Morocco Magic

Depart home on an overnight flight to Tangier, arriving the next day. Please note: Flights will need to be booked multi city: Everyone will be flying to Morocco Home-TNG. The return if you ARE on the extension is CMN-Home.  If you ARE NOT on the extension your return flight will be RAK-Home.  (Meals on plane)

You will be transferred from the Tangier airport to your accommodations. After settling in, meet your guides for a brief tour of your surroundings, followed by a welcome dinner. Rest at the hotel and prepare for tomorrow. The next day provides a full day touring and photographing Tangier. You’ll start with the famous Berber Farmers Market, in which Berber families can travel from 30-60 miles to reach via their donkey or truck. Your local guide will assist you in photographing and learning about other traditional sights and sounds of Tangier. After all it is a mix of Africa, Spain, Portugal, and France, making it an ideal melting pot with ferries crossing the Strait of Gibraltar every day.  Overnight TANGIER (D; B, L)

Leave Tangier after breakfast with a photo stop in Tetouen, known as the “white dove” of Morocco. Sitting at the foot of the Rif mountains, the whitewashed village is straddled between the mountains and the Mediterranean Sea. Continue deeper into the Rif region of Northern Morocco and the town of Chefchaouen (shef-shau-en), built into the mountainside. The town was founded in 1492 by Moorish exiles from Spain, often called Chaouen by Moroccans. Chefchaouen was known as the hashish capital of Morocco and has been a favorite haunt of backpackers for years. Hash has been grown since the fifteenth century, and is called Kif, the short version of the Arabic word for pleasure.

Chaouen offers many native handicrafts that are not available elsewhere in Morocco, such as wool garments and woven blankets. The local goat cheese is also popular. Pack mules are still led throughout the streets carrying many of the handcrafted goods and supplies as they have for centuries. Overnight CHEFCHOUEN HOTEL (B, D; B)

After your last photography morning in Chef, have breakfast and drive South to Fes. Your escorts will consider the interests of the group and stop for photographic opportunities they feel appropriate and timely.

Fes, arguably the symbolic heart of Morocco, as all the great dynasties have left their mark on the city; it has, however, retained its Arab identity. The medina, Fes el-Bali, is one of the largest living medieval cities in the world. Its narrow, winding alleys and covered bazaars are intricate in their design and are awash with brilliant colors – a veritable assault on the senses as you squeeze past recalcitrant donkeys and submit to the sounds and smells of this jostling city. The dye makers, hills of spices, tannery vats, and palaces of merchants will beckon us. During a visit to a tannery we can watch the tanners as they work in the varied colors of this land. Overnight FEZ RIAD. (B, D; B, L; B)

Today your destination is the Sahara where you will have two days to capture the sunset and sunrise over the dunes.  After enjoying lunch en-route, continue to Erfoud, an oasis region at the edge of the Sahara. The next day you are invited to enjoy Sudanese music and dance at Khmlia, where we learn about life in the Sahara (participants can take donations of school supplies to the Sudanese school). If there is time this afternoon, enjoy your camel ride for sunset photography, or perhaps rise early for sunrise. Camels will carry us to the Erg Chebbi, Morocco’s only genuine Saharan Erg – a huge, drifting expanse of sand dunes that typify much of the Algerian Sahara. The dunes themselves are fascinating, especially as the sun reaches the horizon and the colors change from pink to gold to red. This will be your most extraordinary and unforgettable desert experience. Don’t forget to pack your bathing suit in your overnight bag. Overnight AUBURGE DU SUD. (Accommodations are in the lodge or in typical Berber tents with mattress and blankets, which now have their own bathrooms and dining tent) (B, L, D both days)

Your destination for the next evening is a renovated kasbah hotel, providing an ideal location for private photography in the early morning and late afternoon. The setting is the middle of a palm grove with lush greenness and olive tree branches, the hotel also offers a garden all its own. Skoura provides a respite from the busy medinas of Fez and Marrakech. Your photo leader will provide photography presentations during a mid-day break or in the evening at the hotel. Overnight KASBAH SKOURA. (B, L, D)

Last but not least is the famous city of Marrakech. Traveling back in time 2,000 years, we’ll see snake charmers, magicians, acrobats, and dancers, delighting children and adults alike. Capture a glimpse of daily life, as we stroll the narrow streets of the medina. Late this afternoon there will be a photo shoot of the famous Djemaa el-Fna Square, perhaps the greatest open-air spectacle in the world, where one can see the colors and feel the pulse of Morocco. Overnight MARRAKECH RIAD. (B, D)

Those not attending the extension will be transferred to the Marrakech Airport in time for their flight home. (B)