Merzouga is why most Hong Kong itineraries head south at all. Orange dunes standing 150 metres above flat stony desert, camel trains at dusk, and a silence at night unlike anything else - it is the photograph people book the trip for, and it delivers.
It is also nine hours from Marrakech and eight from Fes, which shapes everything around it. Practically nobody drives it in one push and nobody should. Two days each way with a night in Dades or Ouarzazate is the standard, and it converts the journey into the best part of the trip: Tizi n Tichka at 2,260 m, the kasbah at Ait Ben Haddou, the Route of a Thousand Kasbahs, the Todra Gorge.
For photographers the timing is everything and no scheduled tour will accommodate it. First light on the erg lasts about twenty minutes; the kasbah at Ait Ben Haddou wants the last hour of the afternoon; the Todra Gorge is at its best when the sun is high enough to reach the floor. A private driver is the only way to be in the right place at each of those moments.
Why hire a driver here
- Nine hours out of Marrakech and eight out of Fes, so two days each way
- Sunrise and sunset at the erg have to be driven to, not estimated
- At 2,260 m the Tizi n Tichka occasionally shuts for a few winter hours
- Extended runs without a filling station, a shop or any coverage
- Where the road gives out, camel or 4x4 takes over to reach the camps
Included in every booking
- Vehicle, driver, fuel and all road tolls for the entire journey
- Everything the driver spends on his own accommodation and food
- Pickup from Marrakech, Fes, Ouarzazate or anywhere along the road
- Time at Ait Ben Haddou, the Todra Gorge and the Draa palm groves
- Pre-dawn and late departures planned around the light
