We are pleased to announce an inspection visit to Morocco for teachers.
Dates: 12 - 16 February 2012.
Price: £199 per person, including flights, accommodation, meals, transport and guides.
This is a great opportunity to experience the magic of Morocco - from the bustling streets of Marrakech, to the stillness and desert stars of the Sahara. We hope you will join us and see for yourself the huge potential Morocco has for educational tourism. From expeditions, to geography tours - the country is bursting with opportunity.
In conjunction with our friends at The Adventure Company, the planned itinerary is set out below.
Please contact us to register your interest and find out more.
Day 1: Arrive Marrakech
Arrive in Marrakech and transfer to your hotel. Dinner in a Moroccan Restaurant situated close to the main place Djemaa el Fna Overnight: Marrakech, Hôtel Majorelle (D)
Day 2: Aguersioual-Ouarzazate
Leaving Marrakech at around 7.30am, you travel into the Atlas Mountains and spend the morning at the village of Aguersioual. Here you will meet the local Berber people and learn about their traditional life style, including their food, how to cook a tagine, animal husbandry, agriculture and the roles of the men and women in this community. A wonderful insight into a way of life that is hard work but rewarding. After eating your lunch you will head to the the Tizi-n-Tichka Pass (2260 metres above sea level) into the barren slopes of shattered rock on the southern side of the pass. Witness how the forces of nature have helped shape these mountains offering an insight into plate tectonics and fold mountain formation. You continue onto Ouarzazate. Driving time approx. 4:30 Overnight:, Ouarzazate, Hôtel Les Jardins De Ouarzazate (BLD)
Day 3: Zagora-Camel Trek
From Ouarzazate you continue in a Southern direction and cross the Tizi n'Tinififft pass which then reveals the mountain chain of the Eastern Anti Atlas. From the pass you can see the first green oasis and en route some interesting stratification and formation by erosion. You travel through the lush Draa Valley – a strip of intense cultivation along the Oued Draa, a river formed from the melt waters of the Atlas Mountains. Then you head out on to the arid plains to an oasis settlement. Encounter nomadic farmers and explore a magical area of some small rolling dunes just outside of Zagora. You will meet your camel team and trek to your camp at Tinfou sand dunes. Long trousers to be worn whilst on the camel trek. Approx. 3:30 hours of driving.Overnight: Nomad Tents (BLD)
Day 4: Ait Benhaddou-Marrakech
This morning we leave the camp very early as it is a long driving day. Returning back to Marrakech along the Draa valley to Zagora and Ouarzazate, we'll stop en route at Ait Benhaddou for lunch and of course a visit of the Kasbah which is probably the best-preserved fortified kasbah in the country. With its dramatic walls of red earth, slit windows and crumbling towers, it is a magnificent example of a traditional stronghold. Chosen as a location for Hollywood films such as Lawrence of Arabia, Jewel in the Nile and more recently Gladiator, Ait Benhaddou sits upon a lofty pinnacle of rock overlooking a river. After this visit we continue our journey and head up North to the Tizi n'Tichka pass, we cross the High Atlas once more and will reach early evening the red city of Marrakech.Approx. 9 hrs of driving ( 3.5 hrs from Ait Ben Haddou in the afternoon)Dinner will be at a restaurant close to the Medina.Overnight: Hotel Majorelle, Marrakech (BLD).
Day 5: Marrakech-Fly Home
In the morning you will orientate yourselves with a walking tour of the centre which takes in the main sights and the sprawling souks. Compare the modern western city with its wide boulevards and government buildings with the traditional old city in the walled Medina with its narrow winding streets and souks. Duration approx. 4 hours. In the afternoon, transfer to the airport for your flight home. (B)