Ships of the Desert: The body of the camel (or one-humped dromedary) perfectly adapted to the Sahara desert climate. Its air filter is perched on a long neck, keeping the nasal membranes about two meters above the desert surface, which can easily reach temperatures over 70°C. A glimpse at the condition of the hump permits a...Read More

Who are the Berbers? Perhaps it is easier to describe where they live. Nowadays, they settle in villages – just rarely in tents – in the mountains and oases of North Africa and Egypt, as far as Mauretania? The Sahara is also part of Berbers’ country. The dignified Tuareg, the last of the desert horsemen,...Read More

*Mount Toubkal is a mountain peak in Morocco and is the highest peak in the High Atlas Mountains. High Atlas is the highest mountain range in North Africa and runs diagonally across Morocco, from the Atlantic coast northeast of Agadir to northern Algeria. In Berber, it’s called Idraren Draren (Mountains of Mountains). There are several...Read More

The Central High Atlas, dominated by the Mgoun Massif, offers excellent scope for trekkers, arguably more so than the Toubkal as it is relatively unexploited as of yet. Mgoun Massif is more remote; the rock is sedimentary and forms dramatic ridges and mountains. Erosion has carved some tremendous gorges, with deep-red and orange walls. Some...Read More

The starkly beautiful Jebel Saghro range of mountains continues the line of the Anti Atlas, rising between the High Atlas and Dades valley to the north, with the Sahara stretching away to the south. little-visited and entirely undeveloped for the tourist market, it offers a landscape of flat-topped mesas, deep gorges and twisted volcanic pinnacles softened...Read More

This dramatic cleft cut in the High Atlas mountains is a beautiful Ourika valley (45 minutes by car). The valley sides tower precipitously above the mass of emerald green fields on the valley floor. In summer, when Marrakech swelters in the sun, this small Ourika valley is full of escaping Marrakshis, camping, picnicking, and having...Read More

Erg Chebbi Merzouga is one of Morocco’s two Saharan ergs, vast color seas of dunes formed by wind-blown sand. About 50km south of Arfoud is the tiny village of Merzouga and nearby the famous Erg Chebbi dunes. Morocco’sonly genuine Saharan erg-one of those vast, drifting expanses of dunes that typify much of the Algerian Sahara....Read More

Anyone visiting Essaouira for the first time in spring will be amazed by the mild breeze that suddenly greets them as they get out of the car. This burst of freshness is most unexpected. And even more of a surprise having left the stifling heat of Marrakech 170 kilometers to the west of Essaouira Mogador...Read More