Desert hiking in the Sahara

We are met by our Moroccan friends at Marrakech airport and driven to the city's medina, where we will stay in a riad, a traditional Moroccan house, for the first night. In the enormous Djemaa el-Fna square, the Square of the Dead, located in the middle of the medina, you feel as if you have stepped straight into One Thousand and One Nights. This is one of the largest, busiest, and most exotic squares in Africa, constantly buzzing with life. It is teeming with snake charmers, acrobats, tourists, sizzling grills, musicians, fortune tellers, street dentists, and henna tattoo artists. For centuries, this square has been the scene of slave markets, beheadings, and trade. In the evening, we will have dinner together and get to know each other better.

We have an early breakfast at our riad before boarding the minibus and heading southeast towards the High Atlas Mountains. The drive takes us over the Tizi'n Tichka Pass, which at 2,260 meters above sea level is the highest pass in the High Atlas Mountains. It is beautiful here! Mighty mountains, lush valleys, and ochre-colored Berber villages stretch as far as the eye can see. We stop for lunch just past the desert town of Ouarzazate. This is Morocco's answer to Hollywood, with several large film studios. Films such as Prince of Persia, Troy and scenes from Game of Thrones have been filmed here. We continue our journey over the Ait Saouné Pass and the long descent towards the famous Drâa Valley, known for its date palms. We stop in the small town of Zagora, where the great desert begins. Here we can buy a hamla, the traditional headscarf, and enjoy a last cold drink before we start our desert trek. We meet our invaluable friends with camels for the coming week and set up camp at the foot of Mount Jebel Bani.

We are woken up for an early breakfast and are ready for the big desert adventure. We pack up the camp and the luggage is loaded onto the camels before we set off up the ridge of Jebel Bani. We cross the pass and on to the rocky Faija plateau. We glimpse tamarind and acacia trees in the distance and it is here, in the shade, that we stop for lunch that our friends have conjured up. After a good break, we follow the characteristic Saghro Mountains parallel through the stone desert until we reach an oasis with tall date palms in the middle of all the aridity. Here we set up camp and can enjoy the afternoon exploring the surrounding area. Perhaps we help collect wood for the evening's bonfire. We eat dinner in the mess tent before gathering around a sparkling bonfire under the starry sky.

The day starts down a dried-up riverbed, a fascinating sight and it is easy to walk on the bare mountains. We follow the valley and gradually we have rock formations on both sides. Up until now we have walked on rocks, stones and gravel, but gradually it becomes more and more sand and the terrain changes. We arrive at the camp in the early afternoon and here there are several opportunities for excursions up the ridge of Jbel Abbes. The chef serves a tasty dinner and if you are tempted, you can sleep outside under the open sky and enjoy the stars until you fall asleep.

After breakfast we leave the valley, continue walking along the banks of a dry river and then plunge further into the plateau, before the great dunes of the Sahara Desert. It begins with a large, rocky plateau just after we have passed the El Abbes pass. We have a huge panoramic view of the desert and now we can finally see the mighty Chegaga dunes. We follow a path used by nomads with camels, and it is a challenge to walk under the scorching sun. Under an acacia tree we find shade, have lunch and relax. We continue from the rocky desert to the smooth, fascinating dunes. We accelerate in the sand and reach the amazing Chegaga dunes! We walk to the top of the dunes in what must be the most beautiful sunset in the world. Magical! We have dinner in the camp and share the day's experiences by the campfire.

We get up as soon as it gets light, and catch the sunrise from the top of the highest dune. The view is formidable. After breakfast, we continue our hike in the magnificent Chegaga dunes and hike east of Jbel Abbes in the direction of M'hamid. It is hard to walk in the dunes, so we continue on the plateau in the wide Drâa Valley, and find the necessary shade under the tamarind trees. We eat lunch and fill up our water bottles. Then we walk towards the large dunes of Bougarne. We walk up and down several small dunes and clusters of tamarind trees. The hike is tough, our boots fill with sand and we sink into the sand as we walk. We are in wild and beautiful areas of the desert that are rarely visited, and at the largest of the Bougarn dunes we set up camp. The starry sky is enormous above us and we relax around the campfire,

The desert adventure in the Sahara is over, and after an early breakfast we say goodbye to the camels and our good helpers. We get in the minibus and drive west through the Drâa Valley, on to exotic Ouarzazate, over the Tizi'n Tichka Pass in the Atlas Mountains and are once again fascinated by the majestic mountains and the red and ochre-colored Berber villages. We have lunch along the way, and in the early afternoon we arrive at our hotel in Marrakech. Here we enjoy a well-deserved shower! The rest of the afternoon is at your leisure and you can relax on the roof terrace, stroll around the bazaars or watch the exciting change of scene from day to night on Djemaa el-Fna Square. In the evening we gather for a pleasant farewell dinner at one of the city's good restaurants.

The morning is at your leisure and on this last day you may want to visit a real Moroccan hammam with bath, sauna, scrub, cleanse and body care. Or stroll around the city's medina, which is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and visit the bazaars and narrow streets that are well worth seeing. Here you will find many fun souvenirs and you can do some last minute shopping before we go home. We will be driven to the airport in the middle of the day and will be home late in the evening.