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4×4 tour valleys gorges
Tour Overview
Dades valley, gorges, draa valley, sahara desert & ounila valley 4×4 tour
A 5 or 6 day 4×4 tour, round-trip from Marrakech, with overnight stays in kasbah guest-houses and desert camping at the Great Dunes of Erg Chigaga. Outside of summer months an additional night may be spent in the desert.
Included/Exclude
- 4×4 vehicle with driver-guide for 5 days, with collection and return at your riad / hotel (or airport) in Marrakech;
- 3 nights guest-house accommodation, all with breakfast and evening meal;
- 1 night tented accommodation at Berber desert camp Erg Chigaga great dunes, with breakfast and evening meal, drinking water / hot drinks;
- guided camel-ride out from camp.
Morocco Itinerary
You should get out of Marrakech after breakfast. Take a car trip to the Dades Valley from Marrakech.
Cross the High Atlas Mountains through the highest primary road pass in Morocco, located at a
height of 2,260 meters. Along the way, there are verdant valleys and classic adobe Berber
communities. Following the Dades River north of Ouarzazate will put you on the so-called "path of a
thousand kasbahs." The Dades River flows north of Boumalne Dades through a verdant valley
studded with abandoned kasbahs perched on high peaks and surrounded by bizarre rock
outcroppings and cliffs. The Dades Gorge is a stunning chasm cut by the river across a narrowing
basin. Spend the night at a valley inn.
Follow the Todra Gorge from Dades Valley to Zagora (another striking natural canyon cleaved into
the Atlas mountains, by the Todra River). Possibility to get some exercise and stretch. Travel to
Zagora after lunch, passing through the Anti-Atlas area of the Jebel Saghro (a strange volcanic
mountain range) to reach the beautiful Draa River valley (the Draa is the longest river in Morocco,
flanked by vast palm oases and crumbling kasbahs). Spend the night at a local guesthouse nestled
among the palm trees at the Sahara's doorstep in Zagora.
Take a car from Zagora to the Erg Chigaga big dunes, passing via Tamegroute and M'hamid El
Ghezlane (where you'll abandon the paved road after lunch) to get to the Berber desert camp by
evening. In the late afternoon, you may go camel trekking, rest, or hike neighboring dunes (you'll be
around 50 minutes from the region's biggest dune). Relax by the campfire after a full Moroccan
supper and an evening spent watching the sunset.
Each tent at camp has a bed and sheets, and there are bathrooms and a shower house nearby. After
supper, the camp crew gathers around the fire to sing camp songs and perform traditional music.
Enjoy breakfast while watching the sun rise over the desert. Following breakfast, break camp and
exit the desert along the route you used to get there. Take a three-hour off-road journey into the
desert north-west of the city of Foum Zguid, and you'll reach some of Morocco's most breathtaking
secluded countryside (including the vast dried salt flats, at Lake Iriqui, and the imposing mountain
ridges of the Jebel Bani, the Anti-Atlas range). Starting from Foum Zguid, go via Tazenakht and then
over the Anti-Atlas periphery (the Jebel Sirwa will be visible in the distance, to the west). After that,
go to the stunning Ounila Valley, where the World Heritage Site of Ait Ben Haddou is located. Stay in
the Berber village of Tamdaght, not far from Ait Ben Haddou, at a beautiful guesthouse housed
inside a renovated kasbah.
Option to make bread with the nearby neighbors in the morning before breakfast. After breakfast,
you'll reverse your route back over the High Atlas Mountains, stopping along the way at the Telouet
Kasbah and the beautiful Ounila Valley. Cross the High Atlas again at the major crossing (the Tichka
Pass, as on day 1), and then go down into the Marrakech plain just beyond Telouet. Midday is when
you should expect to arrive in Marrakech.
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