Sahara is a desert located in North Africa. The Sahara is the largest desert in the world and covers about 9,000,000 km2. It stretches from the Atlantic Ocean to the Red Sea, with a total length of about 6,000 km. Northern Sahara belongs to Egypt, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria, Morocco and Western Sahara, and southern to Mauritania, Mali, Niger, Chad and Sudan.
Marrakech is the main gate of the Sahara desert in Morocco, which is why it is visited by millions of tourists every year. This is one of the favorite excursions and visitors can choose if they want to spend a whole day in the Sahara or spend the night with the Bedouins. The two most popular areas on this side of the Sahara are called Zagora and Merzouga.
The Merzouga Desert is the most impressive part of the Moroccan part of the Sahara Desert. Here you will find scenes from movies, a desert with wavy dunes that are brownish-red in color. The dunes stretch indefinitely. From Marrakech, it is best to go on an organized trip with the agency. This part of the desert is about 500 km away from Marrakech and it takes about 9 hours to drive to it. Agencies generally offer accommodation and it is not possible to visit the desert and return in one day. Enjoyment is guaranteed because the experience itself is truly unique.
The Zagora desert is different from the Merzouga. The air here is drier, and the desert itself has lower dunes, i.e. there are not as many wavy high dunes as in Merzouga. The advantage of Zagora in the Sahara is that it is closer to Marrakech, about 350 km away. In this case, the agencies generally offer a desert tour for two days, i.e. one night.
With the first option, i.e. the Merzouga part of the desert, we advise you to take a trip of 4-5 days and to enjoy all the charms of this part of the Sahara. The Erg Chebbie dunes are especially impressive here. You will be out of breath. Also, you will have the opportunity, in both cases, Zagora and Merzouga, to see the attractions on the way to the desert, which will make your trip more interesting and time will pass faster.
When you arrive in the desert you will go camel riding. You will spend the night in a tent in the camp, which is a really special experience. At dusk, you will have dinner consisting of traditional Moroccan cuisine. Waking up at dawn to see the sunrise - this is something worth seeing and remembering for a lifetime.
When the sun sets and you eat breakfast, it’s time to head back, unless you’ve booked a 4-5-day tour, where you’ll be able to explore the desert.
