Marrakech to Erg Chigaga Desert tour 5 Days

Morocco desert tours from Marrakech to Erg Chigaga desert tour or Erg Chegaga 5 days. Top Marrakech desert tours to Erg Chigaga. After breakfast, we start our trip throughout Tizi-n-Tichka pass of the High Atlas Mountains. Where hundreds of superb Authentic Berber villages scattered on the mountains. Unexpectedly you will see a fascinating presence of hundreds of houses in Authentic Berber villages which are made from mud and straw; in the middle of nowhere; thousands of satellite dishes on roofs. All this make you feel that nothing has been changed in life here through of thousands of years. Meanwhile, donkeys and mules are still the main means of transportation among these high and tough mountains, since there are no accesses for cars and tracks. After almost three hours driving, we will stop to visit the ancient fortified city of Ait Ben Haddou which was first built in the 11th century and has been listed by the UNESCO in 1992 as a world heritage site. Explore the streets of this clay Kasbah at a relaxed pace and have some tea with the family that still living there looking after the Kasbah. Here more than 300 families used to live, and each Berber family consists of at least ten people. So you would imagine how many families used to live here! More than 3000. We pass by Ouarzazate (Hollywood of Africa, Noiselesslytown, The door of the desert), is a city is situated in the middle of a bare plateau, south of the High Atlas Mountains. Why is this town nicknamed as Hollywood of Africa? Simply because it has been noted as a film-making location, with Morocco’s biggest studios inviting many international film companies to shoot their movies, like : Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Living Daylights (1987), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), The Mummy (1999), Gladiator (2000), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), Martin Scorsese’s Kundun (1997) and Babel (2005).

After breakfast, we drive for 170 Km towards the fabulous Todgha gorges, the biggest and the most fascinating canyons all over the country. We will drive via the valley of roses.We call this rose the Damaskina rose which had been brought from Syria by pilgrims who used to go to Mecca on foot. So on their way back they brought this rose and plant it here in this valley. There are many rosewater factories in the area, where they produce different cosmetic products. We will stop by one factory to see what the different steps of evaporating and purifying the rose water are and what the different products of this good smelling rose are. Meanwhile, on the road, we will go for a quick tea with a nomadic family that still living in caves. Where we will see the natives of Morocco who are indeed Berbers.The original settlers of Morocco and North Africa before the Islamic conquests in the 9th century. We spend the night in Ouarzazate. While we arrive at those great canyons, we start enjoying an hour walking around those fabulous canyons and get thousands and thousands of pictures because it is really something. Overnight here.

We Leave Tinghir and go on our way via N’kob, a village of clay houses, it is a natural oasis located at the foothills of the High Atlas Mountains, where life is based on dates and agriculture. We keep our drive on passing by the noiseless village of Tazarine, which is the capital of Henna since there is a rich agriculture of Henna plant over here. We arrive at Zagora, which is a town in the valley of the Draa River. It is flanked by the mountain Zagora from this town got its name. On the top of the Zagora Mountain, the remains of an Almoravid fortress can still be seen. The exact location of the former Almoravid mosque is still a matter of dispute. Each year the moussem (festival) of the Sufi saint Moulay Abd-el-Kader Jilali is celebrated at Zagora. A well-known sign at the town “Tombouctou 52 jours”, the supposed time it takes to get to Timbuktu, Mali on foot or camel. From Zagora to M’hamid, which is a very modest village.and not much different from the village you have passed before arriving here. From a vast plateau, you will get impressed by the sand dunes of Mezaouria. Tonight we stay in Berber camp and enjoy a wonderful stars view.

From the noiseless camp of Mezaouria, we start driving along sand dunes on a peaceful and fascinating wilderness. Some of those paths were Dakar tracks. From a vast plateau, you will get impressed by the huge sand dune of Chigaga where we will go for a camel ride to meet one of the most fascinating sand dunes sights we will ever see, the superb sunset in the middle of the high sand dune of Chegaga. Tonight we stay in Berber camp and enjoy a wonderful stars view.

From Erg Chigaga we drive along sand dunes on a peaceful and fascinating wilderness some passing by the natural dried lake of Iriki. 30 years ago this lake was full of water and different kinds of birds. After a long way driving on an off-road. We get into the regular road and pass the small town of Foum-Zguid, which is a noiseless and a sleepy Berber town. We stop over in Taznakht. It was a former trading post for this large region. This little Berber village is one of the biggest centers of carpets in the kingdom. We drive back to Marrakesh on the mountains again where we can enjoy again the fascinating presence of superb and scattered Berber village on the road.