Morocco 2025 Day 7: Merzouga to Sahara Desert

Sunday, June 22, 2025

Morocco 2025 Day 7: Merzouga to Sahara Desert

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AhPek Biker - Riding Adventures

Morocco 2025 Day 7: Merzouga to Sahara Desert

Morocco 2024 Day 7: 21st April (Monday)

Small Group (Non-cycling) Tour of Morocco.
Day 7: Merzouga to Erg Chebbi Desert:

Riad Serai Merzouga>Merzouga Lake>Mifis Mine>Musica de gnawa Khamlia>Erg Chebbi Sand Dunes>Caravanserai Desert Camp.

This is page 7 of a 13-page blog. Click Here To Go To Title Page.
< D6: Merzouga | Go to Other Days | D8: Dadès Gorges >

Route recommendations, here are some tips on travelling to and around Morocco:

1. Traffic Directions!

Driving in Morocco is left-hand drive, and driving is on the right-hand side of the road. Do look to the correct side when crossing roads.
Speed limits are between 60 km/h within urban areas, 100 km/h outside urban areas, including expressways, and 120 km/h on highways. Do adhere to these limits, as often police are monitoring with radars; our driver-guide was careful about this.

2. Immigration & Customs Requirements

For Morocco, citizens of Malaysia do not need a visa to enter for travel purposes and can stay in the country for 90 days without a visa. Click here for visa requirements for other countries.

3. Getting to and around Morocco.

Morocco is easily accessible by air as most major airlines serve Morocco and have flights to major cities such as Casablanca, Rabat and Marrakech. We flew return via Emirates to Casablanca with transit in Dubai at a fare of MYR4,430 per pax. Do note that Emirates now charges for seat selection.
For ground arrangements, we booked a 13-day guided tour through Tenere Tours at €1,350 per pax. This included stays at comfortable hotels and riads, and a night at a caravanserai luxury camp in the desert. Breakfast was included, and also dinners at the Dades Valley Hotel, Merzoga Riad and Desert Caravanserai Luxury Camp.
The guided tour included a 9-seater van with a driver-guide to take the six of us to/from the airports, and from city to city. And also the camel ride to the desert camp. We paid extra for walking tours at the Fez Medina and Marrakech Medina at €85/group/city.

For out-of-pocket spending, we exchanged Euros to Moroccan dirhams (MAD) at local money-changers in Rabat and Rissani. As a contingency, we brought along our Wise debit cards, do note that this may not be acceptable at many places.

4. Places & Things of Interest

En route were several places of interest, some of which we visited and others we did not for lack of time (Note: click on GPS coordinates for a directional map to respective places):
a. Erg Chebbi Sand Dunes (GPS: 31.16039, -3.97657) at Merzouga (GPS: 31.08016, -4.01336); good scenic views of these dunes from the Erg Chebbi Viewpoint (GPS: 31.24927, -4.03548).

b. Merzouga Lake (Lac Dayet Srij) (GPS: 31.09327, -4.05166).
c. Mifis Mine (GPS: 31.03718, -3.95143).
d. Khamlia Black Village (GPS: 31.02603, -4.0057).
e. Musica de gnawa Khamlia (GPS: 31.03125, -4.00465).
f. Merzouga ATV quad (GPS: 31.13549, -4.02265).
g. Johanna and Lahcen Mahmoudi Gallery (GPS: 31.03384, -4.00547).
h. Sunset Camel Ride by Marrakech Tour Company (GPS: 31.07477, -4.01040) at Erg Chebbi Sand Dunes.

i. Middle Atlas Mountains (GPS: 33.5000, -4.5000).

j. High Atlas Mountains (GPS: 31.42999, -6.93999).

5. Food

a. Breakfast

Inclusive hotel Western & Moroccan breakfast at Riad Serai Merzouga (GPS: 31.13338, -4.01859) in Merzouga, including Mlewi Flat Bread, Khubz Moroccan Bread, and Meskouta Moroccan Cake.

b. Morning Tea

Maghrebi Mint Tea at an authentic Berber Camp (GPS: 31.05622, -3.98048) at Merzouga.

c. Lunch

Riad Serai Merzouga (GPS: 31.13338, -4.01859) in Merzouga: Moroccan Chicken Skewers.

d. Afternoon Tea
Welcome Maghrebi Mint Tea & Moroccan Fekkas Biscuit with Almonds and Raisins at the Caravanserai Luxury Desert Camp (GPS: 31.05993, -3.98294)

e. Dinner

Inclusive dinner at the Caravanserai Luxury Desert Camp (GPS: 31.05993, -3.98294): 1. Harira (Lentil) Soup, 2. Vegetable-rice salad, 3. Aubergine with Cheese, 4. Tajine Chicken, 5. Mix fruit dessert, and 6. Khubz Moroccan Bread.

