ITINERARY

DAY 1 - FLY TO OUAZARZATE  

We will collect you from the airport and bring you to your Hotel to meet the team and of course your bike for the Journey. Arrival at Le Jardin is a feast for the weary traveller, with its beautiful architecture and warm welcome. Once you have settled in you will meet the rest of your travelling companions for the next 10 days.

DAY 2 -RIDE TO CHICAGA (250K) 

After a good rest and a delicious breakfast (don’t expect normal tea during your stay in Morocco!) and a briefing from the team, it’s time to kit up and mount up.

After a short trip through the bustling ouazazate almost immediately you hit the off-road trail and the scenery. You won’t have time to worry about the dust, as the rippling mountains eroded by the winds will take all your attention. If you think the snow-capped mountains in the distance will keep you cold, the warm Moroccan sun will soon dispel the notion. As you work your way through the winding mountain roads, you follow the river through the valley. You’ll see small villages, with locals working on the riverbank and suddenly beautiful architecture in the middle of untidy and desolate habitations. After a playful morning lunch will be provided at an Oasis in the desert. I won’t spoil the surprise by describing it! After your lunch stop there are a few easy Km’s before hitting the desert for real. Watch out for the emirate princes who are often in this region hunting a local bird called the Hobara.

After a thrilling dash along kilometres of a vast salt lake, you will get distracted from the view of yet more stunning mountains by your first view of the dunes. It is a tantalising look, but you don’t get to touch just yet! You will ride along the edge of the dunes, where you will get plenty of chances to practice your sand riding technique, with guidance from Mick and the team. After an exhausting but exhilarating day you finally arrive at a nomad camp, where you will hopefully be in time to climb (on foot!) to the top of a dune and watch a striking sunset. After being amply fed you will have a chance to talk over your days adventures around the campfire and if you’re very lucky the nomads will sing you to sleep.

DAY 3 - RIDE TO TAFROUT (230K) 

After passing a building in the middle of the nowhere, which happens to be the school for the nomad children, there’s a bit more desert riding, and a chance to see some nomad encampments, before hitting the town of Mohammed, where you will stop for some r&r.

Leaving the village the landscape changes dramatically and you will be riding along tracks through beautiful palm groves and gardens and green farmland. Even the irrigation systems are a sight to behold. But keep alert as there are plenty of twists and turns and woops to keep you happy in your riding.

Yet another change of scenery with enough rocks to keep you on your toes. After passing through your first military checkpoint (one man, two dogs and a cat), it’s up up up a mountain trail, look out for signs of past human habitation on the mountain, before your breath is taken away with the views when you go over the top. You will eat a packed lunch out in the desert, a stone’s throw away from the Algerian border. Then it’s a long trek through the lunar landscape, passing villages with satellite dishes and nomad tribes. Just when you think the desert will never end, you arrive at your hotel, nestled on the hillside, appearing like a mirage at the end of the valley. You will have time to enjoy the fabulous views and luxurious accommodation before heading to bed for a well earned rest.
Throughout the day Mick will be more than happy to point out when you are on the actual Dakar route to ensure boasting rights when you get home!!

DAY 4 - RIDE TO MERZOUGA (80K) 

Day three is a chance to catch your breath with a relative short ride. The green rocks give a deceptively lush feel to the riding, which is varied, sand and mud and rock, with plenty of challenges for everyone including, Mick, as navigating through the sand and tall riverbank vegetation where the tracks change regularly is pretty tricky, even for a top Dakar rider! You will arrive at Nomad Palace in plenty of time for a bit of relaxation by the pool.
The Mounie family will be ready to greet you with a cold drink and ensure you feel instantly at home in this beautiful place. Tonight you can catch up on some well earned rest or take a trip in to the dunes on camel back to watch the sunset! Stunning!

DAY 5 -DUNE RIDING WITH MICK EXTANCE 

Today you will learn to ride the Dunes with Mick. Lots of tuition today to ensure you make the most of your time in the dunes. This is an experience not to be missed! Your luggage will be moved to your new base. A luxury Berber camp in the dunes themselves! This has to be seen to be believed! Your dinner will be served in the dining area followed by a camp fire under the stars! This is NOT camping like you have ever done before!

DAY 6 - RIDE TO TODRE GORGE (309K)

After leaving Nomad Palace it’s back into the desert, where you will get a chance, first to see the place where they mine all the fossil stones

that you will have seen by the thousand on your trip, before being greeted by giant sculptures by German artist Hanns Voth, rising out of the desert like an apparition.

Just when you think the scenery can’t change anymore, it does!!! You start heading up into the mountains again. Anyone who has ever visited the Giant’s Causway in Northern Ireland will recognize the rock formations, but the scale of them here in Morocco is immense and certainly worth taking your time over.

You will pass through the first of 3 gorges on your trip, where you will start seeing the cave and mountain Nomads. Truly amazing people who live on the side of these treacherous passes and take their goats and donkeys up there with them. You finish the day travelling down the famous Todra Gorge, but don’t worry if you don’t get a chance to take it all in, as you will be travelling up it again in the morning!!

DAY 7 - RIDE TO OUAZARZATE THROUGH DADES GORGE (290K)

In the morning take your time to stop and take some pictures of the gorge, where apart from Nomad spotting you can see a few free climbers enjoying the scenery. This is the area where you are most likely to encounter other holidaymakers and the wonder of the gorge attracts visitors from all over the world. After leaving the tourists behind (and the paved roads!!) you will get your first experience of truly scary mountain tracks. Don’t worry; listen to Mick and the team who will guide you down safely. After successfully negotiating the tracks, you will follow a riverbed, whose track is constantly changing which will give you a real chance to experience off-road in the true sense of the word as most of it has been washed away!!!

After that it’s back to tarmac for the final few km’s back to your hotel. But this is no ordinary tarmac. Think end of the Italian Job and then double it, as you travel down your third and final gorge it’s a real chance to practice your bend technique!!!

Once you get through Dades gorge there is still plenty of off-road challenges to remind you what Morocco has to offer. (Beware dried up streams!!!) You won’t have time to contemplate the end of your journey as the riding will keep you on your toes until the last few Km’s. After an exhausting but fulfilling ride across the plains and through the stunning mountain passes, you will head back to Le Jardin, where the team have prepared a welcome worthy of the trip you have just undertaken. Loosen your body armour and grab a well earned beer before you head back to your rooms for a hot shower.

Once you have relaxed we would love you to join us for a celebratory meal and entertainment from a local band who are performing just for you! Time to reflect on your last few days as a team and share your stories on your final night in Morocco. A country that will leave a notch on your heart!

DAY 8 - FLY HOME