Iriqui National Park Expedition

After a hearty breakfast, you will meet your guides and the camels will be loaded with luggage. The morning’s hike sees us leaving civilisation behind and putting some distance between us and the village. We initially follow deep sand tracks, before hiking through low-lying shrubs and trees. Lunch is prepared under the shade of broad Tamarisk trees, and we take time to enjoy the views. After lunch, we cross compacted earth as the vegetation thins, and eventually hike across hamada (blackened desert stone) to reach our first night’s wild camping spot. We will camp in the seclusion of trees or sheltering dunes and enjoy our first Saharan sunset across the outlying dunes.

After breakfast camp is struck. Today takes us ever westwards to the isolated dunes of Erg Sedrar, which lie to the south-east of the towering Erg Chigaga dune field (‘erg’ meaning sand sea). The hiking crosses undulating and gently changing terrain, with lots of small dune ridges to cross in the morning. We’ll walk through a surprising amount of desert flora – in winter the desert can be carpeted with wild roquette and brassica, which attract insect and bird life. Leaving the sand behind, we cross a broad earth flat (dried lake and stream beds which flood seasonally) and will be able to make out both the Erg Chigaga and Erg Sedrar dunes on the horizon. Expect to reach our base for the night at Erg Sedrar by mid-afternoon, with far-reaching vistas from the dunes.

Today we strike out for ever more remote terrain, deep within the Iriqui National Park to the south of the Erg Chigaga dunes. Leaving Erg Sedrar dunes, we drop down onto a broad earth plateau (effectively a floodplain), criss-crossed by stream beds and low-level wadis. The desert vegetation, including the occasional Tamarisk tree, will gradually thin out as we track south-west and reach low dunes and earth pans. We keep the 40km-long Erg Chigaga dunes to our north, with impressive views. With any luck we might spot an elusive Fennec fox in the dunes. There will be little shade today until we reach our overnight point near low-lying trees.

Today we’ll reach the effective end of the dune field as we track north-west around the base of the Erg Chigaga region. The views of the mountain relief to our south will be impressive. The terrain will see us crossing small dune ridges and broad plateaux as the scale of the dunes gives way to flatter terrain on the approach to the salt flats at the heart of the Iriqui National Park. We can expect to see more desert greenery. Camp is established in the shelter of small dunes.

We hike north-west in the direction of the Jebel Bani mountain relief, crossing the open expanse of the dried salt flats of Lake Iriqui (which flood occasionally). Underfoot, we cross baked clay-like earth and dried stream beds. Depending on the rainfall over the year, we may see colourful flowers and plant life between the cracks in the earth. The views will feel otherworldly as we make out the Madouar mountains to our west (our goal for the following day), and the landscape will feel boundless. The flat terrain may even offer up desert mirages. We’ll establish camp towards the base of the Jebel Bani, amidst Acacia trees and desert stone.

We hike westwards today to skirt around the foot of the Jebel Bani and reach the base of the first Madouar mountain, a flat-topped mesa. The mountain views are glorious and only the occasional Acacia reminds us we’re still in the Sahara Desert. The terrain is gently undulating with increasingly rocky footing. We may encounter vehicle tracks for the first time, and we’ll criss-cross many dried river courses gouged by seasonal run-off from the mountains. Today is the day to look for fossils underfoot. Camp is established amidst the Acacia trees, with a special sunset beyond the trees.

We hike at the foot of the Madouar mountains, across blackened stone, and head north-west in the direction of the next frontier town, Foum Zguid (tomorrow’s exit point). The larger of the Madouar canyon mountains form a series of butte-like cliffs and pinnacles, a striking sight – hard to believe we are still in the Moroccan Sahara, until a lone oasis of palm trees comes into view. The contrast between the dunes at the start of the trek and these imposing cliffs is dramatic. We establish our last wild camp near a cluster of Acacia trees at the foot of the mountains.

We’ll be met after an early breakfast by the 4x4 transport and driven out of the desert (approx. 40 minutes off-road) to reach the tarmac road at Foum Zguid. From there we complete the rest of the journey on good roads back to Marrakech, driving through the Anti-Atlas and High Atlas mountains. The initial stage of the road journey differs from day 1, until we rejoin the main N9 road north-west of Ouarzazate. Expect to reach Marrakech by late afternoon.