6. Accommodations

One night at the Caravanserai Luxury Desert Camp (GPS: 31.05993, -3.98294) (Luxury Camp Photo Gallery) at Merzouga.

7. Dressing

I brought two long pants along and four shorts. In the end, I didn't wear the shorts as the weather can get quite cold in the morning and evenings, especially with stronger winds at the seaside.

When entering mosques, men can wear shorts, but ladies have to cover up their legs and heads. Scarves and long pants are recommended; if wearing shorts, bring a sarong or something to cover one's legs.

8. Communicating with Each Other

When travelling in a group, it's important to be able to communicate with each other, especially if one gets lost from the rest.

Upon arrival at Casablanca Airport, booths selling pre-paid sim cards can be found just before exiting the luggage reclaim area. There were booths selling Maroc, Orange, and Inwi pre-paid tourist phone sim cards. We opted for the Maroc sim card as it provides better coverage even in remote areas, which I found to be true, and it only had poor or no signal at remote stretches far in the hills or desert. We got the 15 Gb card, which is valid for one month for 100 MAD. Should this be inadequate, memory can be topped up at any phone shop.

9. Communicating with Locals

At favourite tourist destinations, markets and medinas, many locals speak fairly good English, some French and Spanish. At the smaller towns, locals speak some rudimentary English, and our local guide was most helpful in translating for us.

10. Weather

The average day and night temperatures in Merzouga were 25°C and 11°C.

Useful weather forecast sites for Merzouga are AccuWeather. For more detailed weather, including cloud cover and wind speed, use Weatherspark and Ventusky.

11. Navigation

I used MapMyRide to track our routes and stops. Geo-tagging of places of interest was via FaceBook or Google Maps.

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PRELUDE

Yesterday, we took a long (almost 500km) drive to Merzouga, set on the far western edge of the Sahara Desert. En route, we stop for a short visit at Ifrane, one of the coldest places in the country, touted to be the Switzwerland of Morocco. Further along, we passed by the Ziz Valley‎ with a vast plain holding Morocco's largest palm groves. Towards evening we on arriving at Merzouga we were enraptured by the grand views of the Erg Chebbi Sand Dunes.

This morning will be some music and dancing at Merzouga, and visits to a cosmetic mine and some scenic viewpoints. We close the day with a sunset camel ride in the desert, followed by some campfire fun.

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DAY 7: MERZOUGA TO CARAVENSERAI DESERT CAMP

Small Group (Non-cycling) Tour of Morocco.

Day 7: Merzouga to Erg Chebbi Desert:

Riad Serai Merzouga>Merzouga Lake>Mifis Mine>Musica de gnawa Khamlia>Erg Chebbi Sand Dunes>Caravanserai Desert Camp.

(Click here for the Morocco Day 7 - Merzouga>Caravanserai Desert Camp Route Map)

Most of the posts below are linked to my Facebook postings during the trip and are embedded here with some comments. (NOTE: Click on respective posts to link to the FB post for more details. If you can't see the posts, please log out of your Facebook first.)

Moroccan & Western Breakfast at our Riad Serai Merzouga.

Included Mlewi flatbread, that's something like Roti Chanai but not as fluffy. Also included were Meskouts, a traditional Moroccan orange/lemon/vanilla flavoured cake.

Visiting Merzouga Lake (Lac Dayet Srij), with our drivers Mourad & Hassan.

Supposed to have flamingoes, but we did not see any, perhaps it's not the season. Or scared away by visitors (that's us 😇).

Apparently, as the above video shows, they are around — you just have to be there at the right time and season.

Spring (March-May) and autumn (August-October) are peak times for seeing large flocks as they pass through during migration. April is supposed to be peak season, but we didn't see any.

On Mitsubishi Pajero 4X4, heading to the Erg Chebbi Sand Dunes. Ergs are large seas of dunes formed by wind-blown sand.

At the Erg Chebbi Viewpoint, nice views of the sand dunes from here. But bring binoculars along for better view.

