ARRIVE IN MARRAKECH, DEPART FROM MARRAKECH - PRIVATE CAMEL TREK
14 nights - 15 day package including 5 days and 5 nights camel trekking
6 nights, 4-star hotel accommodations in Marrakech
2 nights, 4-star hotel accommodations in M'hamid
1 night, 4-star hotel accommodations in Zagora
5 night camel trek to El Roul and Wadi Naam
Transportation to and from Marrakech by air-conditioned TOYOTA LAND CRUISER 4x4
Airport transfers
ALL PRICES ARE BASED ON 4-STAR HOTEL ACCOMMODATIONS
CAMEL TREKS SOLD BY BERBER TOURS ARE OFFERED AS "INDIVIDUALIZED OR PRIVATE GROUP TREKS"
CLIENTS MAY NOT PURCHASE "PLACES" ON SOMEONE ELSE'S CAMEL TREK
THIS PACKAGE DOES NOT INCLUDE AIRLINE COSTS
PRICES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT ANY TIME
ITINERARY
Day 1: Arrival in Marrakech
Arrive in Marrakech. Spend night in 4-star hotel.
Day 2: Marrakech
Marrakech; known as the "Garden City" or the "Red City" (for the distinctive "reddish" dirt from which many of it old buildings are made). Visit the great souk and shop till you drop. Marrakech is probably the most exotic city in Morocco, for it is the meeting place of cultures and continents. It was the first capital of united Morocco in the 11th century and it is where tribesmen from the so-called Bled El Siba (Land of Lawlessness) meet those from the Bled El Makhzen (Land of Government). Situated at the geographical center of the country, it is the first great city north of the Sahara. Visit the Koutoubia Mosque, the original of which was destroyed by the Almorvides' successors, the Almohads, who descended from Tin Mal in the High Atlas and captured the city in 1147. The Almohads soon built their own Koutoubia Mosque, but evidence suggests that this may have been wrongly aligned to Mecca, for a second mosque was completed in 1158 as an extension of the first.
Day 3: Marrakech to M'hamid
Meet your driver at 8:00am and travel through the High Atlas Mountains via the Tizi n Tischka Pass to the city of Ouarzazate and then on to M'hamid, a trip of 281+ miles. On your way, you will visit the "seat" of Glaoui tribal power, Telouet Kasbah, now mostly in ruins except for the magnificent State Rooms of this once great Kasbah which can still be visited. British author Gavin Maxwell accomplished the twofold task of detailing the daily life, customs, and rituals in pre-independence Morocco and of recounting the rise and fall of El Hadj T'hani El Glaoui, the legendary tribal warlord through whom the French ruled one of their prize colonies in North Africa in his famous book, Lords of the Atlas. Maxwell, who died in 1969, considered himself an explorer and wrote of faraway places; in Lords of the Atlas he introduces readers to the harshness and beauty of Morocco. He shows how the blend of Berber, Arab, and black African races created an extraordinary cultural mosaic and explains how the French colonialists recruited the Atlas Mountain tribal warlords to subdue the other tribes. As the chief beneficiary of this policy, El Glaoui was able to rule most of southern Morocco in an absolute fashion, until Morocco's independence from France in 1956 brought an end to the rule of a very colorful warlord. The book contains many superb color photographs that enhance Maxwell's lively narrative.
From Telouet Kasbah we will take the piste (dirt) road along mountainous cliffs high above the valley floor and then stop at another Glaoui Kasbah, Aït Benhaddou, which is the oldest continuously inhabited Kasbah in Morocco (500+ years) and a UNESCO World Heritage Site.
There are no more than a handful of people living here now. But even in its heydays there can't have been more than a few hundred. Aït Benhaddou is a village made up of several small fortresses and kasbahs, each stretching some ten meters into the air. The effect of this has attracted movie makers from far away, and films like Lawrence of Arabia and Gladiator were partly shot around here.
Aït Benhaddou Kasbah, near Ouarzazate
Aït Benhaddou is one of those places you dream of visiting, different, exotic, and it lets your fantasy flow, when you try to imagine life here before. Still some few families live around the kasbahs, but most have moved away, or into the ordinary settlement on the other side of the river. Aït Benhaddou is most beautiful in the hours before the sun sets, when the Saharan sun lights up the red walls of the kasbahs. Continue on to M'hamid where you will spend the night at Chez Le Pacha Hotel.
