Three generations · Erg Chegaga · Morocco
You are the one who
has to convince them
One person carries a family trip across three generations, and it is never the one with the most free time. This page is the answer to the four things your family will say.
Ask for a written proposalWhy this page exists
Fifteen people, one group chat, four separate worries
A father who doubts the comfort. A brother in law who would rather go to Tuscany. A sister worried about the children. And in the middle, one person holding three sets of medications, two school calendars and everybody's idea of a holiday.
A brochure is no use to that person. What they need is the sentence that answers each objection, in a form they can paste into the family thread. That is what is below, with the figures as they really are, including the one that counts against us.
Last reviewed 2026-10-04.
The four objections
What they will say, and what is true
In the order they usually come up.
01
"My mother will not be comfortable in a tent."
What a tent suite actually is
- Eight tent suites, each with its own bathroom: hot shower, flush toilet, a door that closes. Nobody crosses sand at two in the morning to reach a shared block.
- Real beds with proper linens, and heating for the cold nights. Nobody sleeps on a camp cot.
- The camp is flat. There are no steps between the tents, the dining area, the majlis and the fire. The longest distance inside the camp is roughly forty metres, from the furthest tent to the dining area.
- A 4x4 accompanies every excursion, so a camel ride can be twenty minutes or two hours and a sunset can be climbed to or driven to.
- The last sixty kilometres are piste. For whoever does not want them, the helicopter from Marrakech lands at the camp.
If someone in the family has specific mobility needs, say so when you write. Tent assignments and seating are configured around them before you arrive, not improvised on the day.
02
"The children will be bored after half a day."
What the children actually do
- Camel trek at first light. Each one has their own camel, a guide leads, the pace is slow and no experience is needed.
- The dunes reach 300 metres. Climb to the crest, then roll, run or sandboard back down. Physical play with no consequences and no end point.
- Telescopes after dinner under a Bortle 1 sky: the Milky Way in full colour, the rings of Saturn through the eyepiece. Children generally refuse to go to bed.
- Bread baked in the camp oven, tagine slow-cooked over charcoal, honey and amlou at breakfast. Moroccan food is mild, varied and generous, which is why it works with children.
- The guides read the wind direction from the shape of a dune, navigate by the stars and show how desert plants collect water. It is told around a fire, not in a classroom.
No screen battles, because there is no wifi and no network in the camp. For an important call, a signal can be found a short walk away, about twenty minutes there and back. What parents notice by the second day is the other effect: with no television and no separate children's club, the grandchildren talk to their grandparents.
03
"It is too far for a week."
The journey, in exact figures
- By road from Marrakech: about 7 hours 15 of tarmac to M'Hamid El Ghizlane, then 1 hour 30 of piste over the last sixty kilometres. About 8 hours 45 in all, in our own 4x4s with our own drivers.
- By air: 1 hour 40 by helicopter from Marrakech Menara, five or six seats per rotation, landing at the camp.
- Luggage travels by 4x4 whichever way people arrive.
- Many families split the two. The grandparents and the youngest children fly, the middle generation drives the Draa valley. Everyone reaches the camp with a story, and nobody arrives depleted.
Most families spend two or three nights at the camp inside a longer Morocco trip, with Marrakech at either end. Three nights is what makes the journey worth making.
04
"And if something happens, out there."
The honest answer, including the part that is a risk
- The team has staff trained in first aid.
- The nearest clinic is in M'Hamid, 90 minutes by 4x4. The nearest hospital is in Zagora, three hours by road.
- Guests on medication bring their own supply plus a backup. For someone whose condition warrants it, we recommend including a travel nurse in the party, and we can help find one.
Those distances are real and we are not going to round them down. For a family deciding whether to bring an eighty-year-old, that is the number to weigh before booking, not after. Some families weigh it and come. Some weigh it, come, and bring a nurse. Some decide against it, and that is a reasonable decision too.
The thing that ends the argument
The sleeping plan
Half of what a family argues about is who ends up where. You do not have to settle that on your own, and you do not have to settle it after paying.
Tell us the ages and who belongs with whom, and the sleeping plan comes attached to the proposal, before any commitment.
That attachment is what you forward to the family. It is a plan of the camp with names on the tents, and it settles the conversation faster than any photograph.
1 tent
Noor suite
The largest tent at the camp. A double as standard, up to 4 with extra beds. This is usually where a family with young children, or the grandparents, end up.
7 tents
Saida Berber
Twin rooms with two single beds as standard, up to 3 with an extra bed. A couple, two cousins, a parent with a child. Each has its own bathroom and hot shower.
From 2 to 18 guests, and up to 20 with extra beds. There is no minimum age, and when you take the whole camp, the dining tent, the fire and the dunes around them belong to your family alone.
The arithmetic you can share
One rate for the whole camp, not a rate per person
The camp is quoted as one global rate for the whole camp, set case by case for your dates and what you need. It is never a price per head.
That has a consequence worth stating plainly to the family: the figure does not move whether you are six or eighteen. Every person who decides to come lowers the cost per head, and the proposal stays exactly as it was. The cousin who is still hesitating is not an extra cost. They are the reason the number gets better for everyone else.
A written answer within 24 hours, and a 20% deposit holds the dates. Everything is handled in writing, in the language that suits you, and there is no telephone appointment to arrange.
Before you write
The practical part
Season, capacity and how far ahead the weeks go.
September to June
The camp is closed in July and in August. From October to April the days sit between 18 and 28 degrees, and in December and January 18 to 24 by day and 2 to 8 at night.
Eight tent suites
From 2 to 18 guests, and up to 20 with extra beds. A private bathroom in every tent, no minimum age, and the whole camp can be yours alone.
Eight to ten months
School holiday weeks are taken that far ahead. If the family is working around a school calendar, write before the dates are agreed, not after.
What the trip is actually for
One fire, one sky, one long dinner
The days can go in different directions. The seven year old rolls down a dune, the teenager forgets there is no signal, the parents finally sit still, the grandparents drink tea and watch it happen.
The evenings converge on their own, because there is one fire and nowhere else to be. Families tell us afterwards that the conversations at that fire were the point of the whole trip, and that is not something anyone arranged.
The window is real: a limited number of years when the grandparents travel well and the grandchildren are old enough to remember it.
The whole camp
Private camp buyout for families
The eight tents, the sleeping plan and what a buyout includes.
With children
Morocco desert family trip
Activities by age, food for children, and what to bring.
Skipping the piste
Helicopter from Marrakech
1 hour 40 from Marrakech Menara, landing at the camp.
Getting here
Transport and transfers
Every route to the camp, and how long each one takes.
Frequently asked questions
Will my parents be comfortable in a desert camp?
Will the children be bored?
How long does it take to reach the camp from Marrakech?
Can the oldest travellers avoid the piste?
What happens if someone falls ill so far from a hospital?
How many of us fit, and who sleeps where?
Does the quote change if we are ten rather than sixteen?
When can we come, and how far ahead should we book?
Send the ages and the dates
The sleeping plan and the written proposal come back within 24 hours, with no commitment. That is the document you forward to the family.
Request a proposalPrivate buyout
Ask for your dates
The whole camp for your group, from two guests to eighteen. Tell us when and how many of you: a written proposal for the whole camp comes back within 24 hours, with no commitment.
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2019
Open since
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4.8★
TripAdvisor
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8 tents
The camp to yourselves
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24h
A written proposal, no commitment
