Winter Walk in the Jebel Sahro

Day 1 - Fly London to Marrakesh.

Marrakesh airport is only 7km from the old city centre and it's therefore just a short transfer to your overnight hotel.

Overnight: Riad Palais De Princesses Or Riad Challa Or Similar, Marrakesh

Day 2 - Drive over the Atlas mountains to Ouarazazate. Drive through the valley of the Draa to Nkob and on to Hanedour - 9 hours. Camp at 1,136m/3727ft.

After breakfast at your hotel you will board your vehicle and head east out of town across the plain of Marrakesh with its many olive trees, and then turn south and start the climb up into the Atlas Mountains. The road begins a steep and twisting ascent to reach the Tizi n' Tichka pass at 2,260m/7,415ft, approximately 2 hour's drive from Marrakesh.

The mountains on the northern side are surprisingly green and you will notice a difference as soon as you cross the pass to start the descent towards the Sahara Desert. A further couple of hours drive brings you to the town of Ouarzazate, centre of the burgeoning Moroccan film industry. Films such as Lawrence of Arabia, The Man Who Would Be King, Cleopatra, Asterix & Obelix, Kundun and Gladiator were all shot here and you pass several studios on your way through town. If you need any last minute snacks to take on trek with you ask your leader to stop off at the supermarket in the centre of town. After Ouarzazate the route will continue down the Valley of the Draa to Nkob and onwards, on a dirt track, to Hanedour. Here you will meet your trekking team and camp nearby.

Overnight: Camp

Day 3 - Trek via the plateau of Tizi Taggourt, and Tadout n Tablah to Bab n Ali, 1,631m/5,350ft - 6-8 hours.

After a great breakfast of cake, porridge, bread, coffee and mint tea, start out for a great day's trekking! From camp, contour off to the right past a school and the path leads you past low cliffs and occasional houses and farms with almond blossom. There are lots of palm trees, swifts and small flycatchers along with the occasional moped. As you proceed the cliffs get bigger and the houses more remote. You follow a dry river bed for miles and miles past dry bamboo, small fields and some donkeys. You come to a small village of a few houses called Saf Saf and beyond here there is a rather magnificent Kashbah. Beyond here is a huge bend in the river which turns abruptly to the left. This brings you out into more open country with hamlets and surrounded by messas and fine cliffs. You will probably have a picnic lunch here before the climb of the day.

To this point there has hardly been any height gain but now you turn right and follow a path upwards at a slightly steeper angle. You have now climbed out of the lower lands where there were farmsteads, palms and almond trees and up into high, unforgiving country whose heights are crowned with strange vertical towers and eroded pinnacles. Some of these are like 'plugs' - vertical-sided islands of rock whose summits look completely inaccessible. They are incredible, impressive formations. You now head up to a very large one that sits astride the horizon. The closer you get, the more impressive it becomes. Rounding the corner of this Leviathan rock, the structure becomes even more awesome. Giant rounded towers lean on its flanks, weird colossal cones of rock sprout at its base, chimneys and cracks beckon the climber to try his luck. You now walk dumbstruck to find more cliffs of even greater proportions ahead of you. You cross a shoulder which brings you to a circque of these cliffs. Over millions of years they have eroded into incredible pinnacles, cylindrical towers, and tottering turrets. There are a few houses below but this is a good place to camp and if you are lucky to have a clear night, the stars give a show worthy of this place.

Overnight: Camp

Day 4 - Trek through the Aforar Gorges to Igli Village, 1,676m/5,499ft - 7-8 hours.

Another fantastic day! You descend a little from your wild camp past a couple of rough shelters and after half an hour cross a 'pass'. Great views back to last night's campsite. You now head on and turning right, cross over a shoulder and having done so look back to see five pointed towers like a set of rotten teeth to your left. You now drop down and orbit two lonely towers of stone sitting on messas. These are like Monument Valley miniatures. Passing the second, larger monolith you walk round and past it to come to a water tank set into the ground next to four or five palm trees, and just above a rough road, some three hours from camp. Just down this track are a couple of houses and beyond this you turn left to enter a magnificent gorge. This has a rushing stream and some enticing pools and requires some easy scrambling to get through the gorge. It is narrow with vertical cliffs on both sides and takes about an hour to pass through. At the end of the gorge, it widens out and another rough track connects scattered houses above the floor of a cultivated valley. There is a patchwork of simple fields, occasional trees and scrub, and a palm tree or two.

The path now breaks away from the main valley and climbs approximately 1,000ft, some of it on zigzags, back in towards the mountains. There are great expansive views to the east of mountains and arid country. Then ahead there are big mountainsides and the last 'pass'. Beyond the top of the zigzags you look down to a house below with a walled courtyard and a few fields to the left. Beyond this there are two gigantic castles of rock guarding the horizon.

Overnight: Camp

Day 5 - Trek to the Imi n Ourag, 2,015m/6,611ft - 6 hours.

From this camp it takes an hour steeply on zigzags to just below the castle rock that towers above camp. As you climb up you can see to the left a lone tower of rock that resembles an elephant. You also pass some enormous boulders and strange formations like conglomerate crystal balls. The path now rises at an easier angle following the magnificent flanks of this castle rock. You will not be able to resist stopping every few minutes to admire the cliffs. Again you climb to a false pass but after that it is easier beyond to the Tasgdlt Pass 2,525m/8,284ft. This is approximately four hours from camp, a climb of 785m/2,575ft. You will probably have a picnic lunch just beyond this point, and the pass is the highest point of the trek.

There now follows a long descent of some 468m/1,500ft on switchbacks to relative civilization and a small hamlet.

Overnight: Camp

Day 6 - End trek at Taghssa - 2 hours. Drive the Route des Kasbahs and the Valley of the Roses at Boulemane du Dades. Continue to Ouarzazate.

Your trek ends with a pleasant two hour walk along an attractive valley to Taghssa where you will say goodby to the muleteer and trekking team. Back in your vehicle you drive along the Route des Kasbahs and the Valley of the Roses at Bouleman du Dades. Your journey ends today at Ouarzazate, the movie capital of Morocco.

Overnight: Riad Dar Chama Or Dar Amoudou Or Similar, Ouarzazate

Day 7 - Visit the kasbah at Aït Benhaddou - ½ hour's drive. Drive to Marrakesh - 3½ hour's drive.

After breakfast you drive the short distance to Aït Benhaddou, a striking example of the architecture of southern Morocco, with mudbrick houses crowded together within defensive walls. You can climb to the top of the hill for breathtaking all-round views. This atmospheric and picturesque place was an important staging post on the trade route south and is one of the best preserved kasbahs in Morocco. Many movies have been shot here including 'Gladiator', and it was declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO in 1987.

After your visit to Aït Benhaddou, you travel back to Marrakesh, climbing once again to cross the Tizi n' Tichka pass and then descending back to Marrakesh.

Overnight: Riad Palais De Princesses Or Riad Challa Or Similar, Marrakesh

Day 8 - Fly to London.

After breakfast today you will be transferred to the airport for your flight back to London.