From desert to sea - 5 days/4 nights - Departure Marrakesh
1st day: Marrakesh – Agdez Morning departure at 8 o’clock from your hotel or riad in Marrakesh to cross the High Atlas Mountains. After the Tichka pass, you leave the main road and take a side road to the Telouet Kasbah, which belonged to the Lords of the Atlas, the Glaoui family, and which now stands in ruins after the last Pasha fled the country following the departure of the French. From there you continue for lunch at Ait Ben Haddou along the newly asphalted connecting road. This is the most famous Kasbah in Morocco and is a UNESCO World Heritage site, which we visit after lunch. Later we continue south to Agdez, where the Dra’a Valley starts. We spend the night in a Kasbah.
2nd day: Agdez – Cheggaga After breakfast there is time to visit the rest of the Kasbah before taking the ancient caravan road between the river and the mountains. On the way, we pass many villages and gardens so that you can gain a better idea of the way of life along the oases. We drive to M’hamid, the gate to the desert, to Erg Lihoudi, where we stop for lunch. Here a two-hour camel ride is scheduled. Later we continue to the Erg Cheggaga dunes (300m) with 60km of off-road driving. This route passes different features of the desert; ‘erg’, ‘reg’, ‘hammada’, oases. These dunes are far away from civilization, in the desert proper ……. and the silence and the expanse of the sand are overwhelming. Dinner and a night’s sleep are in a bivouac of nomad tents.
3rd day: Cheggaga – Taroudannt After breakfast we drive another 90 km across the Sahara over the stony desert, “reg” and “hammada” and across the now dried-up Lake Iriqui. In the middle of this lake we can search for fossils. At the edge of the desert at Foum Zguid, we drive north to Taznakht, famous for its Berber gelims and carpets, where we stop for lunch. After crossing the Tizi-n-Ikhsane and Tizi-n-Tighatine passes, we reach Tilouine, the heart of the saffron growing region. The road takes us onto to Taroudannte where we stop for the night in a riad.
4th day: Taroudannte – Essaouira In the morning a visit to the town known as “the little Marrakesh”. It is spectacular for its massive ramparts and beautiful medina. We climb into the High Atlas Mountains across the famous Tiz-n-Test pass as a far as Tinmal, a mosque open to non-Moslems. From here we take side roads as far as the main Marrakesh – Essaouira road, stopping at Chichaoua for lunch. On arriving in Essaouira we explore the town; the Skala, the medina and all its innumerable shops, the sea front with all its fresh fish restaurants. Here we spend the night.
5th day: Essaouira – Marrakech After breakfast you can continue to wander round Essaouira, getting to know it better, perhaps enjoying more of the fresh fish. Return to Marrakesh, stopping in a forest of argane trees and the co-operative of argane oil producers. We pass many Berber villages on the way.
