Tours Travel

My trip to the desert of Morocco from the city of Marrakech

When I remember my trip to Morocco, it is immediately the beautiful Moroccan landscapes that come to mind and the splendid architecture of the buildings. I realized that over a year ago a one-week circuit in the south of Morocco, accompanied by a large group of ten people, of which I have excellent memories. Back on my trip to Morocco …

We land in Marrakech and join our hotel in the early afternoon. I had a bad night because the room was not isolated and our neighbors had a party until the end of the night … Anyway, it was Marrakech!

The next morning, we took the bus to the city of Ouarzazate. The road that crosses the High Atlas chain through the Tizin-Tichka pass is long and winding but the landscapes are very beautiful.

Then we take the “Thousand Kasbahs” road, located in the Dades Valley. Then we see nice clay villages, ksours, kasbahs, these are the characteristic buildings of southern Morocco.

We went to the ksar of Ait Ben Haddou. It is a fortified town on the UNESCO list, which has been used as the setting for several well-known films such as Lawrence Darabie, The Mummy and the Prince of Persia. This is one of the places that caught my attention the most during my stay in Morocco.

The next day, we sank into the desert part of Morocco. The landscapes are arid and truly amazing. Sometimes we meet wandering dromedaries in a large desert area, some hidden vendors that come out of nowhere and discover the habits of Moroccans. I was surprised to see that water was still being collected from a well, that women were washing clothes in streams, and that many villagers seemed to spend the day sitting in front of their houses doing nothing. And the preservation of meat, don’t talk about it!

We spend the night in Tinerhir. In the surroundings you can discover beautiful palm groves. It is also the starting point of the Merzouga dunes, my most beautiful memory of Morocco. We went at dusk so the temperatures were relatively pleasant. The sunset was beautiful, the images of the sunset in the dunes of Merzouga are visible here.

For the rest, during our entire stay, it was very hot, usually 40 °, despite the fact that we traveled in mid-September. We were able to check the current temperatures and the weather in Morocco through Meteovista. We had seen that it would be fine and that the temperatures would be “normal” for the season. Meteovista offers weather forecasts for France, Europe, Morocco and the entire world. We can only hope that it is sunny on every trip!

The next day, still in the beautiful Moroccan sun, we stopped at Gorges du Todra. It is a natural place where the rocky cliffs are very high and close together. Some climbers climb these walls up to 300 meters high. A narrow path allows you to walk along these cliffs. A stream passes.

We sleep in Erfoud, “the capital of the date”, then we take the road towards Zagora. We pass through the Draa Valley, where fortified villages and oases follow one another. We then spent the afternoon and evening in this ancient caravan town that served as the setting for those heading towards Timbuktu.

The next day, we took the road to Ouarzazate: the gate of the desert. This Moroccan city is located at the confluence of the Draa and Dades valleys. Tourists are numerous and the souks are not to be missed! It is also the city of cinema: many films are shot in Ouarzazate and the city plays host to famous actors during filming. We also discovered on the site the sets of the movie Asterix and Obelix Mission Cleopatra. It’s nice to see the cinematography in real life, but it’s disappointing to see how abandoned and in a sorry state they are …

In Ouarzazate, you can visit beautiful monuments and adobe kasbahs, including Taourirt, a UNESCO World Heritage Site.

We finished our trip to Marrakech, where we spent two days.

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