A little bit of desert
 

Myself and a friend will be driving down to The Gambia in a 200tdi Discovery in January. I will sell the Disco there and fly home.
We are taking our wives with us as far as Morocco and will spend a few days in Essouira and Marrakech from where they will fly home.
Where is the nearest bit of desert to Marrakech that we can take our wives to for a couple of days off road camping. Would Quarzazate and Chigaga be a good bet
Richard

Hi!

I think you could go to Merzouga and explore the dunes at Erg Chebbi.
Ouarzazate will be rocky pistes, Chegaga and Mhamid you get some sand too.

playing for a few hours or overnight stay in the dessert
 

Hi, if it is just playing for a couple of hours I would suggest Merzouga. If you would like to stay away for 1 or more nights I can recommend to drive to Mhamid and from there go through the dessert to Foum Zguid (the track fron Tagounite to Foum Zguid is very rocky and no sand).
Halfway from Mhamid to Foum you get a few berber camps which accomodate for tourists/overlanders. At only one place you can stay overnight without pre-booking in Ouarzazate. This is were the overlanders - if they are around -stay. If you need waypoints ed I can send it to you.
At lot can be found on the website as well. Take sandladders just in case, enough water and spare tires.
Bye, Marieke

Sandladders, warm clothes & sleeping bags - it'll be FREEZING!

Kira