Rocky desert stretches down through long-dry river valleys scattered with crumbling earthen kasbahs, through ancient oasis towns and lush palm groves, to the wind-sculpted sands of the Sahara, one of the most beguiling places I’ve ever visited and one of the few places you can truly disconnect.

These are the routes of age-old caravans when hundreds of people and thousands of camels spent months oasis-hopping as they transported gold, salt and slaves from sub-Saharan Africa, across the desert to Marrakech and Fez, leaving behind a desert-crossroads culture.

Few visitors to Morocco make it this far, and those that do tend to opt for one or two nights in a desert campsite. But, if you have the time and inclination for something more adventurous, I can highly recommend the overnight wild camping camel treks led by Amazigh (Berber) guides. You’ll trek by camel and on foot over sky-high dunes, across hamada (lunar-like stony plateaus) and among desert scrub to Erg Chigaga, or the even more remote Erg Zahar, like the nomadic tribes of old.