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Desert tour from Agadir to Erg Chegaga – overview:
This special Desert Majesty 6 day Agadir desert tour to Erg Chegaga Dunes allows you to make a glorious extension to your beach holiday.
Erg Chegaga is the largest and most remote of the Saharan dunes; a world full of wonder and magic. At your luxury desert camp, you can enjoy a camel ride, the desert sunset and sunrise, an evening of Berber and nomad music around a campfire under the stars.
You will travel to the desert via Taroudant, “the little Marrakech”, Talouine, with its government-run saffron museum explaining saffron cultivation, and Taznakht and its co-operatives displaying the ancient craft of Berber rug-making.
Driving passed the Dra’a Valley’s palm trees, ancient kasbahs and Berber villages you have an incomparable insight into rural Berber life. The Skoura oasis, Kasbah Amredhil and UNESCO World Heritage Site, Kasbah Aït ben Haddou are further examples of Berber life and examples of the climatically adapted architecture. In the Dades Valley, the rock formations are indicative of pre-historic changes in the landscape.
On the way north to Marrakech you drive up the Ounila Valley to Telouet; the famous now-ruined Kasbah of the last full Pasha of Marrakech, Thami Glaoui. Once in Marrakech, you have the opportunity to visit all the main sights of this most famous city in Morocco.
Agadir desert tour to the Erg Chegaga dunes 6 days – highlights:
- Wandering Taroudant’s city walls, visiting Talouine’s saffron museum, Taznakht’s Berber rug co-operatives
- Searching for fossils in Iriqui Lake and enjoying a sunset camel ride in the Erg Chegaga dunes
- Sharing an evening of Berber music and drumming around a fire camp after a traditional dinner
- Spending a peaceful night in a private and luxurious tent in the camp on the edge of the dunes
- Driving up the Dra’a Valley, visiting the Dades Gorges and Kasbah Amredhil in Skoura
- Exploring Kasbah Aït ben Haddou, on elf Morocco’s nine UNESCO World Heritage sites
What is included in this Agadir to Erg Chegaga tour:
- Transport in a private air-conditioned vehicle; 4×4 Toyota Prado TX and fuel
- Pick-up from and drop-off at your riad or hotel in Agadir
- Experienced local English/French/Spanish/Italian-speaking Berber and nomad driver/guide
- Accommodation in air-conditioned rooms/suites with private bathroom
- Overnight in a luxury desert camp in Erg Chegaga with private toilet and shower
- All meals: breakfast, lunch, dinner – with vegetarian and vegan options available
- A camel ride with a guide. And if you wish to do some sandboarding, just speak to the camp staff!
- Luggage service to the camp and all accommodation
- Berber drumming and music
- Free time to explore the sites such as Aït ben Haddou, for walks, photos, and tea/coffee breaks
- The opportunity to ask the driver to stop when and where you wish
- Entrance fees and local guide
- Tea, coffee and mineral water in the desert
What is not included:
- Drinks
- Tips
- Extras
Good to know about this desert tour from Agadir:
- This Agadir Desert trip can be customised to be more individual and special
- Activities such as day trips or a full day’s trekking in the Erg Chebbi dunes can be added to this desert tour
- To go to Merzouga, please visit desert tour from Agadir to Merzouga
- Here is a downloadable packing list to help plan for your Moroccan desert tour
- We require a 30% deposit of the total price to book the car, while the balance is payable to us in the office in Ouarzazate
- We accept payment through PayPal, bank transfers in Europe, by credit card, or cash (USD, Euro, GBP, or MAD)
- We offer a 25% discount for all children under 12, while, in any one family, one child below 3 can travel free of charge
- These prices are liable to fluctuation according to the current exchange rate
- Our prices can be subject to an increase over the busy season, and, in particular, the Christmas and New Year’s Eve period
Prices per person
| No Days | Meals |
|---|---|
| All-inclusive | |
| Total price | |
| 2 Persons |
|---|
| 845 € * |
| 1690 € * |
| 3 Persons |
|---|
| 755 € * |
| 2265 € * |
| 4 Persons |
|---|
| 725 € * |
| 2900 € * |
| 5 Persons |
|---|
| 685 € * |
| 3425 € * |
| 6 Persons |
|---|
| 685 € * |
| 4110 € * |
Desert tour from Agadir to Erg Chegaga – itinerary:
1st day: Agadir – Taroudant – Tilouine – Foum Zguid
Departure from Agadir at 8.30 by 4WD to Taroudant, known as “the little Marrakech”. It is spectacular for its massive ramparts and beautiful medina.
