“A good traveler has no fixed plans, and is not intent on arriving.” – Lao Tzu
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This unique, leisurely Tour from Marrakech to Erg Chegaga will take you to the beautiful Erg Lihoudi dunes and the vast, unruly Erg Chegaga dunes. These are Morocco’s best and least-visited Sahara dune areas.
From your hotel or Riad in Marrakech, we’ll travel to Ouarzazate by way of the High Atlas Mountains and the Tizi-n-Tichka Pass (2260m). We visit the Kasbah of Taourirt, a representation of the feudal era of the rulers of the Atlas, after lunch in Ouarzazate.
The Dra’a Valley, known as Morocco’s date-producing region and home to more than 18 different types of dates, is where we travel in the afternoon. The major crops are fruit trees and vegetables, although henna is also a well-known local product. Because agriculture occurs in terraced fields, it requires a lot of labor.
As you descend the slopes, you can see Agdz, which lies at the top of the valley, kilometers before you arrive there. A guest house is where you spend the night here.
A trip to Kasbah Tamnougalte is scheduled for after breakfast. A large portion of it is in ruins, particularly the historic Jewish neighborhood, since the locals gradually fled following the creation of the State of Israel.
After lunch, we travel on to Zagora. The next larger town along the road is Tamgroute, where you may see the well-known family-run potteries. A Koranic library is also there, with Qurans and exquisitely aged handwritten Arabic scripts.
The journey gets us to M’hamid in the late afternoon, where the desert officially begins. We ride a camel to the closest high dune, where the sunset is spectacular.
You eat supper and spend the night in a posh tent that has been beautifully decorated to maximize your appreciation of the desert.
After breakfast, we cross the Dra’a River, which is now often dry, and head back to M’hamid to see the ancient hamlet with its adobe dwellings and covered streets, which provide shade from the occasionally sweltering desert heat.
The 4×4 transports us to the Erg Chegaga dunes in the afternoon after traveling 60 kilometers off-road. The Sacred Oasis, ‘erg’ (sand dunes), and ‘hammada’ (rocky desert) are passed along this path, which leads to dunes distant from civilisation in the desert proper, where the solitude and vastness of the sand are astonishing. If you’d like, you may take a second camel ride here.
With all the facilities of the initial desert night in Mhamid, dinner and the night will be spent in a luxurious desert tent among the dunes.
After breakfast, the route leads us west for another 90 km through a variety of desert landscapes: The mountains, Lake Iriqui, where you could see a large mirage in the heat, and fossils, which anybody interested in looking for can do so.
The first settlement after the desert, Foum Zguid, will be the location of lunch. The name refers to the mouth or source of the Zguid River since “Foum” means mouth.
From here, the route travels north through beautiful rock formations and over paved roads until it reaches the little hamlet of Taznakht, which is well-known because of its Berber rugs and carpets. Returning to Ouarzazate, you’ll spend the night in a Riad.
After breakfast, we set off for the Kasbah of Tifoultoute and the movie studios before moving on to the Kasbah of Ait Benhaddou, which served as the setting for several films, including The Kingdom of Heaven and Gladiator. The most well-known Kasbah in Morocco is one of the most popular tourist destinations in the whole nation and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
Up the Ounila Valley, we go. The principal crops and the main source of income for many people in this region are olives, almonds, and fruit trees. This magnificent route goes to Telouet, which is nestled right in the middle of the highlands and was previously Thami El Glaoui’s home in Marrakech, where he presided over the Tizi-n-Tichka Pass, the highest pass in all of Africa.
Eventually, we’ll arrive in Marrakech to end our Tour from Marrakech to Erg Chegaga.
Join this Tour from Marrakech to Erg Chegaga to discover this hidden gem! Feel free to contact us if you need more information.
