2 days Desert tour from Ouarzazate to Erg Lihoudi dunes

You travel south to Agdez at 08.30 in the morning, crossing the Tizi-n-Tinfifte pass in the Anti-Atlas Mountains. As you descend down the pass, you’ll see right once how big the oasis below is. There are thousands of these palm groves in the Dra’a Valley, which yield an astounding 44 different types of dates. You may get the freshest dates here during the couple of months that the date harvest lasts, which starts as early as September. You keep driving down the historic caravan path, away from the main road.

After a while, you will reach the settlement of Tinsouline, from where you may take a short off-road drive to see the amazing rock carvings of long-extinct Moroccan species. These Foum Chenna carvings date back approximately 4,000 years. After that is Zagora, the biggest town in the region, where we will have lunch. You can appreciate the size of the Zagora oasis as you drive out of town by taking a quick detour over a tiny pass.

We travel even further south in the afternoon to M’hamid, which is the exact entrance to the desert and the terminus of the paved road. This is the beginning of the Sahara. Here, a camel ride takes you to the camp where you may see a breathtaking sunset. Nomad music, enjoyed around a campfire after dinner, adds to the desert’s exotic charm. You can feel as though you could take the stars out of the sky as they sparkle down upon you from above. Your phone’s stargazers app will assist you in finding them.

You eat and spend the night in an opulent desert camp featuring king-sized mattresses, a private shower, exquisite Moroccan furnishings, and lamps that are thoughtfully placed to maximize your enjoyment of the solitude and beauty of the dunes.

We suggest visiting the Erg Chebbi dunes in Merzouga during the summer months as Erg Lihoudi can get extremely hot at times.

If you get up early, you may witness the sunrise and the gradual transformation of the dunes’ color and the way shadows play. There will still be time for a lengthy stroll in the dunes after breakfast before departing the camp.

We pass to Tamegroute on the way back in order to visit the potteries. Their emerald finish, which you will often find elsewhere in Morocco, has made them famous throughout the country. Tamgroute features an old Quranic library with beautiful handwritten Arabic literature, as well as a tiny medina of covered desert lanes.

The route then heads back north to Tamnougalt Kasbah, which is located outside of Agdez. It is the oldest Kasbah in the Dra’a Valley and among the oldest in the southern region of Morocco. By late afternoon, we arrive at Ouarzazate.