At the Merzouga Berber Nomad camp. The tri-colour, blue-green-yellow flag is the Berber Flag. Also known as the Amazigh Flag, it is composed of blue, green, and yellow horizontal bands of the same height, and a Tifinagh letter yaz. Each colour corresponds to an aspect of Tamazgha, the territory inhabited by the Berbers in North Africa: Blue represents the sea, Green represents the mountains, yellow represents the desert. The red of the letter z (ⵣ in Tifinagh) represents resistance and the martyrs/free men of the Imazighen.

Into one of these tents we went, lounging lazily on the floor cushions, while a jovial Berber lady served us Maghrebi Mint Tea.

With a stylish swank, she poured out tea from the spout from high above into the glasses below!

At the Mifis Mineral Mine, not too far away. Miff is used for making kohl cosmetics, which contour or darken the eyelids and heighten beauty marks.

Dancing fun at the tribal at the Musica de gnawa Khamlia. The music can really make one swing!

2:30pm - Lunch back at RS, Moroccan Chicken Skewers. Not one of our best meals as the meat was rather try and not tasty.

Mid-afternoon was not a suitable time to go camel riding. We had already checked out of our rooms, but were allowed to stay on till riding time.

Riad Serai Merzouga is quite big with wide corridors and a couple of large dens. And despite it being in the desert, its architectural design made it quite cool, even at this time of the day.

Gong camel riding later was a good thing too, as friends who went at this time complained about it being very HOT!

On the way for the camel riding adventures. Here comes AhPek Biker of Arabia!
Oops... AhPek Biker of Morocco!

4-wheel drives picked us up and, twenty minutes later, dropped us at the ride start point. The camels were all lined up and waiting for us to take our pick.

These camels were single-humped dromedaries, unlike the double-humped Bactrian Camel, which we rode at the Silk Road in Xinjiang, a year earlier.

With an awkward start (us, not the camels), we held on for dear life as the camel rose up onto its legs. And off we go, passing by a lone green tree sitting conspicuously in the desert, perhaps it's a marker for the Cameleers (camel guides).

The cameleers walked ahead, leading the lead camel with a rope, and the other camels, each tied to the one in front, followed suit.

This camel ride in Erg Chebbi Sand Dunes lasted about forty minutes, going through the valley of the dunes and up the dunes now and then.

It may look hot, but the sun is low on the horizon in the late afternoon, and the heat is not noticeable. I was riding last, my compatriots were seen reflected on the mercury lens of my cool, classic Rayban Aviator sunglasses. Another camel train followed behind us.

The thing is the saddles here are without stirrups, and as the camel amble along, our ass cheeks were squishing against each other. Later most of us developed ass blisters... Ouch!

This reminded me of a signboard I saw during our 2014 New Zealand cycling tour.

After more than ten years, I now know the meaning of "Saddle Arse"! 😂😂😂

After almost an hour, our ride ended near where we would spend the night: the Caravanserai Luxury Desert Camp.
We walked to our camp, and the camels sighed with relief and rested, silhouetting against the dune background.

Before we left, our cameleer collected desert sand in a bottle and passed it to us, now we have a small part of the Sahara in our living room.
Despite the saddle arse, we did thoroughly enjoy the camel ride, with the scenic dunes against a beautiful sky

A camp assistant welcomed us with a refreshing Mint Tea and Moroccan Fekkas - biscuits with seasoned raisins and prunes.

Relaxing at Camp No. 18, our stay at the glamping site. These camps are comfortably sized, nicely furnished and most importantly, air-conditioned. Click the following to see more photos of how luxurious the camps are: Luxury Camp Photo Gallery.

Climbed up the dunes to bask in the sunset of the desert.

Dinner was at the main dinner tent:
1. Harira (Lentil) Soup, 2. Vegetable-rice salad, 3. Aubergine with Cheese, 4. Tajine Chicken, 5. Mix fruit dessert, and 6. Khubz Moroccan Bread.

Ended the day with campfire dancing fun, led by our camel guides, now turned dance leaders and also musicians too!

Here's a video of our crazy, fun-filled dancing antics.

Slept dreaming of our camel ride, and going:

'Giddap, giddap!

OR should it be:

'Hhut... hhut... Hhut!

(For more photos of Day 7, Click Here)

This is page 7 of a 13-page blog. Click Here To Go To Title Page.
< D6: Merzouga | Go to Other Days | D8: Dadès Gorges >

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