HOTEL CHEZ LE PACHA: RESTAURANT - GROUNDS - POOL
Day 4: M'hamid
Rest and relax by the pool today before beginning your camel trek.
CAMEL TREK:
Day 5:
Departing from OULED DRISS, you will pass by the palm plantation of the village of Bounou. We also pass small dunes and arrive for the evening at EL ROUL where we will camp for the night.
Day 6:
In the morning after breakfast, we cross a superb desert plate. At the end of the day we can admire a superb sunset on the dunes of NAIMA where we will camp for the night.
Day 7:
After a small walk, we cross the WADI DRAA, longest river in Morocco (1200 km) and continue on to reach our campsite for the night at the pretty dunes of BOUGRNE.
Day 8:
We cross a desert plate to WADI NAAM where one spends the night
Day 9:
After breakfast we return over a superb desert plate and we arrive back at Ouled Driss from which we had begun our desert adventure. Here you will have the opportunity to shower and have lunch at Chez le Pacha Restaurant and resort before returning to Zagora.
In the afternoon the clients will be met by Berber Tours and be transported back to Zagora and we will stop in the town of Tamegroute along the way.
Tamegroute is dominated by a zaouia (religious cloister) of the Sufi Naciri brotherhood that has been a center of religious learning since the Almoravide dynasty spearheaded a wave of religious reawakening in the 11th century. The zaouia also attracts some of the most underprivileged members of Moroccan society, people suffering from mental or physical illness, or simply lost souls who find their way to its peace and charity from as far away as Casablanca . It was also the cradle of the Saadian dynasty. The zaouia incorporates a madrassa which, although now a modern school, has its origins in the 17th century. Alongside the school is a celebrated library (another modern building) which counts among its treasures Islamic commentaries written on gazelle skin dating from before the 13th century. The library is open to visitors.
Also in Tamegroute is a "co-op" of artisans who produce some of the finest examples of Moroccan pottery, jewelry and other folk art in all of Southern Morocco. All of the pottery is made from local clay. The artisans will even show you how it is all done from the "refining" of the clay, to the forming of the pottery on the wheel, to the decorating with traditional symbols, and finally, to the firing of the finished product. Spend the night in Zagora. Dinner with Bouhaddou family.**
Day 10: Return to Marrakech
Leave Zagora at 8:00am and return to Marrakech. Remainder of day free in Marrakech. Spend night at 4-star hotel.
Day 11: Marrakech
Spend the day exploring Marrakech. The Kasbah Mosque and the Saadian Tombs are due south of the Koutoubia, and most easily approached from Bab Agnaou. The mosque is from the 12 th century and is the second Almohad monument in Marrakech, although practically nothing of what you see today belongs to the original construction. Rebuilt for the first time about 30 years after the Koutoubia, but before Rabat's Tour Hassan, it is built from brick rather than stone and is decorated with tiles that have benefited from much restoration.
Next door to the mosque are the Saadian Tombs, built by Ahmed el Mansour, the second Saadian sultan, on the site of an older cemetery which was reserved for descendants of the Prophet. The Saadians emerged from Tamegroute in the Draa Valley during the 16 th century, when Morocco was in turmoil after the collapse of the Merinids. On a wave of religious fervor and nationalist sentiment, they swept through the country, capturing Marrakech in 1524. When the religious leaders of Fez rebuffed their claims of Sheriffian descent (from the Prophet), they made Marrakech their capital instead of Fez. Night in Marrakech.
Day 12: Marrakech
Free day in Marrakech with hotel costs included.
Day 13: Marrakech
Free day in Marrakech with hotel costs included.
Day 14: Marrakech
Free day in Marrakech with "Goodbye Dinner" at world famous CHEZ ALI included.
