High Peaks and Desert Morocco Motorcycle Tour

This is a proper enduro week rather than an adventure-bike tour with dirt sections. The bikes are KTM 450 EXCs, lowered versions are available, and Motor Adventures rate the riding as intermediate to advanced: sand, rock, riverbeds and dunes, ridden day after day. The structure is sensible. After arriving at Ouarzazate and collecting bikes, the first riding day is short at around 80 km, opening with about 20 km of fast plateau before turning into a sandy, twisting riverbed and then rocky trails through gorge country to a converted kasbah in the Dades. It is enough to shake down the bike and read the terrain without wrecking anyone on day one. Day three is the big transit, roughly 250 km beginning with a fast flat plateau and then working through the Jbel Saghro mountains and out onto desert trails, crossing the Rheris river before finishing at an auberge beside the red dunes of Erg Chebbi. Day four stays there and rides the dunes themselves, about 100 km including an attempt on the highest cathedral dune, then fast sandy trails out to a Berber bivouac pitched near the sand. The return is the technical half. From the bivouac the route runs about 220 km through fesh-fesh, the very soft powder that hides near M'harech, then across flat plateau on twisting tracks with a fuel stop at Tazzarine, ending at a restored kasbah hotel at N'kob. The final day retraces the Jbel Saghro range on a different line, roughly 205 km through a deeply rutted sandy riverbed, with lunch at Skoura and a descent down a black sandy wash into Ouarzazate. Support is set up for the terrain rather than for comfort: a vehicle with driver, mechanic and medical equipment shadows the group, fuel and drinking water are covered, lunches are picnics or cafe stops, and nights are twin-share half board in hotels and kasbahs plus the desert bivouac. Riders bring their own protective gear and hydration, and medical insurance with repatriation cover is required. The season runs September to May.

Five days of enduro riding on KTM 450 EXCs between Ouarzazate and the dunes of Erg Chebbi, sold as a seven-day package with arrival and departure nights either side. The riding starts gently, with an 80 km day of fast plateau and sandy riverbed into the Dades gorge, then steps up: about 250 km across the Jbel Saghro range and a crossing of the Rheris river to reach Merzouga, a 100 km day on the red dunes including an attempt at the highest cathedral dune, and a 220 km run through fesh-fesh powder near M'harech to a kasbah at N'kob. The last stage covers roughly 205 km back over Jbel Saghro by a different line, through a deeply rutted riverbed and down a black sand wash into Ouarzazate. Bikes, fuel, GPS, half board and a support vehicle with mechanic are included.