Essaouira to Erg Chegaga Desert Tour 5 days – magic Morocco agency.
highlights
Travelling along the Atlantic Coast and through traditional Berber villages all along the way Touring the massive ramparts of Taroudant and visiting the local saffron museum in Taliouine In Taznakht learning about the ancient art of Berber rug weaving passed from mother to daughter Going on a full day’s camel trek in the dunes to appreciate the wild desert of Erg Chegaga Learning about the special techniques at the local pottery with its iconic green glaze in Tamegroute Visiting Kasbah Tamnougalte which is still partially inhabited for hundreds of years Visiting the UNESCO World Heritage Site, Kasbah Aït ben Haddou and Kasbah Telouet.
Program details
Day1
Essaouira – Taroudant
Your desert tour from Essaouira to Chegaga Desert will start with the driver fetching you from your hotel at 8.30 in an air-conditioned 4×4 car. You drive south past isolated Atlantic Coast beaches and traditional Berber villages towards Agadir, one of Morocco’s best-known beach resorts. From here you continue eastwards going inland to Taroudant. You will travel along the Souss River Valley with all its argan trees growing on the hilly slopes at the side of the road.
Upon your arrival in Taroudant, known as the “The Little Marrakech”, you have an opportunity to explore its beautiful walled medina and photograph its massive ramparts. At night, a beautiful riad offers a traditional dinner and a relaxing night’s rest.
Day2
Taroudant – Chegaga dunes
After breakfast in your riad, you continue to Taliouine, the most well-known saffron growing area in Morocco. Here, you can visit the government-run and interesting little museum dedicated to explaining all about the cultivation of this “golden” crop. The scent of saffron as you enter is strong, even though the precious pistils are enclosed in small glass jars. Later you will cross the two passes of Tizi-n-Tighatine and Tizi-nIkhsane, arriving in Taznakht, where you can learn all about Berber women’s rugmaking.
From Taznakht, you turn south driving past fascinating rock formations and wider, flatter fields as you approach the edge of the Sahara Desert. As you drive further and further, the excitement mounts as to when exactly you will get to the desert. Finally, there it is, the last village before the desert, Foum Zguid, and you set off out into a new, exciting and unknown world – the vast Sahara. First of all, you need to cross the now dry Lake Iriqui where you can stop to hunt for fossils, if so inclined. Then, the itinerary takes you past the various features of the desert; dunes, stony desert with larger stones, getting gradually smaller as you drive further into the sea of sand
At the Erg Chegaga dunes the spectacle of thesunset from the top of the dunes is quite amazing and memorable sight; a highlight of your desert trip. Back again at the foot of the dunes, you have dinner and spend the night in a camp of luxury tents. First, though there is a nomad and Berber drumming and music around a fire camp.
Day3
Erg Chegaga
After breakfast at the camp, you have a unique opportunity to join a guide on a fullday desert trek to explore the wild and expansive dunes of Erg Chegaga. You are accompanied by camels, which you can ride should you wish. They will carry everything needed for your lunch to be prepared out among the dunes by your camel man. Many say this is the best meal during the whole of their Moroccan adventure. Your nomad guide and camel man will help you navigate the varying landscapes of the Sahara Desert, “hamada – flat desert”, “erg – dunes”, and oases. And who better to explain about the life of desert nomads as they themselves grew up in this environment? Urban dwellers will be full of awe at how people survive this harsh environment. You will not meet a single nomad who does not long for these dunes, their peace, calm and exquisite beauty.
You will walk for about three hours in the morning to reach the oasis where you will stop for lunch. In the afternoon, another three-hour camel trek through the rolling dunes leads to the highest dunes of Erg Chegaga. Back at the campsite, you can enjoy your well-deserved dinner under the starlit sky of the Sahara Desert. Once again you will share a relaxing evening of Berber music and drumming with the nomads and other guests. Later at night, your private luxury tent offers a well-earned night’s repose.
Day4
Erg Chegaga – Ouarzazate
If you get up early, you can watch the spectacle of thesunrise, when the colour of the dunes and the play of shadows are an awesome sight. After breakfast, the itinerary crosses another 60 km of the desert road to arrive in M’hamid, the first village at the very edge of the desert and the beginning of the paved road north. After a tea break, you continue to drive up the Dra’a Valley, the longest valley in Morocco.
In Tamgrout village, you have a chance to learn about the unique way local clay is treated and can visit the kilns used for this unique pottery, which is famous throughout the country. The Quranic Library is a fascinating place to visit and absolutely one of a kind with its wonderful manuscripts and long history as a Quranic school. Lunch is scheduled in Zagora, the largest oasis in the Dra’a Valley, particularly famous for its 44 different types of dates. Afterwards, you follow the ancient route of the caravans travelling by fortified Kasbahs and green oases as far as Agdez. Here, you will visit Kasbah Tamnougalt with a local guide. It is the oldest kasbah in the Dra’a Valley and is still inhabited by a few families. Then you cross the Anti-Atlas Mountains and Tizi-n-Tinfifite pass to arrive in Ouarzazate where you have dinner and spend the night in an authentic riad.
Day5
Ouarzazate – Marrakech or Essaouira
After breakfast, the road takes you to Kasbah Aït ben Haddou, one of Morocco’s eight UNESCO World Heritage Sites, and the film set for many Hollywood cinematic works. It is the most famous Kasbah in Morocco and some of the buildings date back to the 17th century, so is a must-see on any desert trip to the south. You can explore the kasbah on your own but to understand more of its significance, it is recommended that you go with a local guide. He can explain its interesting history whilst you photograph its adobe-built housing. From here, you drive north along the beautiful and inspiring Ounila Valley, full of Berber villages and gardens, as well as fortified Kasbahs. You continue to Kasbah Telouet, situated right in the midst of the mountains and once the seat of the last Pasha of Marrakech, El Glaoui. The kasbah now stands in ruins exposed to the wind and the rain, having been abandoned and plundered after the last Pasha’s property was confiscated for his having plotted the King’s exile. Wait to be pleasantly surprised by the traditional interior decoration as you reach the farthest end of the Kasbah.
