Plan Your Group
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The offsite nobody can reach · Umnya Desert Camp, Erg Chegaga, Sahara Morocco

The offsite nobody can reach

For the person organising it, not for the person attending

Request the briefing pack

Who this is written for

The chief of staff, not the chief executive.

A bank chairman does not search for a venue. Somebody does it for them, usually with a short brief, a fixed week and a list of things that must not go wrong. This page is written for that person.

Everything below is the sort of detail you need before you can put a recommendation in front of a board: capacity, access, connectivity, confidentiality, protection, medical cover and who you actually deal with. If something you need is missing, ask for it and it will be in writing the same week.

Last reviewed 2026-09-12.

Four conditions that cannot be bought in a hotel

They read as drawbacks until you are the one trying to keep a board in a room.

No mobile signal, and that is the specification

There is no coverage at the camp and no Wi-Fi. A 4G signal returns at the top of the large dune, a twenty-minute round trip, which is where anyone who genuinely must reach an office goes. A satellite phone stays with the camp manager for emergencies. Boards that arrive worried about this are the ones who write to us afterwards about it.

One group on site, with no public anywhere

The camp takes one party at a time. There is no reception, no bar, no lobby and no day traffic, because there is no road for day traffic to arrive on. Nobody can book a tent next to your directors, and nobody walks past the meeting.

Sixty kilometres of piste as the outer perimeter

The last sixty kilometres from M'Hamid El Ghizlane are unpaved. That is a filter on who can physically reach the site, which is the part security advisors tend to like once they have seen the approach.

A small team, long-serving, used to this

Twelve people on site, Arabic, Berber, French and English. The same faces year after year. We can provide the list in advance, with roles, for any group that vets staff.

What you need before you can brief upward

Numbers rather than adjectives, because a board paper does not run on adjectives.

Capacity
Eight canvas suites, up to twenty guests, taken as one group. A board of eight to twelve sits comfortably inside that with room for a facilitator and an assistant.
By helicopter
One hour forty from Marrakech Menara, landing on the camp helipad with no road section at the end. An executive aircraft carries five to six passengers per rotation, so a party of twelve is two rotations, and a party of eighteen is three. We coordinate the operator and the slot.
By road
Eight hours forty five from Marrakech in our own 4x4s with our own drivers: seven hours fifteen of tarmac to M'Hamid El Ghizlane, then one hour thirty of piste. Most groups break the drive with a night in Ouarzazate.
Mixed arrival
Principals by air, the rest of the party by road, arriving the same afternoon. This is the most common shape for a board and the one we plan for by default.
Working space
A covered majlis for sessions, a projector, flip charts and a 120 inch outdoor screen, all on solar power. The natural dune amphitheatre takes a full group for a plenary.
Medical
The nearest hospital is at Zagora, about two and a half hours away. We put the evacuation plan, the drive times and the helicopter option in writing before you commit, and we can hold a medic on site for the dates.
Season
October to April. Outside that window the heat makes a working programme pointless, and we will say so rather than take the booking.
Notice
The good weeks are committed eight to ten months ahead. Short notice is sometimes possible and always worth asking about, because a single cancelled group frees a whole camp.

We do not publish rates. The season, the length, the number of rotations and the shape of the programme change what a week costs to run, and a figure on a public page becomes a ceiling in every conversation that follows. Send dates and a head count and you have a written figure, itemised, within 24 hours.

The part your risk committee will ask about

Confidentiality

We sign your NDA rather than asking you to sign ours. No guest name, company name or photograph leaves the camp, and we do not publish client references even when they would help us. If your communications team needs a written undertaking before the enquiry goes further, ask for it in the first exchange.

Close protection

Protection officers are accommodated and fed as part of the party, and we brief them on the site before arrival: approach routes, the piste, the helipad, distances, and where the signal is. The camp is enclosed and there is no public to manage.

Devices and papers

There is a safe on site. Groups that travel with sensitive material usually find the absence of any network the simplest control they have had all year, and we can lock a tent as a document room for the duration.

Who knows what

Our team knows the programme, the timings and the dietary requirements. They do not know who your principals are unless you tell them, and nothing about a stay is discussed outside the operating team.

Five lines, and you have a proposal

This is the whole brief we need. Anything else can wait for the second exchange.

01

The dates and the shape

Arrival and departure, how many nights, and whether the group works in the morning or the afternoon. Two nights is the minimum that makes the journey worth it; three is where a board actually settles.

02

The head count, split by arrival

How many people in total, and how many of those come by air. The split decides the number of rotations and therefore most of the transport budget.

03

The session requirements

Plenary, breakouts, a screen, a facilitator, recording or deliberately no recording. We build the day around the programme rather than the other way round.

04

The constraints nobody writes down

Dietary, medical, mobility, observance, and anyone who must remain reachable. Tell us early; every one of these has a solution if we know in time.

05

What you need on paper

Insurance certificates, the evacuation plan, the staff list, an NDA, the operating licence. Ask for the set in the first exchange and you will have it the same week.

Asked by every board that comes

Can a board of directors hold a real working session with no phone signal? +
Yes, and it is the reason most of them come. There is no coverage at the camp, so sessions are built to run offline: printed papers, a projector and a screen on solar power, and no devices pulling attention out of the room. A 4G signal returns at the top of the large dune for anyone who genuinely must reach an office, and a satellite phone covers emergencies. Boards consistently tell us the connectivity that worried them most beforehand is what they value afterwards.
How many helicopter rotations does a board of twelve need? +
Two. An executive helicopter from Marrakech Menara carries five to six passengers per rotation and the flight is one hour forty each way, landing on the camp helipad. A party of twelve is therefore two rotations, eighteen is three. Many boards send principals by air and the rest of the party by road on the same day, which arrives together and costs considerably less.
Can we take the whole camp for an executive committee offsite? +
That is the only way we sell it. The camp is taken as one group, up to twenty guests across eight canvas suites, and nobody else books in while you are there. There is no reception, no bar and no lobby, so there is no public to be seen by. A board of eight to twelve fits with room for a facilitator, an assistant and protection officers.
Will you sign our non-disclosure agreement? +
Yes. We sign your NDA rather than asking you to sign ours, and we do not publish client names or photographs even when it would help us commercially. Ask in the first exchange and the signed copy comes back with the proposal.
Can close protection officers travel with the group? +
Yes. Protection officers are accommodated and fed as part of the party, and we brief them on the site in advance: approach routes, the sixty kilometres of piste, the helipad, drive times and where mobile signal exists. The camp is enclosed with no other guests and no passing traffic.
What medical cover exists that far from a city? +
The nearest hospital is at Zagora, about two and a half hours away by road, and the helicopter is the fast option in an emergency. We put the evacuation plan, the drive times and the contact chain in writing before you commit, and we can hold a medic on site for the dates on request.
How far ahead does a board offsite need to be booked? +
Eight to ten months for the good weeks between October and April. Shorter notice is worth asking about, because a single cancelled group frees the whole camp at once. Outside the October to April window we will tell you not to come rather than take the booking.
Who do we deal with, and how many suppliers are involved? +
One company and one point of contact, from the arrivals hall to the last departure. We own and operate the camp, we run our own convoy with our own drivers, and we coordinate the helicopter operator ourselves. Your finance department receives one invoice.

Send the dates and the head count.

You will have a written figure, the itemised inclusions, the evacuation plan and a signed NDA if you need one, within 24 hours. If the season is wrong for what you are trying to do, we will say that first.

Request the briefing pack

Related: the full camp buyout, helicopter access, The Clearing.