Our office and guides live in Zagora. Every southern route we run passes through this town, and most of them start here — so this is Zagora written from inside it, not copied from a guidebook.
Where Zagora sits
Zagora is the capital of Zagora province in the Drâa-Tafilalet region of south-east Morocco, on the Draa river, at the point where the valley begins to open towards the desert. The palm grove that follows the water below the town runs for around 100 km. From the road it reads as a green line with the Anti-Atlas behind it and bare hills in front.
If you are expecting a resort, this is not that. Zagora is a working town: a weekly souk, government offices, a ruined kasbah on the hill, and the traffic of a place that serves the whole province. What it has is position. The open desert starts a short drive south of here, which is why the town exists at all and why our trips begin on its roads.
The sign: 52 days to Timbuktu
The photograph every visitor stops for is a painted sign on the edge of town pointing south-east: Timbuktu, 52 days by camel. It marks the old caravan road that used to carry salt and dates across roughly 2,000 km of open desert, at the walking pace of a camel train.
Nobody departs for Timbuktu from Zagora any more — the sign is a photo stop, and a useful one, because it gives you the scale of what lies beyond the town better than any map. Go at the start or end of the day; midday light flattens the landscape and the sign.
Tamegroute, down the road
A short drive south of Zagora is Tamegroute, known for two things that have not changed in generations: the green-glazed pottery turned in its workshops, and an underground kasbah that stays cool when the surface bakes. There is also a Koranic library that has been in use for centuries.
Our itineraries stop here on the way to the dunes — long enough to see the kilns, the painting and the library basement. It is the most interesting half-hour on the road between Zagora and the sand, and it is included on every route that heads for Erg Chegaga.
When to come
Zagora is a year-round town, but the season decides what the days feel like. October to April is when most people come: mild days, cool nights, comfortable camping. Summer is genuinely hot — 40°C and above is normal in July and August — and the town empties out accordingly.
We do not stop running tours in summer; we change the shape of the day. If you want month-by-month detail, read when to visit the Moroccan Sahara.
How a Sahara tour starts here
Send us your location — the airport, your riad, your hotel or anywhere else in town — and our team collects you directly. From Zagora the road runs south through the palm grove to Tinfou, where the dunes begin at the roadside and the buses stop for photos, then on to M'hamid, the last village before the open desert and the starting point for the trips into the Sahara.
From there the surface changes. The last stretch to the Chegaga bivouac is around 60 km of dirt track through hamada — the flat stony desert — before the dunes rise again. That is the part of the drive people remember.
Which of our routes runs from Zagora
- One night, all the highlights — 1 day, for travellers already in town who want the desert without committing a week.
- Bivouac night at Erg Chegaga — 2 days, the classic short run to the dunes and back.
- By camel through hamada and erg — 4 days, the slower version with the caravan.
- Anti-Atlas descent to Erg Chegaga — 3 days from the airport, over the mountains and down to the sand.
All of them are private, priced from 4 persons, and can be quoted individually for one to three travellers — ask on WhatsApp or through the quote form.
Sources
- Visit Morocco, official tourism portal of Morocco — visitmarocco.com
- Kingdom of Morocco official gateway — maroc.ma, Drâa-Tafilalet region information
