Difficulty Information
This trip is in category B
The level of our trips varies. The experience of the level of a trip is also different from person to person. In order to give an indication of the level of a trip, we have developed the following rating system:
Category A: Light trip, doable for everyone. Short travelling distances, good hotels, slow pace.
Category B: Possible for everyone who is prepared. Sometimes longer travelling distances, good hotels or camping facilities, sometimes adventurous camping sites, trip with a normal pace.
Category C: Possible for everyone who is well-prepared and has a flexible attitude; however, the trip has some tough parts – long walking days or travelling times, some simple accommodation.
Category D: Relatively tough trip: long travelling times, often primitive accommodation or tents, strenuous walking.
Category E: Tough trip. Participants need to know themselves and their boundaries, need to prepare well and be aware that the trip can be demanding.
This 14-day trip belongs in category B. Everybody who is fit can participate. However, the trip has a reasonably high pace; in a short period of time we will visit many different places. The road system in this part of the country is pretty good, as are the means of transport and most hotels so, that the longer stretches do not have to be too exhausting. A flexible and positive attitude is important, more than physical fitness.
Nature of the trip
This active tour through the exotic southern part of Morocco is a journey of exploration through high mountains, desert and heavenly green oases. Few people realize that a few hour’s flying distance from London such impressive landscapes can be found with a population that lives by such age-old customs. This journey takes you across mountain passes, along craggy rock formations and impressive kasbahs. This is the traditional architecture of the region, which in Biblical times was the standard for an area extending to Persia, and now can only be found in Yemen and Morocco. We visit traditional weekly markets where Berber people flock together. You can explore the old medinas of Marrakech and Taroudant. In the labyrinths of oriental sultan cities you can wander through colourful markets. Take a look in the old harem of a grand vizier or the magnificently decorated tombs of the sultans who once held sway here. There is time to stroll around the date palm oases and in the mountains. On top of it all, you can go on a camel ride through the desert. We conclude the trip with a few days at the seaside.
Day-to-day schedule
Day 1 -
3: Marrakech
Your journey starts in the pink capital of the south. Our hotel is in the new town, not far from the old city.
You have two free days in Marrakech. You should definitely head to the Djemaa el Fna, the lively heart of the old city. The bustle of the square continually changes. The morning market makes way for the snake charmers, musicians, acrobats and storytellers. Simultaneously, open stalls appear with delectable kebabs and salads. In the narrow alleys of the medieval medina, you need two pairs of eyes, ears and noses. Highly laden donkeys come and go through the narrow passageways; spices, leather and meat stalls exude their specific smells and you are dazzled by the colourful mix of carpets, fruits piled on top of each other and dyed twists of wool. In the courtyards, blacksmiths and tanners ply their trade. Small gates give access to beautifully tooled sultan tombs, old palaces and Koran schools.
For those interested, a half-day’s excursion to see the most important monuments can be booked locally. Another option might be a full day excursion to visit Imlil, a village in the High Atlas, which has excellent walking. A local guide will accompany you and lunch is included. Another possibility is to attend a crash course in Moroccan cuisine, in a beautiful Riad. It takes half a day, and of course participants are invited to enjoy the self-prepared food afterwards.
Day 4: Marrakech – Aït Ben Haddou
On this day, you will travel in our own coach through the spectacular Atlas range to the kasbah of Aït Benhaddou. You will pass the 4000m (12,800ft) high, snow-covered (in winter) mountain peaks. The journey takes 5 hours, stops included. The road will twist up through the green foothills of the High Atlas to the picturesque Berber village of Taddert. It is at a height of 1600m and makes a perfect spot for a coffee break. Large walnut trees embellish the village, which is surrounded by fields planted with vegetables bordered with poplar trees. Berber women work the fields and often bear tattoos as a sign of the tribe they belong to. The further we go, the more primitive the villages get, and the houses do not amount to much more than piles of stones with a roof of wooden beams and straw or slate on top. The Tizi-n-Tichka pass lies at a height of 2260m (7,232ft). From here, you have a wonderful view of the bare hills in the south signalling the desert – the only green that is to be seen lies along the riverbeds. In the course of the afternoon, one of the largest kasbah complexes in the country looms, in an atmosphere of total quietness. You will spend the night in an attractive hotel in kasbah style.Day 5: Aït Ben Haddou – Merzouga
Again you will travel through a splendid and varied landscape. First you will pass through black, rocky, mountains, to the Draa River oasis, 500m lower. The area resembles the Grand Canyon. In the oasis town of Agdz you will stop to take a look at the weekly market (depending on the day of the week), the main meeting place for inhabitants of the remote villages. The Berber women wear heavy silver jewellery and face tattoos. They are selling their hand-woven carpets. After this you will be driving to the east. The route will take you past the Saghro mountain range, an area characterized by basalt columns, deep canyons and moonlike landscapes made up of craggy rocks, alternating with hidden streams and reservoirs. When they graze their flocks here in winter on the sparse grass covering the higher-lying areas in a haze of green, the nomads of the Aït Atta tribe have their stopping places where there is water. The deserted road passes straight through an impressive desert landscape to the green palm oasis of the Tafilalt. After Rissani, we reach the pink sand dunes of Merzouga, navigating a dirt road. We spend two nights (in July and August one night) at an auberge in traditional-style berber tents, right on the edge of the Dunes of Merzouga.
