We pick you up from your hotel or riad in Marrakesh and depart at 8am to travel into and across the High Atlas Mountains. After a spectacular drive on the Tizi-n-Tichka pass, we take a side road to the Telouet Kasbah, a superb example of Moorish architecture, 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 The Kingdom of Morocco. From there we continue on to lunch at Ait Ben Haddou. This is the most famous Kasbah in Morocco and is a UNESCO World Heritage site. Many films have been shot in Ait Ben Haddou including Gladiator, Prince of Persia and parts of the series Game of Thrones. Later we continue south to Agdz, where the Dra’a Valley starts. We spend the night here.

After breakfast there is time to further explore the Kasbah before taking the ancient caravan road between the river and the mountains. On the way we pass many villages, farms, palmeries and gardens so that you can gain a better idea of the way of life in southeastern Morocco. We continue through Zagora oasis renown for having the best dates in the country and onto Tamagroute. Here we visit a traditional ceramic workshop, display centre and Quranic library. We then drive to M’hamid, the gateway to the Moroccan Sahara desert and stop for lunch.

We then make our way across another 60km through the varying features of the desert; ‘erg’, ‘reg’, ‘hammada’, oasis to the Erg Chegaga dunes. These are the greatest dunes in Morocco and are approximately 300m high and 35km long. You will go via camel to the bottom of the dunes for a wonderful view of the setting sun, before returning to the bivouac in nomad tents. Here we have dinner, be entertained by local musicians then spend the night.

After breakfast at Chegaga, we travel the desert by 4WD, which takes us through a further 90km travelling by Lake Iriqui, the desert mountains and fossil sites. Lunch will be in Foum Zguid, the first village after the desert, where it is also possible to freshen up with a shower. From here the drive back to Marrakesh via the village of Taznakht, famous for its Berber carpets and rugs. We stop at a local Berber carpet cooperative where local female artists create their artwork and sell direct to the public. We can watch the process from dying the raw wool, spinning the fiber into strands before weaving the carpet or rug. We then return north over the Tizi-n-Tichka pass to reach our destination of Marrakesh in the early evening.