We continue to Tilouine, the heart of the saffron growing area of Morocco, where there is an interesting deliciously saffron-scented museum about growing this “golden” plant.
We cross the two passes of Tizi-n-Tighatine and Tizi-n-Ikhsane before reaching Kourkouda and Taznakht famous for its Berber gelims and carpets and where we stop for lunch.
From here we continue south driving past fascinating rock formations and wider flatter fields as we approach the edge of the Sahara and reach Foum Zguid for the night.
2nd day: Foum Zguid – Chegaga dunes
After breakfast, we drive into the Sahara across the now dried-up Lake Iriqui, which used to be fed by the Dra’a river and be full of fish and water birds. In the middle of this lake, we can search for fossils. The off-road piste takes us past the various features of the desert; the /rocky stony desert, “reg” and the “hammada”.
Lunch will be in Chegaga, far away from villages and ‘civilisation’ and where we are surrounded by dunes stretching as far as the eye can see. You will have a camel ride in the dunes and can watch the sunset from the top of the dunes.
You have dinner and spend the night at a luxury camp with private bathroom, king-sized beds, beautiful Moroccan furnishings and lamps tastefully arranged to enhance your enjoyment of the silence and beauty of the dunes.
3rd day: Chegaga Dunes – Agdez
After breakfast in the bivouac, the itinerary crosses another 60 km of the desert road via the Sacred Oasis to arrive in M’hamid. The old village on the opposite side of the Dra’a River is typical of desert dwellings with adobe buildings and covered streets to keep out the searing heat of the height of summer. A wonderful example of these houses is Abdelhadi’s ancestral home which you can visit.
Later you continue to drive up the Dra’a Valley, the longest valley in Morocco. You travel through Zagora, the largest oasis in the Dra’a Valley, particularly famous for its dates. We follow the ancient caravan route used by the caravans that crossed the Sahara for days and weeks bringing treasures from Mali or Mauretania.
The road passes between the river and the mountains past all the Kasbahs and the local gardens, giving you a clearer impression of life here in this area of Morocco. In Agdez, we stop for the night at a traditional guest house.
4th day: Agdez – Dades Gorges
After breakfast, we visit Kasbah Tamnougalt, the oldest and most famous Kasbah in the Dra’a Valley. Part of the Kasbah is still occupied by a few families, living much as they have done for centuries. Other parts, especially the “Mellah”, the Jewish area, are slowly crumbling after the last people left for Israel at the end of the 60’s. We return about 20 kilometres south to reach the bridge crossing the Dra’a at Tansikht.
We have lunch in a small Berber town, N’qob. Further on we turn north to cross the Saghro mountains via the Tizi-n-Tazzazert pass (2283m), with some strange peaks in the mountains and the “twin towers” of Bab-n-Ali. The main tribe in these mountains is the Aït Atta, who were the last people to resist the French occupation.
We spend the night in the Dades Valley.
5th day: Dades Gorges – Ouarzazate
After breakfast, we continue up the valley as far as the gorges, where it is possible to walk awhile. Before reaching the main road again at Boulmane Dades, we turn right to go off-road past Boutaghar. All along this side road, there are Berber nomads living in caves and you can stop to partake tea with them.
The road continues to the Rose Valley, where there is a Rose Festival each year at the beginning of May. The blossoms are distilled to make wonderful oils, soap and lotions, which are sold throughout the country. The next town on the road is the Skoura Oasis, where numerous ancient kasbahs, some sadly in ruins, stand amongst the palm trees. Here there is time to visit the very interesting Kasbah Amredhil, which used to be depicted on the old 50 dirham note. Finally reaching Ouarzazate, you spend the night in a riad or guest house.
6th day: Ouarzazate – Agadir
The first visit of the day is about 30 kilometres away at Aït ben Haddou, the most famous Kasbah in Morocco and is a UNESCO World Heritage site.
Back on the main road we turn left passing the still intact film set for “the Hills have Eyes” and the new 130-kilometre long reservoir, Tiouine. We reach Taznakht again, and cross the two passes.
We stop to have lunch in Taliouine and continue to Taroudant again following the often dry Souss River and innumerous argane trees on all the slopes of the hill-sides back to Agadir, which we reach by the end of the afternoon. Your delightful Agadir desert tour to Erg Chegaga Dunes comes to an end around 18:00.
