Marrakech Desert Trips — Local services in Marrakesh Prefecture

TL:DR Don't go and if you do, expect a lot of suffering.

My friend and I just came back from a 3-day trip to the Sahara Desert. It was a total disaster. If you're thinking of going, choose a different company or prepare to test your survival skills and not get scammed.

Some positives from the trip: The driver drove well; there was absolutely no dangerous driving. The places we saw were all gorgeous. The food was good and fresh. All the places we stayed at were clean by Moroccan standards, and the linens were fresh. The hotel in Dades had a great view and very nice staff. It was like an oasis in the desert of bad experiences. The other people on the bus were nice and friendly. We didn't die.

Unfortunately, the list ofhe problems we had is much longer: Bus. The "bus" is actually a large van, not suited for long-distance drives. It's uncomfortable, and the AC barely works. In the morning, it's tolerable, but as the day progresses, it becomes an oven. Considering you spend most of your day in this metal box, it becomes a form of torture. Road accidents. Our van broke down twice. First time, in the middle of nowhere near the desert, one of the wheels practically exploded, and the driver wasn't prepared for an emergency at all. It took about an hour to fix it. We all had to wait outside in the scorching heat (it was 42°C/107.6 °F) with two kids in our group. It didn't feel safe at all. The second time, another wheel deflated, but thankfully we were in a café, so we waited there. I believe a driver should be better prepared for situations like this if he travels to a desert and prioritize passenger safety. Communication. Communication was another adventure. Our driver spoke English on a need-to-know basis, and apparently, we didn't need to know much. He would occasionally drop some vague information to the front-seat passengers, leaving the rest of us to play a game of "Guess What's Next". Most of the time, he conveniently "forgets" English when you ask questions. Scammers. Everyone you meet on the trip is trying to scam you. The second your driver parks, a "tour guide" jumps into your van and announces he's taking you on a "tour." It happens so smoothly that you don't question it. Most people just follow him, not knowing it's not free. If you do ask how much it costs, he'll say he'll tell you after the tour. If you insist on knowing, he gets aggressive. We had a very frustrating experience with a guide in Todgha Gorge which is worth its own post. Nobody cares. When people aren't trying to scam you, they treat you like a nuisance. This was especially true at our camp in Merzouga. We first arrived at some hotel there, and the staff weren't even aware we needed transportation to the camp. We had to wait an hour in 46°C/ 115 ℉ heat for them to get us a car. They fail to deliver. In the morning, you're supposed to take a camel ride to see the sunrise. Except they forgot to bring a camel for my friend. She spent her desert tour at the camp, looking at sand. The one thing she wanted from this trip was to see the desert, and she ended up with the world's saddest staycation. Limited time in the desert. You have just a few hours in the desert. They bring you 30 minutes before sunset and then leave at 7 in the morning. You don't have time to see anything. Blink and...

Its hard to even really summarise this (3 day group desert tour). Had a great trip, but it could have been made so much better very easily.

The driver was great, but he was a driver and not a guide - he could speak very basic english but not conversational. The driver did basically all he could to ensure we had a great trip though. I did book an english tour so was expecting more information. For the whole trip we werent told what we were doing, how long we would be driving for, and were dropped at random things to look at - which we didnt even know what they were.

The actual two tours provided by a tour guide are basically a scam. The first one they pressure you into buying a headscarf which is totally not necessary for the Saharah for one night. The second was even worse and they take you to a carpet shop for tea, where they start all friendly and then get a bit aggressive. They will not take no for an answer. I was super annoyed at this, they played it off as “we would have a demonstration from a berber woman”, she spun wool for about two minutes then it was just an attempt to get money. I told them about six times I didnt want to buy a carpet but they persisted.

I got food poisoning at the desert camp from undercooked chicken, I was up all night with a fever, told them I couldnt take the camel back in the morning so they CHARGED ME 200 MAD to get driven 15 mins back.

The restaurants they take you to are overpriced, they make out like you have a choice - but most the restaurant were in the middle of nowhere, where their was no alternative.

Our guide for the day was taking orders in the restaurant and I told him I couldnt eat anything on the menu because of my dietary requirements and he told me “fine ramadan for you”. I had to basically tell him that wasn’t acceptable and they needed to make me some food. I was then bought the wrong food, with stuff on the plate I cannot eat - which he then tried to cover up. This was all the guide employed by the company and not the restaurant. The guide also took payment for the meal, and it all seemed a bit dodgy. I found him rude, he asked for a tip, and as soon as he had his money from people he seemed to loose interest.

The whole trip I got less than six hours sleep a night because we were on such a tight schedule. On the first day we were collected at 7:30am, and not taken for lunch until 3:30pm!!!! The whole group was visibly fed up about this and we kept asking for lunch. When lunch comes as well you're lucky to get 40 minutes.

All of this said, the camel ride in the desert was one of the best experiences of my life. But everything around it was chaos. I do think it was good value for money. Just a few simple changes and this would have...

If you’re going to have a successful touring company, perhaps effort should be put into having the drivers learn basic English. Our driver Zac had limited English, impatient and just didn’t listen to us. We booked a private tour so we could control where we would stop. Not every tourist wants to stop to “take pictures of panoramic views”, we’d been travelling a week with another company that I would highly recommend. Zac insisted on stopping at tourist restaurants where he would most likely get free meals (told to us by other driver). The tourist food was horrible, a complete waste of money. We said we didn’t want to stop to visit anything else, but we stopped at a “family run womens coop” rug shop where a pushy man gave the selling talk! We did buy rugs, I’m sure Zac got a kickback. Then on the road, seems like everytime we protested not wanting to stop, his boss would call him, that was annoying and I would have like to have understood that conversation……why did you not stop at ……., they did not want to, how can I make them visit somewhere if they don’t want to go. At the price we paid, water could have been supplied, I basically taught Zac about saying “please”, “thank you” and “sorry”. We transferred from Zac to a new driver 4x4 to get to our camp Oasis Luxury Desert Camp. We shared the drive with 4 Spanish ppl, we were never told it would be shared, as we had booked a private tour with luxury accommodations. The 4x4 was falling apart, no suspension , I had the very back seat, there was a big hump sticking into my back and only 6 inches where I could put my legs, I hit my head on the roof going over a small dune. This driver never addressed me or my friend, but spoke Spanish to the others. The camp was a complete rush, get you in, that’s where sunset and sunrise will be, dinner at 8pm, breakfast at 8am……get your stuff and get out!! But dinner & breakfast were delicious and hot! I gave 2 stars, Zac’s driving skills...