Mhamid Things to Do

I recently finished a camel trek from M'hamid to Erg Chigaga that was arranged through SaharaTrek (an American middleman company that subcontracts to local tour operators). While the desert was fantastic, the service was not. The cost was supposed to include an English-speaking guide the whole time, but he arrived a day and a half late*; meanwhile I was being led about the desert by our 18yo camel driver. I would avoid SaharaTrek if I were you. Luckily, there are plenty of other companies that arrange tours, and it is an amazing experience that I highly recommend, just not with that company.

Worse yet, and I don't know if this is a standard practice among all tour operators, but I discovered too late that my guides did not use soap before preparing food (and no idea if they had soap at all, even for washing after call of nature). To no one's surprise -- despite using alcohol hand rub religiously myself -- I came down with traveller's diarrhea, something that I can tell you as a doctor is annoying in Cancun but a major medical problem when in the middle of the Sahara desert. Yet, my guides were totally untrained to deal with this, and when I requested to be evacuated out of the desert (thus prematurely terminating my tour) instead of riding a camel for two more days, they charged me over $50 extra for a 4x4 ride instead of paying for something that was their fault to begin with. When I called the local supervisor to complain, he was patronizing and defensive; I was stuck in the bathroom wishing I could go home instead of being able to enjoy Morocco.

I learned the hard way that tour agencies should be avoided; if anything goes wrong, they are contractually protected from any liability because they don't provide the tour itself -- you're better off hiring a tour operator directly. If you do use a third party, make sure they don't work with Habib based in Ouarzazate.

Other helpful info: if you choose the long journey to Erg Chigaga totally by camel, take my advice and ride the camel! They will let you walk if you want, but what no one told me in advance is that the journey is 36 miles one way, a distance that few can cover on foot in the Sahara comfortably in 3 days (let alone repeat!).

- Carl

*in full disclosure, I was reimbursed a small amount for the fraction of time that the English-speaking guide was missing by SaharaTrek, but they totally stonewalled me on accepting responsibility or any compensation for guide behavior that seemed to directly lead to my illness and having to terminate my trip prematurely