Off road trip
DAY 1
Demnate-Boumalne, 224 km, 8 hrs journey including 3 hrs of slopes
This motorbike trip begins on an old track repurposed into a road that still looks like the track it once was with nature taking over once more in many places! Get to grips with the motorcycles and enjoy the magnificent landscape that includes mountains, passes, villages, and gorges. A few hundred bends further, and two passes, we arrive at the southern slopes of the Atlas and head into the desert for six days. Every Moroccan landscape is full of its own colour, variety, hospitality, and warmth.
When you arrive on the plain, it’s possible to test driving the track depending on your desires and the condition as some years the storms make it complicated. If you come before May 5th, the valley of roses to Boumalne is a fantastic spectacle and the heady scent fills the air.
DAY 2
Boumalne-Tazzarine, 221 km, 7h journey, including 5h30 of tracks
Optional, but not to be missed, the morning starts with a comfortable round trip in the beautiful Dades gorges. The valley with 1000 Kasbahs, and countless bends, will leave you impressed with its cinematic feel, beauty, and serenity. The striking contrast between the sheer ochre cliffs and the blue of the Wadi Dades is bordered on both sides by the numerous oases. Return to Boumlane to take an easy and rolling track crossing the Jebel Saghro, the driest area of the Anti-Atlas, culminating at 2712m. Lunar landscapes of plateaus, peaks, canyons, peaks, with an immensity of space in this chaos of black rocks with the few small villages surrounded by palm or almond trees. After leaving Nkob, we will reach the Serdar camp at the entrance to the Sahara.
DAY 3
Tazzarine-Tagounite, 235 km, 7h30 journey, including 6 hours of tracks
Your first day in the desert starts with a zig-zag on a vast semi-desert tabular rocky plateau, known as a Hamada. It’s a pleasure to ride on this easy track and sometimes off-track behind your guide. Apart from a few wadi crossings, always a little technical but short, it’s an enjoyable morning’s ride. There is a little bit of road to Oumjrane then in the direction of Kem Kem, we will survey the immensity of the desert. We will break at the foot of the dunes in the “Kem Kem” inn where our cook willKemepare a traditional omelette kefta tagine for lunch. The track which winds between the sandbanks immediately brings up images of the “Dakar” – a long and intoxicating ribbon. Everyone can ride wherever they want, on or off the track as you are now in the Sahara. The track arrives suddenly on a nice strip of brand new asphalt. Still, we won’t stay here for long, and just after the Tizi N Tafilalet, we turn due east towards Tagounite again on and off the piste. The kasbah that awaits this evening has its foundation in the sand, but aperitifs will be taken by the pool.
DAY 4
Tagounite-FoumZguid, 201 km, 7h journey, including 5h30 of tracks
We take the road along Jebel Bani, the natural barrier that protects the Sahara on the other side where the inhabitants cultivate watermelon thanks to deep boreholes. We then embark on a beautiful track that crosses the villages built around water supply. After Zagora begins a serious mountain stage where the trail is more demanding. After a long ascent, you arrive at the open-cast copper mine of Bleida. The emerald green colour of copper oxides dominates the red earth of the area. After lunch, cross east-west of Jebel Lahmar, first on the roller coaster then taking a passage that cuts the mountain in two, then from the great plain descend towards Foum Zguid.
DAY 5
FoumZguid-Ouarzazate, 165 km, 6h of travel, including 4h of slopes
We will travel due north along a beautiful little road through magnificent geological folds. After two hours of winding roads, we’ll arrive near Tazenakht, the capital of Berber rug weaving and an optional break to discover this craft is possible. The visit does not take more than an hour, accompanied by mint tea. After a 30-minute drive, we take the track back to the lunch point. The afternoon trail crossing the Anti-Atlas is wild and a little more technical, but we have the entire afternoon to cover the 55 km. Arriving at the shores of Lake Ouarzazate, the island ecolodge awaits us.
DAY 6
Ouarzazate-Demnate, 238 km, 6h journey including 1h of slopes
The route from Ouarzazate to Telouet is simply breath-taking. First, the Ksar of Ait Ben Haddou, a UNESCO World Heritage Site, then on to Ounila valley, dotted with magnificent villages as far as Telouet with incredible colours, from the red of iron oxide to the green of copper sulphate through yellow and aend finally the climb to the famous Tizi N Tchka pass this route is enchanting. After 20km of the national road, we again take to tracks along the valley with its terraced crops, and plentiful water supply, a striking contrast to what we have seen so far. Then on to Ait Adel lake and the last break before returning to Demnate.
GALLERIE