-At the end of the afternoon, you cross the High Atlas Mountains and the much straightened out Tizi-n-Tichka pass with its fantastic views and finally, arrive in Marrakech. Your Erg Chegaga Desert tour from Essaouira comes to its end when your driver escorts you to your hotel.
What is included in this desert tour from Essaouira:
- Transport in a private air-conditioned vehicle; 4×4 Toyota Prado TX and fuel
- Pick-up from your hotel in Essaouira and drop-off at your riad in Marrakech
- Experienced local English/French/Spanish/Italian-speaking Berber and nomad drive-guide
- Accommodation in air-conditioned rooms/suites with private bathroom
- Two nights in a luxury desert camp in Erg Chegaga with a private toilet and shower
- All meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner – with vegetarian and vegan options available
- Full-day camel trekking around the dunes of Erg Chegaga
- Luggage service to the camp and all accommodation
- Berber drumming and music
- Free time to explore the sites such as Aït ben Haddou, for walks, photos, and tea/coffee breaks
- The opportunity to ask the driver to stop when and where you wish
- Entrance fees and local guide
- Tea, coffee, and mineral water in the desert
What is not included:
- Drinks
- Tips
- Extras
Know before you go:
You can customise this desert tour from Essaouira to Erg Chegaga to suit your interests better
Here is a downloadable packing list to help plan for your Moroccan desert tour:
- We require a 30% deposit of the total price to confirm the booking while the balance is paid to us in the office in Ouarzazate.
- We offer a 25% discount for all children under 12, while, in any one family, one child below 3 can travel free of charge
- The balance is payable through PayPal, bank transfers in Europe, by credit card, or cash (USD, euro, GBP, or MAD)
- Our prices can be subject to an increase over the busy season, and, in particular, the Christmas and New Year’s Eve period.
Essential Tips to Plan Your Holiday in Morocco - Magic Morocco Agency
-If your holiday with Magic Morocco involves trips out to the vast expanse of the Sahara Desert, where you may be staying for several days, up to a week, or longer, you will need to be prepared. Here are some useful items that we recommend you pack before you leave on your trip of a lifetime to Morocco.
- A sleeping bag: While we provide plenty of blankets and sheets for your tented desert accommodation, it does get very cold in the Sahara on a winter’s night. Bring along your own sleeping bag, so that you’ll be snug as a bug under the spectacular, if chilly, Moroccan night skies, studded with a galaxy of shimmering stars. This is only really required on trekking over several nights or on the Sufi Retreat.
- A turban or scarf: This is an essential item when heading out on Morocco desert tours, as the simple garment will protect your face and hair from the harsh sun, as well as any sand that gets whipped up by the wind. If you’ve arrived for your holiday in Morocco and find you don’t have a turban — known locally as a “shesh” — or scarf, don’t worry. You can easily buy a “shesh” at a local shop or bazaar.
- Warm clothing: You’ll need to bring some warm clothes when you embark on a Morocco desert tour. Although temperatures are high in the Sahara during the day, they plummet at night, due to a lack of cloud to keep the heat in. While you might think you don’t need to pack heavy clothing for a trip to hot Morocco, you will need it when you’re out in the desert in the evenings in early spring, late autumn, and the winter.
- High-factor sunscreen to combat the strong sun.
- Good quality sunglasses that can filter out the sun’s harmful rays and protect your eyes.
- Solid footwear, such as good trainers, for all the walking you will be doing. Trainers are ideal footwear, whilst walking barefoot in the dunes can also be practical.
- Plenty of bottles of water for the car, but we provide enough bottled water for each person in the desert.
- You might also like to pack a torch and a Swiss army knife, and above all you should make sure that you bring lots of water with you on every car journey in the Sahara. We will of course provide water at the camps you’ll be staying at.
- Being well prepared for your Morocco desert tour will ensure that you have the time of your life on your desert magic tour.
In Morocco, as travellers, we are paying guests, exploring and learning about age-old traditions and fascinated by a world so different from our own. Customs and traditions based either on religion or habits passed down from generation to generation can seem strange, unusual, or odd. Listening, learning and observing, without necessarily understanding and without passing judgment, can enhance our pleasure of participating in this other existence.
As we move around and through this environment, we leave behind impressions of ourselves and our own world – we are the most important ambassadors. Let us ensure that the memories we leave are ones of warmth, generosity, openness, curiosity, modesty and respect for this different society and for the environment which others experience on a daily basis. Moroccans are very welcoming and hospitable people and it behoves us to keep faith with this.
Environmental aspects
The desert is very much alive – witness the myriads of animal tracks on your morning climb to watch the sunrise. It is also other people’s living space. With this in mind, and considering also that the dryness of the desert means that even a paper tissue rots only exceedingly slowly, please be careful to remove all litter.
Throughout Morocco it is important that we are conscious and careful of our water consumption. This is a country under constant threat of drought. We are all individually responsible for maintaining a sustainable environment wherever we are.
Of course, there are scorpions and snakes in the desert, but these rarely pose a danger and they avoid the proximity of humans. Only in summer is it advisable to keep an eye out. The reason for the guide along with you is for your own safety. Please do not venture beyond sight of the camp alone, as it is easy to lose a sense of orientation in the dunes.
