3-Day Desert Adventure to Merzouga Dunes

Magic in the Sahara with Mohamed and Junae Traveling to the Sahara Desert is already an incredible experience in itself, but living it alongside Mohamed and Junae elevates it to another level. More than just a guide and a driver, they became our best allies during this two-day adventure. Mohamed shared the love for his land with us in a wonderful way, always attentive to our needs and making us smile at every stop. Junae handled the vehicle with admirable skill and caution, providing absolute peace of mind on challenging terrains. Their human warmth and professionalism are truly exceptional. We leave with the best memories of the desert and an infinite gratitude for this great team. Do not hesitate to travel with them!

My husband Bryan felt strongly that we couldn't go to Marrakech without making a trip to the Sahara Desert, and I'm glad we found this trip and lucked into having Mohammed as our guide (and "Mohammed 2" as our driver). He's an upbeat guy who grew up in the Sahara and speaks a bunch of languages not because of school, but "the school of life, which is the best school." Riding camels into camp at sunset (and out of camp at sunrise) was surreal. The sand is so soft. The music and dancing was fun, too. It's a loooong drive back on the last day, but Mohammed was good about telling us when we'd have bathroom breaks. We tipped him all of the cash we had left when they dropped us off back in Marrakech...and realized Bryan had left his phone in the van. I contacted Mohammed through WhatsApp and even after three days of driving us all around, they came back with the phone - and wouldn't accept any additional tip (we'd gone to an ATM in the hotel to be able to give more). True kindness and just above and beyond! Thank you!

My husband Bryan felt strongly that we couldn't go to Marrakech without making a trip to the Sahara Desert, and I'm glad we found this trip and lucked into having Mohammed as our guide (and "Mohammed 2" as our driver). He's an upbeat guy who grew up in the Sahara and speaks a bunch of languages not because of school, but "the school of life, which is the best school." Riding camels into camp at sunset (and out of camp at sunrise) was surreal. The sand is so soft. The music and dancing was fun, too. It's a loooong drive back on the last day, but Mohammed was good about telling us when we'd have bathroom breaks. We tipped him all of the cash we had left when they dropped us off back in Marrakech...and realized Bryan had left his phone in the van. I contacted Mohammed through WhatsApp and even after three days of driving us all around, they came back with the phone - and wouldn't accept any additional tip (we'd gone to an ATM in the hotel to be able to give more). True kindness and just above and beyond! Thank you!

Positives: The scenery and landmarks were phenomenal. The local gorge tour guide and the local UNESCO site tour guide were very good. The 2 stars go to this and the other 3 are lost because of the below. Negatives: Where to begin… - Our guide, Ali, did the absolute bare minimum a tour guide could do and was incredibly lazy. Almost no information about Morocco or what we were seeing was provided for over 3 days of tour. We were a small group and he didn’t even try to do introductions so we could know who we would be travelling with for 3 days. We did this ourselves. When asked simple questions like whether we could pay with credit card at lunch, Ali responded with a tone, was condescending and seemed annoyed. On the 12 hour drive back, he gave no information besides how long each break stop would be - didn’t even put on music to pass the time. Ali was basically just there enjoying a trip for himself. He napped the drive back rather than be a tour guide. We have taken many tours in many countries and Ali was easily one of the worst. - The first hotel was nice from the outside and in the common areas but the rooms were awful and comparable to a 1 star motel in the USA (broken bed, broken shower, toilet that nearly falls over when you sit on it, cockroaches, etc.) The dinner we had to eat at this hotel was just awful. We had a Moroccan woman in our group who said this was the worst moroccan food she had ever eaten. Not at all what you would expect from a “4 star hotel”. - The Saharan desert camp “luxury tents” were just regular tents but with private bath. Barely any running water to shower with and the shower didn’t even drain so we had a pile of filthy water at our feet. No towels for 3 hours despite asking multiple workers who would say “yes” and then walk away and forget about us. The beds only came with one blanket which I suspect is not cleaned between guests, and the sheet covering the mattress had a ton of sand on it. The dinner we had to eat at the camp was good and plentiful, traditional Moroccan food. Unfortunately we had to wait 3 hours for dinner and all we were offered in the meantime was broken sand boards. Dinner was only served after 8pm and then they did a Berber party but this went so late until 11pm and we were told breakfast had to be at 5:00am for everyone and we would be out of the camp by 5:30am. The breakfast was sparse and there wasn’t enough for all the guests. We left hungry and exhausted. We went another 7 hours without lunch after. - The camel ride to and from the camp was scenic but the camels were being pulled by the ring pierced into their nose or the rope around their teeth. Many were babies with saddles and humans on top that were too large for the camel’s size. Please take better care of these precious animals. Many of the camel walkers/workers were also children under 10 years old so I question why this company would support child labour. Lastly, Viator says you can take a quad bike back from the desert for 10€ instead of the camel but the camp said it’s 60€. What a ripoff. Those that did it said it was only 30 minutes rather than 1 hour, and the bikes were slow and would get stuck in sand. - When taken to the Berber village for the gorge tour, you will be brought to a Berber rug house where your group will be put in a room and will be given a 30 second demonstration of how a rug is made, and then the door is closed and you have to sit there while they unroll over 20 carpets and are basically held hostage until someone in the group buys a rug. We thought other reviews may be exaggerating this but that’s exactly how this was. We didn’t appreciate this. - The lunches were also just so overpriced and not well cooked. This company chooses the most expensive places to have you eat the bare food and drinks. - Lastly, our driver was erratic and too fast. He wouldn’t stop for speed bumps, animals or humans crossing. He kept getting honked at and flicked off by other drivers. He was however a kind guy and kept the minivan clean. - If you book this tour, note that it is a lot of driving in an uncomfortable minibus. The way back takes over 12 hours to Marrakesh.

The experience was unbeatable and luckily we got the best guide, Mohamed, and the best driver.