7-Day Morocco Tour from Ouarzazate: Erg Chegaga & Ait Ben Haddou

A day that ends on foot. We follow the road east through Tinghir to the Todgha Gorges, then cross the hamada to Merzouga, timed so the camels leave in the late afternoon and you reach camp as the light goes.

• Morning through the Dades gorge and its switchback road
• Tinghir, with its palm oasis strung along the valley floor
• The Todgha Gorges, where the cliffs close to a few hundred metres apart
• Lunch in Tinghir
• Afternoon across the hamada by Tinejdad and Erfoud
• Arrival at the edge of Erg Chebbi
• Camel trek into the dunes, roughly ninety minutes
• Dinner and Gnawa drumming at camp

Overnight in a desert camp at Erg Chebbi.

The day the itinerary makes room for. With no transfer to drive, the desert opens up past the dune crest: nomad families still working the hamada, the Gnawa village at Khamlia, and the dry lake north of the erg.

• Sunrise over the dunes, then breakfast at camp
• Camel trek back to Merzouga
• 4x4 circuit around the erg
• Khamlia, the Gnawa village, for a session of their music
• Visit to a nomad family living out on the hamada
• Dayet Srji, the dry lake where flamingos gather after rain
• Afternoon at leisure, or sunset from the dune crest

Overnight in Merzouga.

West along the southern road below the Jbel Saghro, a quieter route than the way out, ending deep in the Draa where the palm groves run more or less unbroken for a hundred kilometres. Around six hours.

• Sunrise over Erg Chebbi before breakfast
• Rissani and its souk, on the site of Sijilmassa
• The southern road below the Jbel Saghro
• Alnif, known for its fossil beds
• Nkob and its cluster of kasbahs
• Lunch en route
• Tazzarine and the descent into the Draa
• The palm groves along the river to Zagora

Overnight in Zagora.

South to the end of the tarmac. Tamegroute holds a Koranic library of manuscripts going back to the thirteenth century and a pottery quarter still working its green glaze. Beyond M'Hamid the road stops, and the last stretch to Chegaga is by 4x4 across open desert.

• Morning at the Tamegroute library and its manuscripts
• The pottery kilns and their green glaze
• South through the Draa to M'Hamid, where the tarmac ends
• Lunch in M'Hamid
• Transfer to 4x4 for the crossing to Erg Chegaga
• Around two hours across reg and low dunes
• Erg Chegaga, the larger and emptier of Morocco's two great ergs
• Sunset from the dune crest, then dinner at camp

Overnight in a desert camp at Erg Chegaga.

A desert crossing most itineraries never take: west by 4x4 over the dry bed of Lake Iriqui to Foum Zguid, then north on tarmac to Ouarzazate. Around seven hours in total, a good part of it off-road.

• Sunrise over Erg Chegaga
• 4x4 west across the Iriqui basin, a dry lake bed
• Watch for gazelle and desert larks out on the reg
• Foum Zguid and the return to tarmac
• Lunch in Foum Zguid
• North across the plateau by Tazenakht
• Late afternoon arrival in Ouarzazate

Overnight in Ouarzazate.

A short last day close to Ouarzazate. Ait Ben Haddou in the morning, then the Fint oasis, a green cut in black volcanic rock half an hour from town that most visitors never reach.

• Morning at Ait Ben Haddou, the UNESCO-listed ksar
• Time to walk up through the kasbahs to the granary at the summit
• Optional stop at the film studios
• Lunch in Ouarzazate
• The Fint oasis and its four villages along the riverbed
• The Taourirt Kasbah before drop-off

Drop-off in Ouarzazate.