# Sahara & the South Kasbahs, the Draa valley and the dunes of Erg Chebbi beyond the High Atlas. Morocco's south is defined by contrast. The land grows drier as you travel from the High Atlas, the ochre earth giving way to rocky hammada, then — suddenly — to sudden corridors of green where rivers break through and date palms crowd close. It is a region where the word "desert" does not mean emptiness but a particular kind of fullness: sky, light, silence, and a harsh hospitality that shapes everything that lives here. ## Kasbah Country The landscape is punctuated by **kasbahs** — fortified earthen compounds built from the local mud and straw, rising in towers and crenellated walls that were once the only protection for families, their grain, and their livestock. Many now stand partially ruinous, their upper storeys crumbled, but the best have been sensitively restored. Walking through their low doorways into cool interior courtyards, you sense how architecture here was shaped entirely by climate and security. The Draa Valley stretches south-east from the foothills, a long green scar of date-palm gardens and small settlements. The road through it passes a string of kasbahs at irregular intervals, some still inhabited, others occupied by the swallows that nest each spring in their upper rooms. Beyond Zagora, the palms thin, the river dries to a rocky bed, and the desert proper begins. ## Sand and Stone The dunes of **Erg Chebbi** near Merzouga are the most accessible Saharan dunes in Morocco. The largest rise over 150 metres; the wind reshapes them constantly, erasing the tracks that cross them by morning. At dawn they hold a pale, cool light; by mid-afternoon they are hot underfoot and deep gold in colour. A night spent in a desert camp away from the road brings the full silence — not an absence of sound but a presence of quiet so complete it takes time to become accustomed to. Ouarzazate is the practical hub of the region, its streets built from the same rose-coloured local stone that gives the town its warmth. Film studios on its edge have been operating since the 1950s; the town has a lived-in market character rather than a museum one. Nearby, the **ksar of Ait Benhaddou** rises from the river plain in a dense cluster of towers and outer walls — a fortified village that has appeared in dozens of films and remains partly inhabited, its streets a close, cool labyrinth in summer heat. ## Gorges and Rose Gardens The **Todra Gorge** is a sharp change of register. A river has cut a canyon through the plateau, leaving walls that rise 300 metres above a narrow floor. The gorge narrows to ten metres across in places; the temperature drops noticeably in its depths. A path follows the river through the canyon and emerges into the valley beyond, where gardens of olive, almond, and carob grow in the shade of the gorge's mouth. The **Rose Valley** around Kelaa des M'Gouna produces the damask roses that are harvested each May and processed into rose water and attar of roses. The industry is modest in scale — cooperatives and small family operations — and the smell of roses in bloom during the harvest season is one of the region's most unexpected and immediate pleasures. ## Places in Sahara & the South - Aït Benhaddou - Merzouga ## Tours that visit Sahara & the South No tours visit this place just yet. ## Before you book you should know ### Is this trip right for you? Our groups are capped at eight travellers, which is about a third of what the industry calls a small group. Eight people share one vehicle, one table at dinner and one guide's attention, and the day can change on the road without anybody being left behind. If you are looking for a coach, a fixed script and a microphone, this is not that. Most days involve real walking, often on ground that was laid two thousand years before walking shoes: marble worn smooth, cobbles, uneven steps and long site paths with little shade. Bring shoes you can spend a morning in. Some days move between regions and are largely a drive, with stops along the way. Summers are hot — well over 35°C inland — and winters are colder than most people expect, so layers, a hat and sunscreen earn their place in the bag whatever the month. How demanding a particular trip is, is written on the trip itself: the physical rating in the header, and the day-by-day itinerary above. ### Rooms, and travelling on your own Trip prices are per person, sharing a twin room. Each traveller picks their own room while booking, so a party can mix the three: - **Twin share** — two single beds, shared with someone you are travelling with or with a traveller of the same gender. - **Travelling as a couple** — one double room. - **Individual room** — a room of your own, for a single supplement on top of the trip price. Availability is limited, and the supplement for a given date is shown next to the option when you book. Solo travellers are welcome on every departure, and most of our groups have one or two aboard. ### Accommodation The hotels named in an itinerary are a guideline rather than a guarantee. Where one is full, or has dropped below the standard we booked it for, we substitute a property of a similar standard in the same area — we would rather change the hotel than the trip. Check-in is usually mid-afternoon. If you arrive early we will ask for the room, but no hotel can promise one before its own check-in time; luggage can normally be left at reception in the meantime. If you want the room from the night before, ask us and we will add the extra night to your booking. ### Passports, visas and insurance Entry requirements depend on your nationality and change without much notice, so the only reliable source is the official one: the government of the country you are travelling to, and your own foreign ministry's travel advice. Check both before you book a flight. Many countries ask for a passport valid for at least six months beyond your travel dates, and for blank pages. It is worth looking at yours now rather than at the airport. We ask every traveller to carry travel insurance covering medical treatment and repatriation, and we would strongly encourage cover for cancellation and for your luggage as well. ### Your departure is guaranteed — the day can change Once a departure is on the calendar it runs. We do not cancel a trip for want of a minimum number of bookings, so a booked date is one you can plan flights and leave around. What can move is the shape of a day. Museums and archaeological sites change their hours, roads close, weather turns, a local holiday lands in the middle of the week. Where that happens your guide reorders the day, or swaps a stop for one of the same weight, and tells you why. Changes to a booked itinerary are covered by our Booking Terms & Conditions. --- Full page: https://www.smallvoyage.com/destination/sahara-desert/