Moroccan Desert Trips Avis 2

We can highly recommend Hakim and his company. He was most accommodating and helpful throughout the trip. The first evening we arrived later than expected as drive was longer than we thought however no problem as hakim had everything ready to go. My daughter age 7 and I had our own camel and our son aged 4 shared with my husband. We rode the camels for an hour to the camp the final part was in dark which was a fun experience in itself. At the camp we had dinner and slept in a fancy tent with real beds. We were called early to see the sunrise and then the rest of the people staying at the camp headed back. We had breakfast and then headed off on the camels for an hour to an oasis and the largest dune which we tried to climb. We had planned to then travel to a nomad family camp but unusually for this time year the temp was over 35 I'd say and we decided to stay put. Hakim brought out mattresses and we lazed about in the shade of the date trees in the oasis for a few hours. Glorious. We then headed back to camp and did sand boarding and had dinner. We really wanted to sleep outside so hakim organised for mattresses to be brought outside and set up a little way away from the camp. Amazing experience that kids will remember forever. The next morning we headed back after sunrise on camels for 90 mins to hotel for breakfast and showers. I highly recommend anyone travelling to the desert to spend at least two nights. Its a long journey to get there and its hard to really get a feel when just going overnight. I also highly recommend Hakim as a guide.

I've traveled all over the world and had gone on a lot of tours but there's only a few guides that stands out in my memory and one of them is Hakim. He went above and beyond his call of duties to give us an amazing time and surprised my sister for her birthday. He can catch on small details and incorporate it to your trip. We dont remember mentioning about my sister's birthday but he planned things for it. It started with a birthday gift (moroccan slippers). The big thing was he surprised her with a birthday cake at camp. Who knew you can have a cake in the Saharra dessert? Played happy birthday song in 4 languages.
He was truly genuine about giving his guests a great service and not one who would take you places to buy stuff to get commission (to me that's very important). He even helped haggle with some vendors to get lower prices. (How do I know? Because my sister could speak and understand their language). He made sure you have a customized trip by stopping wherever you want whenever but at the same time having enough time to see the major attractions you specified. I'm amazed with his language skills which he spoke very good English and speaks 3 other languages and had a good sense of humor. He even sang some English love songs at my request to distract me from my fear of being on a camel (I have fear of heights). He plays drums too for entertainment!
The facilities and sites he took us were clean, safe, beautiful and very hospitable. It was beyond what I expected. Thought we were going to "rough" it for this trip and I was wrong. He's very efficient and responds to email and calls right away. He's on time and always had a great attitude. He kept us safe which I'm thankful for especially for two young women traveling in a foreign place.
(high atlas mountains, dades gorge, ouarzazate, erfoud, tinghir, todra gorges, merzouga, rissani, black village, 2nd oldest sook in Morocco)