overlooking the kasbah. Afterwards, continue south through the ex-French Foreign Legion town of Ouarzazate and then through the delightful and dramatic Valley of the Oued Drâa. Along the way visit the charming village of Agdz with a panoramic view of the Draa Valley; continue to Tansikht and take the track along the Draa Valley eventually to Zagora.
The town of Zagora was once famously "52 days to Timbuctou" and is dominated by the tagine pot-shaped Jbel Zagora. Here you set out for your adventure deep into a sub-Saharan desert landscape by saddling up for a camel meharee to the Bedouin camp at the dunes of Erg Tizi - a luxury camp installed in the pure Berber tradition.
After a welcoming traditional glass or two of mint tea, your dinner will be served. This night may be spent in your tents or out in the open air under the awesome canopy of the starlit heavens around a blazing fire to witness the magnificent sunset, the rarefied heavens turning from bright blue to cobalt, to yellow to gold, to purple to black (the sands and stones change their colour too, in step with the lowering rays). Enjoy a convivial atmosphere around the fire to the sound of Sahraoui folklore.
- Overnight at Erg Tizi Deluxe Camp
- Meals: Lunch, Dinner.
