SAHARA TRAVERSE 15 DAYS CAMELS TREK

DAY1 : Arrival Ouarzazate

DAY2 : Ouarzazate-Oum Jrane.
It’s a long ride. Lunch (at own expenses) could be taken in Tazzarine. Try to do this within an hour.

Just before Tazzarine there are prehistoric rock carvings on big stones by the (right) side of the road. Ask the guide or drivers if they know this place. It would be nice to see the gazelle and the elephant.

Buy bottles of water (at own expenses) in Tazzarine. Say 2 bottles per person per day for the next 3 days. In Mharesj you can buy water again at the auberge. It is impossible to take bottled water along for the whole trip. After Tazzarine there will be a jeep road to Oum Jrane. Arrival could be around sunset or later, so it would be handy to take flashlights in the daypacks.

Camp could be on the plain, or near the little sand dunes. Depends on where the camels are waiting for you and on the wind situation.

Upon arrival everything will be unloaded. The drivers should receive 100 dhs each as a tip.

Then there will be tent instructions from the guide. If there are big plastic sheets, then these should be put under the tents. Clients will pitch and unpitch (there may be a better word for this) their own tents. There is no well around, so washing water should be taken from jerrycans. There are little buckets to do this. Dinner will be served in the big tent or outside, if it’s not too cold.

DAY3 :
All luggage and tents are packed before breakfast. Allow at least 1½ hours for this on the first day, when people are not yet in the habit to do so. Breakfast normally takes 30-45 minutes. Inform group of departure times the night before.There are little, scenic dunes to walk on in the beginning. Very good photo opportunities here. After about an hour and a half there will be a break (each morning) to eat dried fruits and nuts which the guide has taken with him. For lunch there is a stop near a family’s farm house. They have a very good well, where pax could take water to refresh themselves . Camp at Maader Bouziane is also near a well. A nomad family lives nearby, and it is sure that the children will visit you. Don’t give any money or presents to them. Sometimes they want to sell fossils. It is OK to do so.

DAY4 :
On this day it is a big crossing from one end of a huge plain to the other. On the stony plateau you should look out for fossils. Take time to do this, it is very interesting. There is a well near the camp. Advise pax not to bathe too nudy. The locals will not appreciate this. Also advise pax to take the washing water away from the well, so soaps etc will not enter the ground water near the well. Camp at Maader El Kbir

DAY5 :
This is a long walking day. First through a pass in the hills, and the afternoon stretch on a plain. Especially the morning can be good for finding fossils. Camp (2 nights) will be near an auberge, built by Brahim and his brothers. Brahim is fabulous! Please give him my special regards (from Taouz). He will bring soft drinks and water. Keep track of consumption and pay on the day of departure. Also order water (around 6 bottles per person) to take on day 8. Camp at MharesjThe auberge has showers, sometimes warm, sometimes cold. Price is 10 dh pp. This is the only shower opportunity during the trek.There is a well nearby.

DAY6 :
Rest day. The day can be spent washing clothes with the local ladies. Having a shower at the auberge, having a drink there, sit in the sun, see how Brahim and his brothers work the fossils which they find themselves. In the afternoon the pax can go for a ride on the camels, through the little gorge. This should be done in 2 shifts, when everybody wants to go. Arrange with guide and camel drivers. Camel drivers should be tipped for this, say around 50 dh each (in total). It is also a nice area to go for a walk.

DAY7 :
First you will walk along the hills to the north, then cross a pass which gives a view of a sandy plain (Oued Rheris). Here you will walk a few hours through very scenic mini sand dunes until lunch which will be taken near a well and an ancient fort on a hill. In the afternoon you will cross a plain (stony, later sandy) until camp near a well.

DAY8 :
Not such a long day this time. Lunch will be had at camp near the « table mountain ». There are nomads nearby to visit, but you could also climb the table mountain for a fabulous view, but only with the guide. Pax could gather dead wood for a campfire in the evening. There is plenty around. There is no well, so pax should take some water to wash from the jerrycans (but just a little).This is a place where normally the camel drivers will prepare « pain de sable », bread baked in the sand. Just check with the guide if this will be the case.

DAY9 :
The longest distance today. But at the end there is a rewarding well at the ruins of El Atrous. The ruined chambers can even be used as private bathrooms.. There may be men who have come all the way from Merzouga to sell beautiful fossils.

DAY10 :
Gradually you will reach the populated region near the dunes. There will be many children who want to sell fossils. Since this often is their family’s way of earning their living, pax could be encouraged to buy these. Lunch will be held in the shade of big tamarisk trees. After lunch you will cross a plain and have camp near scenic sand dunes (Znaigae). These sand dunes are great to watch the sunset from.

DAY11 :
You will cross hills with black rocks and sand (and fossils!). Lunch will be had at the foot of the big sand dunes. After lunch you will cross the dunes and hike a high sand dune to enjoy the view. Camp is a bit north from Chamlia, at Tanamouste, near a well. last night in the desert. Prepare tips for camel drivers (around 800 dh per camel driver).

DAY12 :
Transfer from Tanamouste to Ait Benhaddou. Night in El Barake (BB)

DAY13 : Ait Benhaddou-Marrakech

DAY14 : Marrakech

DAY15 : departure Marrakech airport