9-Day Tour to Ouzina via Merzouga and Zagora

Day 1: Tangiers

You will be met at Tangiers airport by your guide and transferred to your hotel. The remainder of the day you will have at leisure to relax or take a look around the town.

Day 2: Tangiers - Azrou

We will pick you up from your hotel after breakfast to begin our drive via motorway to Azrou. We will stop en route for lunch and will arrive in time for you to explore this pretty town.

Dinner and overnight stay in your hotel.

Day 3: Azrou - Errachidia - Merzouga

Today we will cross all kinds of landscape; plateaux, high mountains, lush valleys and desert and after breakfast we will begin the first stage of this journey with a visit to the last remaining Ancient Cedar Forests which are also home to Barbary macaques.

We will pass through the Ziz Valley and enjoy incredible vistas of the palm grove before arriving at the dunes. We will drive through the dunes en route to your hotel. Dinner and overnight stay in Merzouga.

Day 4: Merzouga - Taouz - Ouzina

After breakfast we set off towards Ouzina following the route of the Paris-Dakar Rally. En route we will stop to take tea with the inhabitants of one of the Berber villages we will drive through and give you a chance to learn some of their culture and customs.

In the afternoon we will arrive at Ouzina where we will check-in at our Auberge. Here we will relax a little in the pleasant, tranquil surroundings. Dinner and overnight stay.

Day 5 : Ouzina - Jdaid - Ramlia - Ouzina

We will get up and enjoy a leisurely breakfast before setting off for the village of Jdaid, after which we will visit the mountains where they mine Baryte, a mineral which is used in the oil exploration industry, for the production of car parts and, in its purest form, in medical procedures.

We will continue towards the oasis of Bourika, considered to be the biggest oasis in this desert and with the largest nomadic settlement. We will have the opportunity to share their home (traditional tent or ‘jaima’), and to experience their way of life and customs while enjoying a mint tea which they will serve to demonstrate their hospitality.

We will leave the Berbers and continue along the course of the Oued, a dry riverbed of stones and sand, until we reach the ruins of an ancient Portuguese settlement. From here we go to Ramlia where we will have lunch.

After a well-earned rest and en route to Erg Ouzina, we will be able to see the mountain shaped like the traditional Moroccan ‘tagine’.

Once back at the auberge we will enjoy a dinner accompanied by traditional Berber music. Overnight stay at the auberge.

Day 6: Ouzina

Today we will take breakfast and enjoy the atmosphere of the desert. We can take an off-road tour around Ouzina in our 4x4 before being welcomed into the home of your guide, M’hammed, to enjoy a Berber pizza with his family. There you will also have the opportunity to have a henna tattoo in a traditional Berber design, while enjoying a mint tea.

After lunch you can relax in the comfortable surroundings of the auberge or revisit the village and its outskirts, meeting more of the local residents.

Dinner and overnight stay in the auberge.

Day 7: Ouzina - Ramlia - Zagora:

After breakfast in the auberge we continue to follow the route of the Paris-Dakar Rally towards Zagora. We will stop to visit the ruins of an ancient Portuguese town and will pass through various Berber settlements traditionally constructed of adobe.

In the afternoon we will arrive in Zagora which is well-known for its production of dates.

Dinner and overnight stay in your hotel.

Day 8 : Zagora - Draa Valley - Alnif - Todra Gorges

Following a leisurely breakfast we will head towards Todra. En route we will pass through the verdant, lush Valley of Draa which is famous for its palm grove; the largest in all Morocco. We will stop to allow you to enjoy and photograph this beautiful landscape before embarking on a scenic route which takes us through the mountains as far as Tinghir.

In the afternoon we will arrive at the beautiful Todra Gorges. In places it is only 10 metres wide yet its walls are up to 160m high.

Dinner and overnight stay in your hotel.

Day 9 : Todra - Rich - Meknes - Tangiers

After breakfast we continue our return journey to Tangier where we will arrive in the afternoon. We will take you to your hotel or the airport, whichever suits your onward plans best.