Glamping with the Tuaregs in Zagora, Morocco
One of my most memorable experiences from my trips to Morocco is hands down glamping in the desert in Zagora! On one of my visits before having my daughter, we drove a loop around Southern Morocco and stayed at a campsite in Zagora hosted by Tuareg.Β
The Tuareg are traditionally nomadic indigenous Amazigh people of the Sahara, across North and West Africa. They sometimes are called the “Blue People of the Sahara” nicknamed after the men’s traditional indigo clothing and veils. They have strong tradition of storytelling and music, and it was such an amazing experience to learn about their culture at this campsite.Β
Camel Ride
In the tour that we booked, the company took our bags in a car while we rode camels out into the desert to the campsite. Riding a camel was a crazy experience in itself! My husband and I were both cackling at how funny we each looked. You have to be careful just boarding and deboarding the camel because they are so tall! Even though they warned me, I almost fell right off when we were getting off at the campsite! (I missed the one two three cue and was not braced for the sudden drop!)
Typically when I picture “Sahara” I think of sweeping soft sand dunes, so the first thing that surprised me before the camel ride was how many rocks there were. However, the rocky landscape amongst the sandy dunes are quite a sight.
We were running late on the arrival day so our “sunset camel walk” was mostly dusk. That being said, it was still a pretty surreal experience as the sun went down and we got a great view of the stars for part of the ride. I even saw two shooting stars while we rode to the campsite!Β
Campsite
I’d definitely call this “glamping” as all the tents had full electricity, large beds, air conditioning, and bathrooms! I don’t know what I had expected, but I really did not think it could be so glamourous to camp in the middle of the desert. I was also shocked by the size of the tents, they were super spacious inside.Β
Meals were served in a large tent to all staying in the campsite. Dinner was equally impressive to me, because they served a wide array of hot tagines and food options. They must have a full kitchen set up somewhere close, but I did not notice it in the campsite.Β
One of my favorite parts of the experience was sitting at the campfire after dinner. The Tuareg played music and danced around the fire – even encouraging us all to join in and dance with them. I noticed both the music and the dance style was different to what I had previously heard in Morocco, though they were playing the krekeb (hand held symbols) which is also played in traditional gnawa music.
Sunrise
The hosts told us generally what time the sun rises, and recommended trying to make it up the nearby hill to watch the sunrise over the desert. We set our alarms extra early because we didn’t want to miss it.
For context of how dark it was when we exited to climb the dunes – above is how dark it was when we went to bed, then below is how dark it was when we woke up before the sunrise.
Hilariously, we chose to attempt to walk straight up the huge sand hill. Later we saw others join through a less direct (and much less steep) path, and we kept laughing about why we went straight uphill. It was so quiet and surreal waiting and watching with other campers scattered across this huge dune.Β
One thing that did not occur to me at the time was that there could be snakes! Considering we walked up in near full darkness before the sunrise, we luckily did not encounter any.
The sunrise was absolutely spectacular! Well worth the huge effort we took walking up the huge hill. It was also cool to look back at our tiny campsite to realize how far we really had walked (it didn’t look so far from below!).Β
Eventually, we made our way back down the hill to grab breakfast at the camp. We figured going down could not be nearly as hard as walking straight up, but what we did not realize was how little grip you have in the sand. My husband looked like he was skiing because he couldn’t lift his feet enough to pull them out of the sand once we started our descent. My father-in-law was awake in time to see our amusing descent down the dune and was laughing along with us!
How To Book
When we visited this area, my father-in-law helped us book the tour. Although I am not sure which company we toured with, I found some other similar tours available through Viator. Check out some of the tour options – it seems like Zagora is a popular pick up location to get to the desert to camp.Β You’ll notice tours referring to “erg chegaga” which is the largest sea of sand dunes in southeastern Morocco, near Zagora.Β
Overall, this was such an incredible experience and I highly recommend if you ever make it near the DrΓ’a-Tafilalet region. Check out my recommended itinerary for 10-14 days in Southern Morocco, if you haven’t already!Β
2 Comments
Amber Myers
Oh heck yes, I could do this. I am not a camper gal, but I would LOVE to glamp one day. This looks incredible.
Marysa
Wow, this looks like the trip of a lifetime! What beautiful scenery, and the camping looks amazing. The stars are so pretty and it looks like the food was fantastic too.