Morocco - January 2025 - Itinerary and logistics

Morocco, 5th - 11th January 2025

The last time I went to Morocco was in late 2014, a whole decade has passed. Maybe it's because I went three times that year, and also the year before that. I was Morocco'd out perhaps? It was too long a gap. My first trip there in 2013 was the inspiration for this one - that was with Bradders, Mick and Richard. We had driven all the way out to the Erg Chebbi, deliberately arriving at Merzouga in the dark so as to be stunned the following morning. We were. You can read about it starting here.

So the plan was to recreate that trip, this time just Mick and I, to reaquaint ourselves with the various Wheatears and other passerines of the Moroccan desert that lies between the Atlas and the Anti-Atlas. The rough plan was to cross the Atlas on day one and then spend two days getting to Merzouga, a day there, and two days getting back, birding all the way and prioritising photography - this was the first proper outing where I could put the Sony mirrorless through its paces and prove that the limiting factor was me rather than it!

The birding was good but not great, there just didn't seem to be as many birds as I remembered and at many points it was really hard work. We wondered if we were too early, and if later in the year resident bird populations are augmented by migrant visitors. The vast deserts at Tagdilt and around Merzouga were virtually bird free for a lot of the time, and those birds that we did find were very hard to approach other than in a few isolated cases. From a photography standpoint these individuals saved the day.

Logistics

• A six day trip in early January.

• Flights: from Gatwick to Marrakesh on British Airways. Outbound it is an early afternoon flight that gets you there in the evening but without any time for birding, but not so late that you can't preposition into the foothills of the Atlas. The return flight leaves in the evening, more than enough time to cross the Altas in the morning and have some birding time to the north.

• Car Hire: A Kia Picanto from Avis as part of a BA holiday. A 4x4 would have been better, but the prices are astronomical. If you can't or won't stretch to a 4x4 then the next best thing is the smallest and lightest regular car you can get. You will suprised at where you can take it, and you can likely push it out if you get stuck. We treated it rather like a 4x4 and it didn't let us down at all!
• Driving: The Tizi n'Tichka pass over the Atlas and the N10 road are much improved in the ten years since I last drove them. There were also far fewer overloaded and really slow lorries to worry about. Marrakech remains pretty crazy but does not last long.  I would recommend avoiding Oukaimeden at weekends, as the road up to the ski resort is narrow and very crowded. There were frequent police checkpoints that we were generally waived right through, the exception being the one closest to Algeria at Bouanane which took a while but remained very friendly. These always tend to be at the start or end of a town, so always slow down as you approach a settlement. We were also intercepted by Moroccan soldiers on the N17 where it runs adjacent to the Algerian border, and were told that we should not have stopped on this section. Again it all remained very calm and we were were able to make our excuses and leave unscathed.
• Weather: Glorious all week. Cold at night, especially in the Atlas, but very pleasant by mid morning and never too hot. Snow in the high Atlas is not unknown and can block the road for a time, so plan accordingly and make sure you leave plenty of time to get back over.

• Accommodation: We booked the all of the accommodation in advance as we knew where we wanted to be. Merzouga has seen an explosion of tourist accommodation, the once seemingly remote northern Erg Chebbbi is now a thriving village rather than just Auberge Yasmina in splendid isolation. Expect to pay about €40 per night at most places for a twin room, which will likely come with an excellent breakfast. Particular shout out to 'Nomadic Birdway' in Imiter, it was outstanding and Brahim an excellent host.

• Cash: You can't get Dhirams outside the country so you'll need to get some when you arrive. ATMs took our cards no problem. Cash is genuinely needed when you are on the road - coffee and oranges cannot be paid for by card!

• Food: Breakfasts at the hotels were mostly great. In the evenings we found it easy to eat at the places we were staying though there is an obvious tourist markup associated with this. We also ate at roadside cafés a few times, half the cost and just as good. On the road we piled into wonderful oranges brought east from Agadir and sold off the back of trucks, and we also found mobile coffee vans to be a lifesafer, indeed one guy near Ouarzazate made me one of the best espressos I've had anywhere.
• Optics: No scope but one might have been useful a couple of times. This was trip that prioritised photography.

• Literature: eBird, an ancient Gosney guide, and prior experience!

 

Itinerary
Day 0: Arrived in Marrakesh in the evening and then drove about an hour south to the Ourika Valley, staying at the Aurocher Oukaimeden hotel chosen specifically as there had been a Maghreb Owl reported there. After dinner we took a torch and managed to find it! 
Day 1: Morning up to the ski resort at Oukaimeden. Whilst we found all the birds we were looking for it was hell on earth with thousands of day-trippers from Marrakesh. Getting back down was a nightmare with the road reduced to one lane in several spots due to land slip, a nearly three hour traffic jam, much of it at a standstill, to cover what should have taken half an hour. Afternoon over the Atlas via the Tizi n'Tichka pass, then overnight at Ouarzazate.

Day 2: Birded water bodies around Ouarzazate in the morning before heading east to Boumalne Dades. Afternoon at Tagdilt before continuing east. Overnight at Errachidia.
Day 3: We spent the morning enacting a stupid plan to try and see a bird in Algeria, taking the N17 for a couple of hours east to where it runs right next to the border. The border is closed, you can't cross it all, nor even stray near it as we subsequently found out from some soldiers. We birded Oued Zelmou before heading back west and taking the Ziz Valley down to Erfoud and Merzouga. Overnight at Merzouga.
Day 4: All day around the Erg Chebbi. Morning in the desert to the north looking for birds around Tisserdmine, and then the afternoon around the Dayet Srij which had plenty of water in it. Overnight at Merzouga.
Day 5: Early morning at a seasonal lake on the west side of the dunes for Sandgrouse. Then tried the 9km Wadi west of the main road opposite Yasmina. Afternoon back to Imiter and the Tagdilt tracks. Overnight at Imiter.

Day 6: Early morning on Tagdilt again, and then the gorge outside Imiter known as the Falcon Nest Escarpment. After breakfast birded our way west to the start of the Atlas road, finishing at the P1505 loop late afternoon. Overnight at Tisseldei near Amerzgane so as to get over the pass nice and early the following day.

Day 7: Over the Atlas looking for new birds for the list which took all morning. Midday at Ait Ourir concentrating on the dump, and then a short session south of Marrakesh before our early evening flight.