01
Day 1 : Fes - Atlas Mountains - Merzouga
we will pick you up from you hotel or Riad at 8 am for the fabulous journey up into the Middle Atlas Mountains. The first stop will be the delightful town of Ifrane, built by the French in the 1930's and known as Morocco's Switzerland.
Next you will travel through the huge cedar forests around the Berber village of Azrou, The Rock in the local Berber dialect where the famous Barbary apes, actually macaque monkeys will attempt to share your lunch in their natural habitat.
Then, passing through the Atlas Mountains, that are said to hold up the sky, winding your way through forested peaks, twisting mountain streams and springs and spectacular, rough rock walls, you will arrive at the important Sahara's edge town of Rissani, then continuing on south to merzouga.
At dusk, you will find your camel prepared to carry you off into the glorious sunset on an unforgettable ninety minute camel trek through the shifting desert sands before you arrive at a traditional Berber desert encampment to spend the night in a tent, surrounded by mountainous dunes.
Your guide will cook you an authentic Moroccan repast while you just take it easy, watching the stars, so many and so bright, you feel you could reach out and touch them, and listening to the soft sounds of time-honoured Berber music. A truly memorable day.
02
Day 2 : Merzouga - Kelaat Mgouna - Marrakech/Fes
An early start, as you are awoken to experience the beauty of the dawn over the sand dunes, then you shall ride your camel gently back to your kasbah hotel for breakfast, during the ride you cannot fail to notice the shifting and changing of the shadows cast by the dunes, lengthening and shrinking as the day progresses. After breakfast, the journey to Marrakech through the High Atlas Mountains.
Then, it's on to the beautiful Berber town of Kelaat Mgouna, where, if you arrive in May, will be celebrating the annual Festival of the Roses. This provides the people of the region the chance to get together and trade many products that they make from roses including the famous rose water that you will be able to try and buy if you wish. The lovely aroma of this scent will stay with your clothes and skin for long after you've left this charming place and used on one's bed linen it can be a joy to freshen up your night chamber. After this you will continue through the berber villages till you reach tizi n tichka, a mountain pass in Morocco, linking the south-east of Marrakesh to the the High Atlas mountains. It lies above the great Marrakesh plains. then off to Marrakech. Or you go back to Fes from Merzouga through the Middle Atlas Mountains.