ADVENTURE TO THE SAHARA (08 Days / 07 nights)

After breakfast meet your tour guide of Marrakech. The city tour   will take you to the twelfth century Koutoubia Mosque, the sixteenth century Saadian Tombs and the nineteenth century Bahia Palace.  

     After lunch, visit a craft co-operative to learn about Moroccan handicrafts. Afterwards we will transcend you through time as to take a walk inside the souks.   Amongst the craftsmen and traders with its mazes of alleyways filled with beautiful potteries, apothecaries, spices, silver jewelry, blacksmiths, and wooldying. The walk inside the medina, finishes at the world famous Jamaa El Fna Square, a World Heritage Site. Experience the sights, sounds, smells and tastes of this magical place complete with jugglers, fortune tellers, snake charmers, dancers and herbalists. 

Accommodation

• Riad or Hotel at Marrakech (1 night)

Included Activities

• Marrakech - craft co-operative

• Marrakech- Koutoubia Mosque

• Marrakech- entrance Saadian Tombs

• Marrakech – Walking Tour

• Marrakech - Djemma el Fna square

Optional Activities

• Lunch at a Typical restaurant

• Dinner at a Typical restaurant

Meals Included

• Breakfast

After breakfast, depart for Ouarzazate, the gateway to the Sahara Desert.  Cross the high Atlas Mountains with its beautiful landscapes. En Route, visit the Kasbahs (fortress’) of Telouet and Ait Benhaddou, an exceptionally well-preserved Kasbah which was declared a World Heritage Site in 1987 by UNESCO. Ouarzazate is the center of the Moroccan film industry where many famous international films have been made including: the Gladiator, the Four Feathers, Romancing the Stone, Cleopatra, the Sheltering Sky, Jewel of the Nile and Lawrence of Arabia. 

Accommodation

• Hotel at Ouarzazate(1 night)

Included Activities

• Telouet -  Visit the Telouet Kasbah

• Ait Benhaddou – Visit the Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou

Optional Activities

• Ouarazate - Atlas Movie Studios - 

• Ouarzazate - Kasbah Taourirt - 

• Lunch at a Typical restaurant

Meals Included

• Breakfast

• Dinner 

After breakfast, drive along the Route of a Thousand Kasbahs to the Dades Valley, a spectacularly beautiful area of contrasting colors and terrains. At the head of the valley is the Dades Gorge, a beautiful example of the intricate and effective irrigation systems used in this area. The lush green willows, roses and alfalfa sway in the gentle breeze at the bottom of the valley using water channeled from the river while the sides of the gorge are a barren, stark shade of brick red. Nearby is Todra Gorge, above the old town of Tinerhir and the ruined Glaoui Kasbah, a palatial structure intentionally built to intimidate invaders. The gorge is a dramatic 3,200 ft. canyon in the mountains whose massive walls rise steeply, cutting off sunlight from the gravel riverbed far below.

  The Dades and Todra Gorges provide some of the best seasonal bird watching sites in Morocco, with larks, sand grouse, buzzards, falcons, warblers, and finches. 

Accommodation

• Hotel (1 night)

Included Activities

• Dades Valley - bird watching sites

• Tinghir - Glaoui Kasbah

Optional Activities

• Lunch at a restaurant

Meals Included

• Breakfast

• Dinner

After breakfast, depart for Erfoud across the Tafilalet valley known under the name of small Mesopotamia. Stop on the way to visit the old system of irrigation used since immemorial time called Khattara system. Arrive to Erfoud, stop for lunch and to visit a fossil factory center where 500 million year old fossils are extracted, polished and exported around the globe. From Erfoud,drive into the Sahara Desert to Merzouga, the site of the Merzouga Dunes, the highest in Africa and one of the film locations for Lawrence of Arabia. Camp overnight in a nomad tent, furnished inside with a comfortable clean cot, fresh linens and blankets set on colorful Moroccan carpets.Take an optional camel trek to watch the sunset behind the Sahara dunes.

Accommodation

• Desert Camp (1 night)

Included Activities

• Erfoud - visit the old system of irrigation

• Erfoud - visit the fossil factory center

• Tinghir - Glaoui Kasbah

Meals Included

• Breakfast

Dinner at your encampment whilst experiencing the breathtaking sight of stars in the desert sky. 

In the early morning wake up  for an optional camel ride to see the sunrise over the sand dunes followed by breakfast at your camp.

 Then depart for Zagora, a town located in the Draa Valley, founded by the Arabs in the twelfth century, Zagora was the starting point for the sultan Ahmad al-Mansour’s legendary desert crossing to conquer Timbuktu in 1591.The route was used before and after that to trade Atlas mineral salt for African gold. Today, a sign post informs you that the trip is 52 days by camel! At Zagora, camel caravans from the south were able to break their journey and rest before heading to the east and north of Africa. Even today the town continues to be the main marketplace of the south. 

Accommodation

• Hotel or Riad at Zagora (1 night)

Included Activities

• Stop for photos and Enjoy the Draa Valley

• Agdez – Enjoy the oases of  palm grove 

• Tamegroute - Ancient Library 

• Tamegroute - Underground Village guided tour

• Visit of the Ceramic Quarter

• Zagora - visit the old system of irrigation

Meals Included

• Breakfast

Dinner

After  breakfast  begin your return to Marrakech travelling up the beautiful Draa Valley, one of the largest valley in Morocco crossed by  a huge river  called Draa .The  region is  fertile,  located though  the extension  of the river ,palm-shaded terraced farmland which is fed by a labyrinth of irrigation channels. All habitation is concentrated in groupings of houses called ksours, usually on hillsides high above the irrigated farmland,then continue over the High Atlas Mountains to arrive in Marrakech  crossing the high pass of Tichka 2260m

Accommodation

• Hotel or Riad at Marrakech (01 night)

Included Activities

• Agdez – Enjoy the oases of  palm grove 

• Visit of the Ceramic Quarter

Optional Activities

• Lunch at a restaurant

• Dinner at a restaurant

Meals Included

•  Breakfast

Departure after check out, you will be transported to the airport for your return flight home.