Morocco's Sahara Desert Guide
Accommodation is big business here and most hotels have look-outs strategically placed on the road into town. Stay at the superbMaison d’hôtes Dar El Haja, an authentic guest house inside the ancient ksar, where you will experience traditional Moroccan hospitality and food. The best time for visiting the Sahara Desert in Morocco is between October and May. Daytime temperatures are mild and it will generally be dry with humidity as low as 10%, with sandstorms more frequent from January. We spent a month exploring southern Morocco and in this Morocco desert guide, we’ll share with you everything you need to know about visiting the Moroccan Sahara.
Just wondering if we should book an extra day with either our Marrakech or Fes riad. Hotel storage is a very standard option as well, I would say that both are equally safe–things can always happen, but I don’t think morocco tour the odds of theft are terribly high. Our Standard Camp for people who would have a desert experience with good accommodation. At the camp, all Hamas are equipped with comfortable beds and have a shared toilet.
Also, in case you’re wondering, no the desert in June does not cool down enough by 10pm that a campfire is welcome. Since we were the first to arrive, we dropped off our stuff and went over to this little area where we relaxed on the hammocks. Eventually we were joined by a South African family and a Swiss mom and her teen daughters. It looks so remote, i kept wondering through the article, how do they manage the electricity at the camp site. Be careful of other knock-off camps with similar names to Desert Luxury Camp. This is the only Desert Luxury Camp and they are not affiliated with any other camps.Long exposure shot of the Milky Way taken with the Sony A7II and processed on Lightroom.
Due to the low light pollution in the area, night photography in the desert is really impressive and the clear sky at night in Erg Chebbi allows you to count billions of stars. If you are a lover of photography and have good photographic equipment, take advantage of your night in the desert to take night shots of one of the most perfect skies on the planet. As a result, the experience of camping under the stars in the Sahara is known as glamping. The range of amenities varies depending on the company you hire and the type of accommodation.
There is also a separate dining salon tent and outdoor space for relaxation and enjoyment of nomad dance and singing performances around the campfire. Your stay at the Traditional Berber Desert camp includes all meals, drinking water, hot drinks, and a guided camel ride. Usually, you can do a dromedary ride at sunset on the way to the tent camp where you will spend the night. If you don’t feel like staying a night in the desert, you can simply book a day trip which will then take you back to your hotel in Merzouga. Ask our Morocco desert tours specialists to tailor bespoke and seamless Morocco desert camping tours.
Just one example I’ll give is that he kept talking over us, even when I first spoke with him on the phone. I remember asking him the cost of the camp multiple times before he finally told me. We opted out of taking the camels back and instead took a jeep back, which was much kinder to our thighs and bums. The stars in the desert really are something else, and it reminded me of stargazing in the Atacama Desert, though much warmer.
It was quite possibly the most magnificent view I’ve ever seen. I was on a weeklong tour around Morocco with Intrepid Travel and I already knew that camping in the Sahara would be the highlight of the trip. I’m still not sure if our drivers were teasing us or we were genuinely lost but I’m sure we passed the same sand dune on more than one occasion! I have no idea how you differentiate one sand dune from another but the surrounding sand dunes were beginning to look worryingly familiar. You will want warm conditions when spending a night beneath the stars during a hike in the High Atlas Mountains. You can expect an average of 17°C (64°F) at elevations of 1800m above sea level in summer.
As we embraced this moment, we discussed how grateful we are that such places like the Sahara still exist to showcase nature at its fullest, undiluted potential. The following photos will give you an inkling of the beauty and what you’ll see when you visit the Sahara Desert. Note that in the winter months it’s frosty first thing in the morning.
Mohamed, a native of M’Hamid, is an important promoter and supporter of M’Hamid el Ghizlane, the Sahara Desert and tourism in Morocco. His experience is varied, as the owner of desert camps, hotels, riads, transport and tour agencies, and acquiring and selling the unique fossils and stones of Morocco. Enjoy a picnic lunch on the way and continue to your campsite deep in the dunes. Enjoy dinner and spend the night under the stars or in our mobile tents. Arrive in time for a sundowner over the high dunes followed by dinner, music and night under the stars or in luxury tents.
I’m a single woman too, so we have to find tour companies that are safe for women travelers. The Sahara camel trek/camping was definitely the highlight! Waking at sunrise on the dunes was absolutely beautiful. Standard camps provide camel treks to and from camp and some migh offer possibility of sand boarding for additional cost. Well, there is big differences between standard and luxury camping. Though needless to say some luxury camps are really not luxury, but rather transition between standard and luxury in spite of calling themselves luxury.
Definitely wear long pants to avoid chafing on the inside of your legs, plus bring closed-toe shoes. Bringing a pair of open-toe shoes also came in handy when I arrived at the camp. They let my feet breathe while protecting them from the sand that was still quite hot. Obviously, for the desert to have such a majestic isolation, you have to hop on quite a long bus ride to get out there. Though the mileage seems not all too bad, driving over the Atlas Mountains’ passes and one-lane highways can fill a large portion of the day. Even with the sizzle of the Saharan heat, the 9,200,00 square kilometres of majestic desert terrain will send shivers down your body.
Camping, and in Morocco in the Sahara desert, is really a dream of mine. It is only 5 minutes’ drive from Merzouga Lake and features a library, a sun patio, and a sun deck. The Sahara Desert captures the imagination of many people, and once there, you’ll understand why.