Hotel kasbah sahara services — Hotel in caïdat de M'Hamid

In November of 2021, my wife and I stayed a night at Hotel Kasbah and then did a 2 day/1 night excursion with Sahara Services to Erg Chegaga with stay at their Standard Camp.||||We stayed at Hotel Kasbah because we had booked a trip with Sahara Services the next day. It was nice. The room was spartan and spacious. Bed was comfortable. Room was a little dirty and smelled musty, but no big deal. Dinner and breakfast were great. Alcohol is not available. It was essentially what we expected. ||||A primary issue with this experience was the fact that our guide on the excursion didn't speak any English which I believe led to pretty poor service. I was surprised by this because the Sahara Services website indicates their guides speak English and French, all communication with personnel at Sahara Services had been in English AND(!!) the manager at Kasbah told us more than once that we'd have English speaking support. This was a main reason for choosing to go with Sahara Services. Not being conversational in French, Arabic or Berber, we essentially couldn't communicate with our guide and he really only functioned as a driver to the Erg Chegaga camp. Additionally, when we arrived at camp, no one there spoke English either. Other than being shown our room, we received virtually no additional support; which is not what I expect when booking a guide. We very clumsily asked for lunch and some was prepared. Not sure we would have received it without asking. Lunch was very tasty. After lunch, we were left to explore the dunes by ourselves. The dunes are amazing! They're well worth getting here regardless. When we returned, we were shuffled off to ride camels and see the sunset. ||||Now, here's a kicker: When we returned at about 7 pm, we met a guide for the only other group staying at the camp who did actually speak English. He helped us coordinate dinner and a ride back to Mhamid the next day, and built the signature camp fire. His group was high maintenance so we spent very little time talking to him otherwise. ||||Another primary issue with this excursion:||When we asked how cold it would be at night and if we needed a sleeping bag or cold weather clothing, the manager told us there were plenty of blankets and we didn't need special provision otherwise. This was NOT true. It was very cold and there were NOT enough blankets to keep us warm. We slept in thermals and my wife even slept in her hat and down jacket. Good thing we brought cold weather stuff anyway. If you're here during winter, plan for very cold nights. Sleeping bags would have been great. ||||Side note: Sahara Services doesn't provide water (and they say this on their website). We brought some and planned to filter otherwise. However, the tap water in this area is really salty and tastes terrible, even when filtered. Lesson learned: Buy bottled water in MHamid.||||Ultimately, I can't recommend Sahara Services after this experience. I feel very misled as to what it was we were getting for price paid and the experience was subpar with the exception of what we did ourselves. If I had it to do over again, I'd go with a less expensive company that simply transports you to camp and make sure that camp has the...

My husband and I arrived at this hotel already ill and my husband spent the next 48 hours in bed getting worse. The staff were all kind and concerned. Redwan brought a doctor in to check on my husband and she even brought us medicine. The chef was understanding and tried everything he could think of to help and we were eventually able to eat a wonderful soup. After some antibiotics, my husband and I were ready for our Erg chigaga trip. Malik help with logistics and we had a safe place for our surfboards while we were away. The hotel has a secure parking area for vehicles. The lady that cleaned the rooms was also a bright spot in our stay. She only speaks French but that doesn’t stop her from being friendly. She brought a smile to my face everyday. She is also the cat lady of the place. One of the calicos is even a little friendly and will let you pet it once in a while. Redwan and Malik were understanding and flexible if our situation. Our driver was Fatah. Fatah’s was able to tell us about himself and his personal history in the area. He knew a lot about the nomadic people of the area because he grew up while his family was still nomadic. He now lives with his family in the town of M’hamid but he really knows the desert. He stopped to show us fossils and took a picture of us at a beautiful spot. He also pointed out a Nomad school and homes along the way. His driving was excellent. Once at the camp, we were amazed by the running water, shower with hot water, and flush toilets in each tent. Careful though because the water is brackish and can burn if you have a cut. We had informed the company ahead of time that were are vegetarian and they were able to accommodate. In fact the only other 2 visitors that night were also vegetarian so we felt less of a burden not being the only ones. The amount of food they provide is enough to feed a family of 6 so we hope that the leftovers were not wasted especially since our stomachs were still not quite right. We loved looking at the stars before going to bed. The tent was so comfortable that we slept very well that night. Breakfast was delicious. All of the staff were friendly and attentive at the camp. We did get a short camel ride that led us to a spot to watch the sunset. (We climbed to the top of the dune, not the camels. ) the camels were friendly and the guide knew what pictures to take while we were...

We arrived to Mhamid after noon without having anything booked ahead, we just knew we wanted to go to see the dunes. We came to the Hotel Kasbah Sahara and we got an offer for 100€ per person to go to the Erg Chigaga dunes and spend a night there. It was great from the beginning till the very end. After a delicious complementary lunch they took us by a private 4x4 to the camp on the edge of the Erg Chigaga dunes, it takes around 2 hours, we took off around 14:30 or so. The camp is very well maintained, the staff is really attentive and everything is well planned. There was a 1 hour sunset camel ride included in the price, which was fantastic. The dinner was very tasty, it was a soup, then a chicken tagine with many side dishes and zaalouk and some fruits. Afterwards there’s a fireplace and the staff performs some typical rhytms for you, that was also great. The toilet and showers were outside of the tent but it was all perfectly fine and clean. It was cold at night but the blankets are thick, plus we slept in our clothes. Nothing dramatic. Breakfast was great, you get an omelette and then a classic sweet breakfast, juice, coffee and tea. |Overall it was a great experience and I would recommend it to everyone who wants to have an unforgettable memory of spending a night on the edge of Sahara. Very professional approach of...