This 2-day Ouarzazate to Merzouga dunes tour is to ne of the most popular Moroccan Sahara dunes destinations. It along the southern edge of the High Atlas Mountains to the desert.
This trip to the famous red sands of Erg Chebbi in Merzouga is spectacular through the variety of landscapes, life styles and experiences you will have. Riding camels around the towering dunes here is an unforgettable adventure. It is made more perfect by watching the slow burning sunset, which even the desert nomads enjoy day after day. The day comes to a glorious end round a camp-fire and nomad music. At night you have a comfortable private tent to slumber in as your mind absorbs all the wonders you have witnessed during the day.
On route to the desert, you have these experiences: Skoura’s green oasis and the fortified, multi-generational home of Kasbah of Amredhil, the sweetly scented Damascene rose cosmetic products in the Valley of the Roses, the unusually shaped rocks in the Dades Valley, and taking a walk by the river.
The second day has new highlights awaiting: the spectacle of the sunrise, stopping by villages and a mountains pass featured in a Hollywood blockbuster, driving through the Dra’a Valley, passed it 44 types of palm trees, adobe Kasbahs and Berber villages.
Desert Tour 2 days Departure from Ouarzazate
Morning departure to the Dades Gorge, passing the Oasis of Skoura, where numerous ancient kasbahs, some sadly in ruins, stand amongst the palm trees. Kasbah Amredhil waits for a very worth-while visit. It has been beautifully restored and gives a clear idea of life within such housing. It is made entirely of adobe, an excellent building material; warm in winter and cool in summer, due to the thickness of the walls.
From here, our route takes us through Kelaa Mgouna, the Valley of Roses, where we stop to see the cosmetic articles made locally from the valleys abundant roses. These products are well-known throughout Morocco and are highly valued.
You stop in the beautiful and always green Dades gorge for lunch. The area, which now forms the Dades Gorges, lay at the bottom of the sea millions of years ago. Great quantities of sediment were deposited around giant coral reefs, and over time this material became compacted into a variety of sedimentary rocks such as sandstone and limestone. Eventually, the movement of the earth’s crust caused the region to rise above the sea, forming the Atlas Mountains and surrounding landscape.
The trip continues via the Ziz Valley, famous for the Date Festival each November, Erfoud, well-known for the millions of fossils found in the area and Rissani, where the River Ziz disappears. Between the 14th and 18th centuries, it was the location of the famed desert capital, Sijilmassa, where fortunes in gold and slaves were traded using caravans that crossed the Sahel. In the afternoon you can take a one – one & a half-hour camel ride in the Sahara. The sunset from the top of the dunes is spectacular (250m).
You have dinner and spend the night at an authentic nomad camp with shared bathroom facilities and a private tent for each couple or family.
If you wake up early enough, you can watch the spectacle of the sunrise, when the colour of the dunes and the play of shadows are an awesome sight. The itinerary continues to the Draa Valley, via the village of Tazzarine (featured in the film Babel), and on to NQob for lunch.
In the afternoon the journey takes us to Tansikht, where we cross the Dra’a River and turn north along the ancient caravan route to understand and appreciate local life in the oases with their huge palm trees and ancient villages.
At Agdez, at the head of the Draa Valley, there will be a visit to Kasbah Tamnougalte, the oldest kasbah in the valley and where some 13 families live, before returning to Ouarzazate, via the mountain pass of Tizi-n-Tinfifte with its amazing rock formations in the mountainsides (1660m). Your Ouarzazate to Merzouga dunes tour comes to an end around 18:00.
