5-Day Sahara Birding Tour from Marrakech to Merzouga

About This Tour

5 days - 4 nights · Marrakech

A short, focused run at the desert species. Five days from Marrakech takes you over the High Atlas, onto the stony plains at Boumalne Dades, through the Todra gorge and out to the dunes and seasonal lake at Merzouga, which between them hold almost every Saharan specialist on a Morocco list.

This is the trip for birders with a week rather than a fortnight, and for anyone who wants the desert birds without the long western loop to the Atlantic. It is private throughout, which matters here more than usual: the good hours are dawn and dusk, and a fixed group timetable wastes both.

Tour Highlights

The best of this journey

Photo Gallery

5-Day Sahara Birding Tour from Marrakech to Merzouga

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Tour Itinerary

Day by day, 5 days

• Iti1

  Day 1: Marrakech → Tizi n'Tichka → Ouarzazate reservoir → Dades

  We leave Marrakech early and cross the High Atlas by the Tizi n'Tichka, birding the scrub on the descent for Moussier's Redstart, Black Wheatear, Blue Rock Thrush and Long-legged Buzzard.

  The afternoon goes to the El Mansour Eddahbi reservoir east of Ouarzazate, good for Greater Flamingo, Ruddy Shelduck, Marbled Duck and passage waders, before continuing to the Dades valley for the night.

  E una giornata di strada nel senso migliore: il paesaggio cambia di continuo e si passa per Marrakech, the red city at the foot of the High Atlas and the Tizi n'Tichka pass, the highest surfaced road in North Africa, which climbs to 2,260 m through Berber villages clinging to the slopes.

  Las paradas las decides tu: un mirador, un cafe de carretera, un pueblo que merece diez minutos a pie.

  Accommodation: Riad Paradise Dades, Dades Valley — or similar Meals: Breakfast & Dinner
• Iti2

  Day 2: Tagdilt track at dawn, then Todra to Merzouga

  First light on the Tagdilt track, the stony plain outside Boumalne that is the most famous birding site in southern Morocco. Thick-billed Lark, Temminck's Lark, Bar-tailed Lark, Desert and Red-rumped Wheatear, Cream-coloured Courser and sandgrouse coming in to drink.

  Late morning in the Todra gorge for Tristram's Warbler, Black Wheatear and Bonelli's Eagle, then east through Tinjdad and Erfoud to Merzouga by late afternoon.

  Accommodation: Riad Chebbi, Merzouga — or similar Meals: Breakfast & Dinner
• Iti3

  Day 3: Full day at Erg Chebbi and Dayet Srji

  The whole day in the desert. Dayet Srji, the seasonal lake on the edge of the dunes, brings flamingos, waders and terns to the sand when it has water. The hammada and the dune margins hold Desert Sparrow, Hoopoe Lark, African Desert Warbler, Fulvous Chatterer, Trumpeter Finch and Brown-necked Raven.

  Sandgrouse come to drink at set times, which we work around. After dark we go out again for Egyptian Nightjar and Pharaoh Eagle-Owl. Night in a desert camp or a Merzouga auberge, whichever you prefer.

  The desert takes the second half of the day: a camel ride into the dunes timed for the light, with the sand turning from gold to deep orange as the sun drops.

  Dinner is at camp under a sky with no light pollution at all, usually with drums around the fire, and the night is spent in a tent before the sunrise back over the dunes.

  Dinner at camp is tagine cooked over the fire, and the drums usually come out once the plates are cleared.

  Sunrise over the dunes comes early but nobody regrets it: the light arrives before the heat, and the sand is still cold underfoot.

  Accommodation: Tawada Desert Camp, Erg Chebbi — or similar Meals: Breakfast & Dinner
• Iti4

  Day 4: Merzouga dawn, Rissani, and back west to Ouarzazate

  A dawn session for anything still missing from the desert list, then the palmeries around Rissani for Fulvous Chatterer, Laughing Dove and Blue-cheeked Bee-eater in season.

  We drive west through the gorges with birding stops along the way, reaching Ouarzazate in the evening.

  Accommodation: Riad Chamaa, Ouarzazate — or similar Meals: Breakfast & Dinner
• Iti5

  Day 5: Ouarzazate → High Atlas → Marrakech

  A final morning either back on the reservoir or in the oak and juniper zone of the High Atlas for Levaillant's Woodpecker, African Blue Tit and Barbary Partridge, depending on what you still need.

  We cross the pass and reach Marrakech in the afternoon, dropping you at your riad or the airport.

  Hoje ha distancia, mas compensa: a estrada atravessa Ouarzazate, the desert film town behind the Atlas Studios and the Taourirt kasbah and the Tizi n'Tichka pass, the highest surfaced road in North Africa, which climbs to 2,260 m through Berber villages clinging to the slopes.

  No hay mas horario que el vuestro, asi que las buenas paradas se disfrutan con calma.

  Departure: Departure day — transfer to the airport

What the Price Includes

Everything covered in the price

If this itinerary does not quite match what you had in mind, tell us your ideas and we will rebuild it around them.

Tour Map

Marrakech

Why Book This Tour

What makes it worth the time

The shortest itinerary that still reaches Tagdilt and Erg Chebbi, the two sites that produce the birds most visitors come to Morocco for.

Know Before You Go

Practical travel notes

• Late February to mid-April is the strongest window, with October and November good for passage. Avoid July and August.
• Bring your own binoculars and scope.
• Days 2 and 3 start before sunrise. The desert species stop showing by mid-morning.
• The Tagdilt track is rough, open ground with no shade or facilities.
• Dayet Srji is seasonal. In dry years there is no lake and the waterbird list is thin, though the dune species are unaffected.
• A specialist bird guide can be added for the whole trip or single days.