We left Marrakech on the 13th June 2008 for our 2 night, 3 day trip to Ait Benhaddou, Todra Gorge & the Sahara Desert. The company we used was called Sahara Expeditions.
Day 1:
We left Marrakech at 8.00am & drove through the flat landscape until we hit the aptly named "High Atlas Mountains". The Mountain landscape changes quite a bit as you travel further east. From green tree covered cliffs to nothing but brown rocks. Our first stop was Ait Benhaddou. It was also the number one sight I wanted to see in Morocco.
After 4 hours of driving with the temperature pushing 40*C & not to mention no air con in our van, we arrived. We made our way through the small village that sits at the entrance heading in the direction our driver was pointing. As we walked along under the belting sun we rounded the last bend to see Ait Benhaddou. It was pretty impressive but not as much as I thought. Air Benhaddou is a World Heritage Listed mud brick city. I guess the reason it wasn't as impressive as I'd hoped was because most of the houses in Marrakech & on the drive to Ait Benhaddou are mud brick so you see a lot of them. It was still worth the visit though as the buildings are quite a bit bigger then the other ones you see. I was also a little dissapointed by the fact that our driver only gave us 30 minutes here, which really only allowed for some photos & a quick walk inside. That night was spent at a little chateau in the middle of a valley over looking a little stream & huge vertical red rock mountains.
Day 2:
After getting up early we made our way to a small village where we visited a local Berber man's home to look at the process of Moroccan rug making. As soon as we checked out the fields & the village we made our way to Todra Gorge for lunch. We sat here for a while eating more Brochettes for lunch before starting our final 4 hour drive to the Sahara Desert. Today was worse than the day before. We were at about 45*C with no Air Con & now the sun was belting down on us the whole way to the Desert.
The landscape once again was barren & now completely flat, which was a bit of a surprise considering we were on our way to ride camels through the highest sand dunes in Morocco. After a few more hours it was still all flat but then all of a sudden there they were. The highest dunes in Morocco just went straight up out of no where. After meeting the local Bedouins we mounted our camels for the 1.5 hour journey into the dunes & to our camp site. Halfway through the ride the sun began to set which made the dunes turn a brilliant red colour. The sand is actually red anyway but the sunset just made them even more so. After settling into our camp, we both made our way for the biggest sand dune around. It took us at least 30 minutes & several rest stops to climb big bertha but once we got there, the view was more than worth the effort.
That night we ate Tagine chicken with vegetables which was sensational. Our hosts then played some traditional bongo music for us before we decided to call it a night, sleeping on the dunes in the open with nothing but the moon, stars & sand dunes around us. Amazing!
Day 3:
The next morning we rode our camels back though the dunes at sunrise for an equally breathing taking experience before jumping back into our van for the long 12 hour journey back to Marrakech.This experience was well worth the long, long, no air con, sun soaked drive. And I can definitely say we would do it all again in a second. I thought Ait Benhaddou was going to be the highlight of this three day epic trip but I think it was easily over shadowed but the Sahara Desert Camel trek.