Mountains and Valleys

Six nights through the Jbel Saghro and the southern Atlas valleys, guided, five days of riding on a lightweight scrambler or bobber, capped at twelve riders.

This is the off-road-weighted one. Nearly seventy per cent of the route is off tarmac, against thirty per cent on it, which is the reverse of the operator’s High Atlas tour and the reason to pick this one instead.

The Jbel Saghro is the draw: a dry, largely bare massif of lunar rock formations between the High Atlas and the Sahara that sees very few visitors, and the home of the Ait Atta, whose mountain villages the route passes through. The Draa and Dades valleys follow with their palmeraies, rivers and gorges, including the Dades hairpins, which stack up the valley wall in a series so photographed it has become the shorthand image for Moroccan driving. The rock formation known as the Monkey Fingers and a run through the area’s own Monument Valley fall along the way, with a 2,300-metre pass that has the Sahara visible in the distance from the top. A walk down a palmerie with a local guide, the souks and lunch with a Berber family complete it.

A guide, a support vehicle and a smartphone with the route loaded are provided throughout, and all the accommodation on this one has a swimming pool. Alcohol is available every evening. Spring and autumn are the season, which suits the altitude and the terrain. Some riding experience is required, though the operator’s page says no driving licence is needed, which sits oddly beside the licence requirement on its High Atlas tour and is worth clarifying. The starting price given is €1,450.