Five days trekking.
Day one:
A glimpse of the four day itinerary: Draa Valley is the longest valley in Morocco and it crosses through M’hamid Sahara from the middle, dividing it into two parts. The Eastern remote dry part where both ” Erg Zahar” and “Erg Smar” (two of the best remote dunes in Morocco) are located and a Western living and lush part where Erg Chegaga is located.
The whole four day trek is a desert trek that will sail you through the wildness and remoteness until finally you reach the living part of the Sahara. It starts from the camp by the end of the oasis where the Sahara’s golden dunes meet together with palm groves to your final destination which is the region called Camel Feet, where camels graze in the wild.
You will depart this morning from our camp together with the camels like one unified nomadic caravan, leaving all the palm trees of the oasis behind you as you travel toward the first part of M’hamid Sahara .
Right after some hiking on the small salty valley which was believed to have been the old Draa Valley in the past, you and your caravan will face new landscapes of large, barren, rocky plateau.
The destination for today is sidi naji region and throughout the way to it, we will pass by some monuments of old pottery, falling houses of oulad zbiir, where you can see different pieces of pottery all around, those are traces of the ancient civilisations that inhabited the desert.
After a three hour hike in a wild desert we will sit for a quiet and long lunch under the tamrisk tree.
By the end of the day we will have an extra one hour and a half hike until we finally camp between the golden dune next to an open terrain with beautiful panoramic views all around.
Day 2:
Today’s destination will be the spectacular orange remote dune of zahar dune. After your camels are loaded, our caravan focus will be to cross all those long endless empty flat that defies the nothingness of the Sahara horizon. Walking on such a place would provide you with the perspective of being in your own nowhere.
All along the way, the scenery of tamarisk trees is no more existing. The view is more dramatic and open with few spots covered by scrubs.
It is just you and those faithful camels.
After a long walk, you will reach a place named “The Eye of the Chased Gazelle” where you will find a dilapidated nomadic market. This was once the meeting place of nomads trade. You will discover the fallen ksar of a family that dominated Draa Valley tribes. Here you can trace their old water channels, which they used for farming. Until recently this area was completely covered by a big dune, but a few years ago the wind took half of the dune and exposed the site where there is now a chance to collect treasures and pieces of equipment used by nomads in their daily life and ancient wars.
Our Walking with Nomads caravan will move again and getting to the remote Zahar Dune dream will start to come true. The illusionary style of the desert shows us it’s near, but all is trickery, because all the dunes in the desert look close by, when they are actually far. To reach Erg Zahar will require a nomads’ patience until, finally you will be camping by its side.
After having a peaceful break in the shade of the Sidi Omar shrine and enjoying some tea and snacks, we will be exposed to cross the undulating dunes of Zahar and to walk together with the camels up and down on the back of the teenager dunes from the middle to reach the highest point.
Unique dunes with dramatically different shapes will be in front of you to hike in order to reach the other side, but what is not expected is how you will feel after you see the surrounding dunes from the top of the furthest dune Zahar.
Here we will set camp cocooned by the dunes all around us and after some time to relax and soak up the sunset, dinner will be served around the cosy camp-fire.
Today camping is fabulous as we are the very tiny creatures under the shade of the Zahar dunes, our camping will be made somewhere in one of the sunken spots between the huge dunes. The dunes will circle us from all sides, like one unified big sandy nest and we are the eggs inside of it.
Carpet and candles to lighten the world of the screaming sand will be there on top of the next dune for you to offer you the most romantic of scenes and as well to enjoy the remote beauty of Erg Zahar red dunes.
After a delicious dinner under the bright stars, all the team will sit together like one big family next to the fire and exchange stories of the Sahara Desert.
Day 3:
Today the destination is remote Erg Smar, a very distinctive dune with a combination of orange and golden colours.
The place is not far from Erg Zahar but the trek to get there is full of wonders.
We start our hiking today by saying goodbye to the father dune, Zahar, and walk together with the camels upon a plateau toward Draa Valley, the longest valley in Morocco and an ideal provider of water to M’Hamid Sahara.
The route is totally mysterious as you never know what to expect to see starting from the Draa Valley that holds much life on its banks including a forest of tamarisk and plants. Then we pass by the old farmer houses and a wall on its western side by Erg Smar where we will water our camels and some natural shower for refreshment. Then we head to the place where the white dune meets with the orange ones.
After a relaxing break for lunch and a rest on the “Two Colours Dunes” of Erg Smar to discover how magical the desert is when you find yourself on top of the red dune watching the white dune, our caravan will depart again to the upper part of Erg Smar and we will camp among its orange dunes which reflect a golden colour from the twilight. The shadow of the shapes of Erg Smar are breathtaking.
Day 4:
We will wake just after sunrise and after a nourishing breakfast, we will load up the camels and set off across a variety of colourful rocky terrains, leaving behind us the great sand sea of Erg Chegaga.
Lunch will be at one of the most beautiful valleys in M’hamid Desert, which is the Thirsty Valley, a deep sandy valley in the middle of rocky plains. The valley combines big tamarisk trees and sand, in addition to various different type of plants. This is a paradise in the middle of the Sahara.
The Thirsty Valley setting is a melodic desert view that takes the form of a deep, sandy, lush trench. It is very full of big old tamarisk trees conquered by dunes. When you hike up to the rocky surface, the view is panoramic and you will witness the charm of the desert.
The rest of today’s trekking will be done on earth hills and rocky plains. The view after crossing this terrain will be more prolific as you first spot the remote dunes of Bougarn. The name of these dunes means “the horn” and you will see that they actually look like a horn when you stare at them from a distance.
At the end of the day we will set up camp next to this dune with a romantic setting of the pure white dunes above you and the Thirsty Valley beauty behind you.
Day 5:
Bougarn to lbour
After breakfast, camp is stuck. Today’s trek will take its way through a burial land that was once the provider nomads agricultural systems. This is a land that desert tribes have separated based on a systematic dividing whereabouts each tribe dominates its own valley and practices farming inside it.
Lunch will take place just before the Camel Feet region and then after enjoying the shade, another journey starts towards Lbour. Don’t be surprised here to find many camel herds in their natural home.
Overnight camp will take place at Lbour, next to nomads and their camels.
