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Life TimesTravel

The Journal

Trekking, desert, mountains and the roads between — written from Morocco, at the pace the country actually moves.

11 pieces matching sahara

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Saddled camels couched on the sand at a desert camp in low orange evening light, dune slopes and tamarisk behind
Journeys
Morocco

What Everything Costs, Part 2: Desert, Cities and Culture

Sahara tours, camel treks, 4×4 raids, cooking classes, hammams, guides and transfers — real prices in dirham and euro, with the per-vehicle logic that makes desert pricing work differently.

6 min read
Four people sitting cross-legged on the sand around a small fire at night in the Sahara, one clapping a rhythm
Journeys
Sahara & High Atlas

Meditation Travel in Morocco: Where the Silence Actually Is

Retreats sell stillness; the Sahara gives it away. Where in Morocco you can genuinely hear nothing, what the hammam and Sufi traditions offer, and how to build a contemplative trip without booking a package.

6 min read
A clay tagine with the lid lifted, beef with prunes, toasted almonds, sesame seeds and hard-boiled egg inside
Food
Morocco

Moroccan Cuisine Is Not One Cuisine

A Fez tagine and a Marrakech tagine are different dishes. The regional map of Moroccan cooking — Fassi refinement, Marrakchi smoke, Souss argan, Rif mountain food and the Saharan bread baked in sand.

5 min read
The earthen kasbah of Aït Ben Haddou in late afternoon light, tiered mudbrick houses rising above the dry riverbed
Journeys
Marrakech to the Sahara

A 7-Day Morocco Itinerary That Isn't Exhausting

One week, honestly assessed. The classic Marrakech–Sahara–Atlas loop, what it costs you in driving hours, and the three ways people ruin a seven-day trip by adding one city too many.

4 min read
A fortified cliff granary built into an overhanging rock face high above a gorge, its stone storeys following the ledge
Trekking
High Atlas & Anti-Atlas

Trekking in Morocco: Which Route Is Right for You?

Toubkal, the M'Goun traverse, the Anti-Atlas, the Sahara and Jebel Saghro compared honestly — by days, altitude, difficulty and what each one is actually like underfoot.

5 min read
An open field of wind-rippled dunes with scattered tamarisk, the kind of erg terrain a raid crosses on piste
Journeys
Southern Morocco

Raid 4×4 in Morocco: How the Real Thing Works

Not a desert excursion with a driver — a multi-day convoy crossing the ergs on piste, navigating by GPS and roadbook. Routes, vehicles, sand technique, permits and what it actually costs.

8 min read
A camel caravan crossing a dune crest at golden hour, long shadows striping the rippled sand in the foreground
Desert
Marrakech to Merzouga

Sahara Desert Tours from Marrakech: 2, 3 or 4 Days?

The most-booked trip in Morocco, and the one most often booked wrong. What each duration actually buys you in dune time versus road time, and why the two-day version is a mistake.

5 min read
A line of ski tourers skinning up a broad snow slope in the High Atlas, bare brown ridges and a valley visible far below
Mountains
High Atlas

Ski Touring and Splitboarding in the High Atlas

Skinning up 4,000-metre peaks with the Sahara on the horizon. The season, the routes off Toubkal and Oukaimeden, avalanche reality, what to bring, and why Morocco is the most underrated touring country in reach of Europe.

7 min read
Vast rippled sand dunes near Merzouga stretching to the horizon under a pale sky
Desert
Sahara

Erg Chebbi or Erg Chigaga: Choosing Your Sahara

Morocco has two great sand seas and they offer genuinely different trips. One you drive to on tarmac; the other costs you sixty kilometres of off-piste to reach.

3 min read
A desert bivouac at dusk — a lit canvas tent, a family sitting by the fire on rugs, dunes behind
Desert
Sahara

What a Bivouac Actually Is

The word covers everything from a rug on the sand to a tented suite with plumbing. Knowing which one you have booked is the difference between a good night and a long one.

2 min read
Saddled camels resting on the sand at low sun, dune slopes glowing behind them
Desert
Drâa Valley · Sahara

Nomad Trekking: Walking the Desert the Old Way

Before the 4×4 transfer and the fixed camp, the desert was crossed on foot at the pace of a loaded camel. A handful of routes still work that way.

3 min read