Truly an exotic location and fabulous part of Africa. Rich in scenery and birds with time to relax and enjoy both!The tours will start from Marrakech and take-in the Atlas Mountains, Draa Valley and southern deserts. Both the routes and sites have been carefully selected to give maximum opportunities for observing the ‘special’ birds of this region of Morocco.
The birding in the Sahara is wonderful and full of species not seen in the more fertile parts of the north. Here there is an array of Lark and Wheatear species unparalleled outside of Africa, we will also see birds such as Desert Sparrow, a highly prized species, along with a real favourite among visiting birders the Cream-coloured Courser.
Reserving your place is both easy and inexpensive. A deposit of € 250 is all we require! Book online...
Special CommentIt goes without saying that all our accommodation is of the usual very high standard as all Worldwide Birding Tours. This tour is relaxed and recommended if comfort and easy pace is required. Following the Draa Valley with its famous palmeries, whose green hues glow in stark contrast to the surrounding deserts and mountains, we will arrive at the end of the road in the small desert village of M'hamid, where we will stay for two nights. The tour winds its way onward and eastwards to the famous Erg Chebbi dunes, perhaps the finest dune complex in the Sahara. We stay for 3 nights in one of our favourite Kasbahs the Auberge Derkaoua, it is a wonderful and isolated oasis, a perfect retreat to explore for birds or just simply relax. Sandgrouse species, Desert Warbler and a host of real quality birds can be seen here and with the prospect of water filling a nearby lagoon, birds such as Greater Flamingo can provide a bizarre experience in the middle of the desert! There is so much more to this tour, that I recommend reading our full tour listing on our website.
So, if you feel like escaping the winter and prepare for spring, why not join our March safari tour and give yourself a taste of summer and the exotic?
The eleven days produced a total of 146 species that included almost all of the desert specialities that we were hoping for: sandgrouse were conspicuous by their almost total absence, and we never connected with Thick-billed Lark, Scrub Warbler or Pharaoh Eagle Owl. And our afternoon searching for Houbaras proved fruitless, but as this species is now released and hunted just like pheasants and partridges in England it is somewhat devalued as a target species. We heard that fifty had been killed by visiting hunters in the previous month.
Peter Jones writes: I have been to and written about Morocco so many times and yet it never fails to leave me with impressions of wonder, not least of vast empty tranquil spaces where it is possible to be completely immersed in nature, like a grain of sand is to a desert so but am I in life! Such a grand landscape is presented with perspectives beyond words, from the towering High Atlas Mountains to endless rolling dunes of the Sahara, from Palm lined valleys to multi-coloured striated flat topped mountains; it is a place of unimaginable beauty. The country also has an added attraction and great bonus for me acting as it does as a bridge between the more southerly regions of Africa and Europe for migratory birds. Little wonder I am constantly drawn by the calling of this exotic place and also its people.
