Morocco's Desert Region

			Reservations - All our holidays are tailor-made so please feel free to request any combination of hotels, riads or tours for your own holiday. The minimum reservation for our accommodation only service is 3 nights in total, although not necessarily at same property. Simply contact us by phone or email or complete one of our enquiry forms. Why Rediscover? - All our reservations staff have worked in Morocco (or visited extensively) and will be more than happy to offer advice and suggestions on any of our featured destinations, tours and properties. Prices - our prices are similar to or quite often cheaper than our internet competitors or booking directly and significantly cheaper than those producing expensive brochures whilst our service, knowledge and after sales care is second to none. Security - Rediscover the World is a member of the TTA (T6816), we also hold our own ATOL bond (T7172). We therefore provide full financial security and assistance should any part of your holiday not happen entirely to plan. If you were to assemble your holiday yourself you may not have this sort of protection.

" FOUR LEGS, FOUR WHEELS, THREE DAYS INTO THE HAMADA DU DRAA "

 

3 DAYS / 2 NIGHTS - ref. ITCLFD11z

DAY 1: MARRAKECH - FIBULE DU DRÂA, ZAGORA - AMEZROU - ASRIR IGNAOUN - TEGHRAMT N’AÏT SULTAN

Departing from your hotel in Marrakech at 06:45 at the latest, we set off south in our air-conditioned Land Cruiser 4WD over the Glaoua Plain to cross the High Atlas Mountains via the fabulous Tizi n’Tichka Pass (7412ft) - hold on to your hats. We continue down alongside the Oued Ouarzazate to visit the remarkable UNESCO World Heritage Site of the Ksour of Aït Ben Haddou (local guide not included), thence on to the ex-French Foreign Legion town of Ouarzazate and on down the surprising Valley of the Oued Drâa until you arrive at the small, charming kasbah-like Hotel Fibule Du Drâa in the oasis village of Zagora, where you will have your midday lunch of tagine (water or soda water included).

    

Time to relax around the swimming pool before setting off with our guide/chamellier at 3pm (September to May) or 4:30pm (June, July & August) on our ships of the desert for some 2½ hours towards the south-west through the oases and kasbahs at Amezrou and Sart and the Jewish Cemetery in Asrir Ignaoûn, to cross the Oued Drâa leading onto the Faija Plain. As the air has heated up and the winds have risen to make the sand swirl about us, you’ll notice that older dunes appear darker, for the iron in the sand has finally oxidised. We sway on across the Reg until we reach our established Nomadic black-tented bivouac site at Teghramt n’Aït Sultan nestling amongst some small dunes.

Whilst we settle in to enjoy an awesome sunset, our traditional welcoming mint tea is taken; our dinner for the evening is prepared, to be enjoyed under the immeasurable canopy of the starlit heaven and calm, amazingly quiet solitude.

 

DAY 2: TEGHRAMT N’AÏT SULTAN - FOUM ZGUID - ZAOUIAT SIDI ABDENBI - LAKE IRIQUI - CH’GGAGA DUNES.

Breakfast tucked away after an incredible sunrise, we now venture further west with our driver and English-speaking guide for some 120km alongside the Jbel Bani (1095m) - the first settlements of the Berber tribes were founded here - past wells and irrigated fields of melon, vegetables and watermelon clawed out of the desert by the once-warrior tribesmen of the Zagora, on into the blackish, brackish, stony plain dotted with acacia, the occasional baobab tree and dunes of varying shapes and sizes until we reach the ‘Beau Geste’ village of Foum Zguid, a military outpost once controlling the trans-Saharan trade routes of salt, slaves, spices and gold.

         

Here we stop for our field picnic in the welcoming shade of a small oasis. Then continue on through the village of Zaouiat Sidi Abdenbi to the flat dried bed of the Lake Iriqui, not too long ago the seasonal paradise of millions of migratory birds. With any luck, we could still stumble across crocodile teeth or hippopotamus tusks, iron meteorites and dinosaur fossils. After these further 87km into the harsh and naked countryside we arrive at the now-famous and more impressive dunes of this western extension of the Sahara - Dayet (Pool) Ch’ggaga (6° 15’ W) and our Nomad bivouac site, apparently in the middle of nowhere.