Day 15: Depart from Marrakech International Airport
PRICES
Prices are based on 4-star hotel accommodations with double occupancy:
$2,750.00 USD total package cost: 1 person, 4-star hotel in Marrakech and Zagora
$100.00 USD supplement added to 4-star hotel package price for riad accommodations in Marrakech only
$3,750.00 USD total package cost: 2 people, dbl. occ., w/1 room, 4-star hotel in Marrakech and Zagora
$100.00 USD supplement added to 4-star hotel package price for riad accommodations in Marrakech only
For a 3rd person add $350.00 USD total
$4,750.00 USD total package cost: 4 people, dbl. occ., w/2 rooms, 4-star hotel in Marrakech and Zagora
$200.00 USD supplement added to 4-star hotel package price for riad accommodations in Marrakech only
For a 5th person add $350.00 USD total
$6,750.00 USD total package cost: 6 people, dbl. occ., w/3 rooms, 4-star hotel in Marrakech and Zagora
$400.00 USD supplement added to 4-star hotel package price for riad accommodations in Marrakech only
The prices for camel treks include:
All 4-star hotel accommodations while in Morocco
Limit of 2 alcoholic beverages/drinks with meals
Airport transfers
Transportation to/from Marrakech by air-conditioned TOYOTA LAND CRUISER 4x4
All food and drinking water while on the camel trek
All bivouac/camping equipment
Toilet and shower facilities in desert
All camels for you and your baggage
Breakfast and dinner during hotel stays
Lunch when traveling between cities
Breakfast only during Riad stays
Your camel driver(s)/guide(s)
Desert entertainment
Included in the package price:
FANTASIA DINNER SHOW AT CHEZ ALI SUPPER CLUB: Arabian Nights-style entertainment: Chez Ali is the original, and is probably still the best. Catering for hundreds of guests each lunchtime and evening, it is a logistical phenomenon on the scale of a mini Disneyland. They may not be genuine cultural experiences, aimed as they are at the coach tour crowd, but the entertainments are fun and you can be sure children will love the fantasia horsemen and the camels, not to mention the laser projected girl on a flying carpet.
DINNER WITH BOUHADDOU FAMILY FOR SMALL GROUPS OF 6 PAX OR LESS: While we advertise that the clients may "have dinner with the Bouhaddou family" the clients DO NOT actually pay for this as part of their camel trek. This is done as an "invitation" only and as a way of showing our appreciation to the clients and there is no obligation whatsoever that the clients participate. The clients are free to stay at the hotel to have dinner, which they are already paying for in the cost of the camel trek package. However, if the clients do have dinner with the family it is understood that they do so in order to "see how one Moroccan family lives" and that they will be participating AS FAMILY MEMBERS and that they should not have any unreasonable expectations.
Note: Breakfast and dinner are included in the in the cost of this package. However, if the clients wish they are not obligated to have dinner or breakfast "when or where" Berber Tours says that they must. The clients are free to go somewhere else if they choose, but there will be NO REFUND or DEDUCTION to the base price should the clients choose to have dinner or breakfast on their own and that is not supplied by Berber Tours.
Not included in a camel trek:
Airline costs or any transportation costs not provided by Berber Tours
Your lunch unless provided by Berber Tours
Any additional guide service or additional entrance fees
Incidentals such as soft drinks, beer or wine with meals unless provided in package price, personal purchases or tips
Single Room Supplement: $45.00 USD per room, per day
Hotels in Morocco:
Berber Tours uses a variety of different 3-star and 4-star hotels around the country for our 4x4 tours. While we cannot guarantee a specific hotel, we can guarantee that ALL of the hotels we use are clean and comfortable and will have many of the amenities you would expect to find in any hotel. The hotels we use also offer either breakfast or dinner, but usually both, as part of the hotel stay. Where available, as in Marrakech, we can also offer at the 4-star hotel package rate, the option of staying at one of the many quaint and comfortable riads within the Medina. However, at a riad, usually only breakfast is offered as part of the cost for staying there.
Hotel standards in Morocco and Europe DIFFER from those in the United States; in most cases, a "3-star" hotel by U.S. standards is the same as a "4-star" hotel in Morocco and Europe.
CAMEL TREKS SOLD BY BERBER TOURS ARE OFFERED AS "INDIVIDUALIZED OR PRIVATE GROUP TREKS"
CLIENTS MAY NOT PURCHASE "PLACES" ON SOMEONE ELSE'S CAMEL TREK
THIS PACKAGE DOES NOT INCLUDE AIRLINE COSTS
PRICES ARE SUBJECT TO CHANGE AT ANY TIME
