Erg Chigaga and M'Hamid

Morocco'S Largest And Remotest Dune Field, Roughly 40 Km Long, With Crests Commonly Quoted Around 300 M; Reached Across Open Desert Rather Than From A Roadside, Which Is The Whole Difference Between It And Erg Chebbi · M'Hamid el Ghizlane, Draa-Tafilalet

Erg Chigaga is Morocco's largest and remotest dune field, roughly 40 km long with crests commonly quoted around 300 m, and the whole point of it is how hard it is to reach. There is no road to the sand and no strip of hotels along the edge: you cross roughly 50 km of open desert from M'Hamid el Ghizlane, two to three hours in a four-wheel drive over stone plain and dry lake bed, or you walk it with camels over two to five days. That is the honest comparison a reader needs. Erg Chebbi at Merzouga, which has its own entry, is smaller and lower but sits minutes from a sealed road with lodgings, shops and a choice of camps, and anyone short of time or travelling with children or a bad back is better served there. Chigaga pays back the effort in emptiness: camps of a dozen tents with no mains power, no vehicle noise, no light on the horizon and the darkest sky in the country. M'Hamid, where the tarmac ends after the long Draa valley drive, is the staging village and has dunes of its own for anyone without a 4x4.

M'Hamid el Ghizlane at the end of the tarred road down the Draa valley; the Erg Chigaga dunes lie roughly 50 km west across open desert, reached only by four-wheel drive or camel, M'Hamid el Ghizlane, Draa-Tafilalet, Morocco

The desert has no gate, no ticket and no hours; what governs the day is the crossing and the light. Vehicles leave M'Hamid for Chigaga in the late afternoon so that guests arrive for sunset, and start back after breakfast, with the drive taking roughly two to three hours each way depending on the route and the sand. Camel treks leave in the morning and take two to five days each way, so plan around three to six nights for a return trek. Camps run from roughly September to May, with many closing or reducing to skeleton staff in July and August; confirm your camp is open before travelling. M'Hamid itself has a weekly souk - confirm the day locally - and a few shops, fuel and a cash machine that is not always working. Getting here: M'Hamid is the end of the tarred road down the Draa valley, roughly 1.5-2 hours beyond Zagora and 9-11 hours of driving from Marrakesh. Book the vehicle, the driver and the camp ahead.

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