           

Whilst dinner is being prepared, we might take time out to stretch our limbs, set up our photo-shoot for the oncoming sunset as the rarefied heavens turn 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), or take a shower or simply crash out!

 

DAY 3: CH’GGAGA DUNES - ERG EL YEHOUDI - M’HAMID EL BHALI - TAMEGROUTE - LA FIBULE DU DRAA - MARRAKECH.

After breakfast, this morning will be spent tracing our path towards the east across the desert plain through Moulht Sellah, Oum Lâalag and the Oued N’Ame to another remarkable set of dunes at Erg Lihouïdi (Erg el Yehoudi, so named for the many settlers of Jewish origin who had traded in this region for centuries until the establishment of the State of Israel and a subsequent migration).

        

On now to the last village in the Drâa Valley - M’Hamid El Bhali. M’Hamid was once an important trading post and dromedary market for the famous ‘Blue Men’ (Touaregs from the Sudan, Mauretania and Chad) and is still a meeting point for the nomads from the Sahel and deep Sahara. On now for our last 15km of piste driving across the Reg until we regain the tarmacked road to drive north for some 50km to an unusual tightly-knitted grouping of ksours and kasbahs; this is the ancient village of Tamegroute, a seat of learning since the XIth century. We shall stop to visit the Library, with its XIII century illuminated Koran scrolls written on gazelle hide, some works of Pythagoras, some original maps of Alexandria together with some very early mathematics text books.

           

We’ll now drive on to visit the pottery co-operative just outside of Tamegroute, to see pottery being produced in the simplest of manners, in the simplest of kilns. If you have ever been to Fes, or have seen photographs of this Imperial City, here in Tamegroute you’ll see the famous green glaze associated with Fes’s tiled roofs, for the founders of the XVIIth century Abou Ben Naceur ‘Naciri Brotherhood’ in Tamegroute invited craftsmen and potters to this remote area with the intent to turn it into a thriving caravan hub city. Our last 18kms remain until we reach Zagora and the Fibule Du Drâa for a quick, refreshing shower, to set out now, around 1pm, back up the lush Drâa Valley through the French Protectorate-era city of Ouarzazate and beyond to Marrakech, arriving back at your hotel or riad around 7pm.

NB: Prices are based on the number of people in your group; each desert trip is an individual reservation.

OUR TOURS INCLUDE:

Experienced, licensed English-speaking driver. Air-conditioned Toyota Land Cruiser 4X4 Marrakech - Zagora/Teghramt n’Aït Sultan - Ch’ggaga - Zagora - Marrakech (Toyoya PradoTeghramt n’Aït Sultan - Ch’ggaga - Zagora). Light lunch at La Fibule Du Drâa and use of their swimming pool and showers; field picnic of Moroccan salad, kebabs* mint tea and bottled water. Dromedary ride from Zagora to Teghramt N’Aït Sultan. Dinner of Moroccan salad, chicken* or vegetable tagine, in-season fruit, mint tea and bottled water. Visit of the Potteries and Museum at Tamegroute. Chemical toilet in Teghramt N’Aït Sultan and Ch’ggaga; portable shower in Ch’ggaga.

* Those vegetarians or vegans amongst us need to pre-advise at time of reservation.

THE TOUR DOES NOT INCLUDE:

Personal medical or accident insurance outside of the vehicle. Gratuity to guide/drover. Any expenditure of a personal nature, nor anything not specifically mentioned in the itinerary.

IT IS RECOMMENDED YOU BRING:

Day pack (for camera, water bottle,hat, etc.); windcheater (seasonal), broad-brimmed hat (or you may purchase a ‘Chèche’ before you set out from Zagora; personal toiletries and towel; hygienic ‘wipes’; small First Aid kit; torch with batteries (non-essential); filled water bottle(s); sunscreen, sunglasses; nibbles and/or dried fruit. Drinking chocolate if preferred. Camera, film and plastic bags for lenses; extra toilet rolls could come in handy! For those who wear contact lenses, perhaps it would be a good idea to bring along a spare pair of glasses.

Tel: + 44 (0) 1989 730 552 (UK)