Those interested can go on a camel ride into the desert. Or, even better, if you feel like it, you can take the camel into the Erg Chebbi, for a night under the stars! Although this is an optional part of the trip, for many people it is one of the highlights of their journey.
Day 6: Merzouga
East of Merzouga lie’s the Erg Chebbi, an area with sand dunes more than 90m (290ft) high. Large parts of the Sahara are made up of such “wandering dunes” that continuously change shape as a consequence of the shifting of the fine sand. From the auberge, you can visit Erg Chebbi, which offers a magnificent palette of deep warm shades – from pink and red to ochre and gold.Day 7 -
8: Merzouga – Todra Gorges
In the morning you will be travelling in the direction of Tineghir via Rissani and Erfoud, with its remarkable black Haratin population. These traditionally dressed inhabitants migrated here long ago with the camel caravans. You will travel, in three hours, along a series of small oases to the deepest river crevice in Morocco, the Gorge du Todra, which in its narrowest section is only ten metres wide and hundreds of metres high. You will spend two nights between the steep walls of the canyon, in a simple hotel.
You have a free day, in Gorge du Todra. Those interested can go and visit the town of Tineghir with the minibus, buy some picnic supplies there and go on a fantastic walk through the green Todra Valley. You will follow the river and the irrigation canals branching off some 10km upstream, passing under the palm trees, along tracks crossing nursery gardens and along villages swarming with children. In the end, you will arrive at the hotel. From the hotel, you can also go and explore the crevice on foot, which further up turns into sparse alpine mountains.
Day 9: Todra Gorges – Ouarzazate
Today you will travel to Ouarzazate, for a visit to the kasbah of Taourirt, the birthplace of the last pasha of Marrakech, which not so long ago was inhabited by over a thousand people. Our route goes through the green Dades Valley, also called ‘the land of 1000 kasbahs’. You will stay at a simple hotel just outside the town centre.Day 10 -
11: Ouarzazate – Taroudant
Between the High Atlas and the Anti Atlas lies the old, extinguished volcano Jbel Siroua which peaks at 3304m (10,570ft). The bare mountain range is impressive, thanks to its wide panorama and craggy rock formations. In summer the area comes to life, when the desert nomads flee the heat of the Sahara desert and come to graze their sheep here. In October the pistils of the costly saffron crocus are harvested, as they flower in great numbers. Crossing the southerly slopes of this bizarre volcano country for six hours, you will reach Taroudant. At lunchtime you will stop at the Berber village of Taliouine, the first place where you can see that the surrounding land is covered in argana forest, from which an aromatic oil is produced for cooking and natural beauty products.
A free day in Taroudant, the fifth royal city of Morocco has a markedly provincial character. Within the city walls, the pace is slow and sluggish. Taroudant may well be the most Moroccan city of the south. It is in the centre of a fertile agricultural region, which produces vegetables, fruit and olives. Produce is carried on the backs of donkeys, camels and on handcarts. The city’s picturesque souks are too small to lose your way in, and a visit is highly recommended. Taroudant of old was renowned for its Berber silver, local leather production (you can visit the small tanneries) and Touareg handicrafts. The link with the Sahara peoples still exists and dates from the time of the Sa’ad Sultans who founded Taroudant. The central square has a multitude of cafés that offer shade and the chance to watch life go by. Your hotel is right in the centre of town.Day 12 -
13: Taroudant – Essaouira
From Taroudant we drive through rich agricultural lands towards the coast. A scenic coastal route takes us to Essaouira, a relaxed port town. We arrive here in the afternoon. You will stay for one night (in July and August two nights). Essaouira is the most picturesque and relaxed coastal town along Morocco’s Atlantic coast. The town lies on a rocky base surrounded by low shrubs and woods, projecting into the ocean. An isolated spot battered by high foamy waves the whole year round, it’s often called ‘the windy city’ and famous for windsurfing. The old citadel of Essaouira is entirely surrounded by city walls, the tall houses towering above them– whitewashed and often with their doors painted a fresh blue. The medina is quite orderly, with the alleys laid out in a rectangular pattern. Essaouira also boasts a wide and long beach south of the citadel. The beach is a place where you can leisurely enjoy a ‘café au lait’; stroll along the sandy expanse or through the alleys of the attractive market. In the evening, there is fresh fish to savour in the many restaurants.
Day 14: Essaouira – Casablanca
Today we drive along the coast to Casablanca, the commercial centre of Morocco with its buildings in the Art Deco and Neo-moorish style. We spend our last evening here, where you can pick up some last minute souvenirs or just relax and take in the atmosphere of this cosmopolitan and exotic city.
Time permitting, you may like to visit the Hassan II Mosque, the second largest in the world and the only working mosque in Morocco that can be visited by non-Muslims . You can only enter the mosque with an organised tour. Tours are run at the mosque daily (EXCEPT Fridays) at 09h00, 10h00, 11h,00 and 14h00 and costs 120dh per person.
Day 15: Casablanca
The tour ends on day 15 at noon, but rather than being about ‘Goodbye’ your thought should be ‘Go further’!
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