Travel Experience: Three Days In The Sahara Desert, Morocco 🇲🇦

In June 2019, I took a trip with a small group of women to Morocco. 

As part of the itinerary, we were to explore the cities of Marrakech, Essaouira and Chefchaouen over a period of seven (7) days. Visiting Morocco had long been on my bucket list. The unique, picturesque North African country is a travel hotspot in Africa and is well positioned on the bucket list of most travelers.

The country is also one of the ten countries with claims to parts of the Sahara desert.

The desert spans an area of 9.2million square kilometers, covering large parts of Mali, Sudan, Niger, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Algeria, Chad, Niger and Morocco. With no immediate plans of visiting any of the nine (9) other countries yet, I felt it right to take advantage of my visit to Morocco to see, and experience life in the Sahara Desert. 

The desert spans an area of 9.2million square kilometers, covering large parts of Mali, Sudan, Niger, Egypt, Libya, Mauritania, Algeria, Chad, Niger and Morocco.

With this in mind, I took the initiative to extend my stay and booked a three (3) day tour with www.whattodo.ma , a local travel company in Morocco. As part of the 'Merzouga Desert Tour from Marrakech’ package costing €110, tour participants like myself were picked up from our respective riads (traditional morrocan lodges) and transported over a two day period to the Merzouga- a village that marks the beginning of the Sahara. 

Traveling solo, I joined a diverse group of people mostly from Spain, Germany, Vietnam, China and the USA. Together, we journey through the high Atlas Mountains, through the Roses and Dades Valley to the Merzouga, interspersed with short stops to visit historic sites and locations such as the Kasbah Ait Ben Haddou - a UNESCO World Heritage dating back to the 11th Century and the magnificent Tizi ’n” Tichka collar. 

At the end of day 3, we arrived at the Merzouga village! We disembarked unto camel backs and rode an hour into the Sahara desert where we spent the night in a desert camping place. The highlight of this trip for me, was spending the evening in the company of traditional berbers who doubled as guides in the desert. Barack, our guide, shared with us stories of life in the desert as the landscape transforms in color and humidity across seasons.

As a celebration of our visit and an immersive experience of the life and culture of the berbers, we dined together, danced to rhythms from traditional berber drums, drunk mint tea and then laid out in the open on sand dunes, star gazing. Witnessing constellations in utter silence and pitch black darkness in the middle of the desert remains my most beautiful travel memory till date. 

The Sahara desert is utterly breathtaking, warm, expansive, and a must-see for any traveller drawn to adventure and cultural immersive travel experiences. Also, simply because I cannot leave without sharing resourceful Information, here's a list of absolute must-haves for your Sahara journey, when you do visit.

A LIST OF MUST-HAVE ITEMS ON THE SAHARA DESERT TOUR

• Print out of tour booking confirmation (indicating pickup & drop off locations)

• Sunscreen 

• Hats / Sunglasses

• Light clothing and comfortable shoes

• A refillable water bottle for hydration purposes

• Insect repellant cream/ spray

• A Tagelmust (desert scarf) 

• A portable charging kit 

• An extra camera battery

If you make a trip to Morocco, I highly recommend booking a tour to the Sahara Desert. It is a life changing experience, and should be experienced at least once in every traveller’s lifetime!

Is a visit to the Sahara Desert or any other desert on your bucket list?

Let me know in the comments and I’ll be happy to answer any questions you may have as well! You can also send me an email me at www.info@shesuthman.com with your feedback/queries about the tour listed above. I would love to read them all!