Champagne flutes and candles on a dune, a tent below

Full Camp Buyout · Erg Chegaga · Morocco

The Whole Camp.
Just Your Family.

Rent the entire luxury desert camp: 8 private tents, a private chef, and the dunes of Erg Chegaga with nobody else in sight. Three generations, one fire, zero strangers.

Request a Buyout Proposal

Why privatize

A family gathering with no one to share it with

Most luxury travel puts your family next to other people's families. A private buy-out removes that entirely. When you rent the whole of Umnya Desert Camp, there is no other table at dinner, no shared pool schedule, no lowered voices. The children run free, the grandparents set the pace, and the camp adapts to your rhythm.

The camp sits 60 km of unpaved piste beyond the last paved road, after M'Hamid El Ghizlane, at the edge of the Erg Chegaga dunes. Privacy here is not a policy. It is geography.

Families use buy-outs for milestone birthdays, reunions after years apart, anniversary celebrations, and simply the increasingly rare project of getting three generations into the same place with no phones and no schedule.

Woman kneels by a breakfast tray and teapot inside a tent

What Your Buyout Includes

One booking, the entire camp, everything handled

All 8 Private Tents

From 2 to 18 guests, and up to 20 with extra beds: the whole camp is yours. Every tent has its own private en-suite bathroom with a hot shower and a flush toilet, so no branch of the family draws the short straw. Couples, kids sharing, grandparents with space of their own. Tell us who is coming and we will map the sleeping plan before you book.

Private Chef, All Meals

Breakfast, lunch and dinner prepared fresh daily. Children's preferences, dietary requirements and celebration cakes handled with advance notice.

Exclusively Yours

The camp closes to all other guests. Common areas, fire circle, dining tent and the surrounding dunes belong to your family alone.

Activities for Every Age

Camel treks, sandboarding, dune climbing, 4x4 excursions, Berber tea ceremonies and telescope stargazing under Bortle Class 1 skies. All optional.

Full Logistics

4x4 transfers from M'Hamid included. We coordinate your route from Marrakech, and helicopter transfers are available for families who prefer to arrive by air.

A Dedicated Team

Coordinator, chef, guides and camp staff serve only your family for the duration. Discreet, warm, and very good with children.

The sleeping map

Who sleeps where

Eight tents, every one with its own private bathroom. Seven are twin tents with two single beds, the Noor Suite is the largest, and extra beds go in for children or a larger family, charged as a supplement.

1 tent

Noor Suite

The largest tent at camp, up to 4 with extra beds. This is usually where a family with young children, or the grandparents, end up.

7 tents

Saida Berber

Two single beds as standard, up to 3 with an extra bed. Couples, pairs of cousins, a parent with a child. Each has its own en-suite bathroom and hot shower.

A worked example

16

Two guests in each of the 8 tents. The simplest configuration, with no extra beds.

18

The Noor takes 4, the 7 Saida take two each. One family of four together, everyone else in pairs.

20

The Noor takes 4 and two Saida take a third bed each. Still one tent per couple.

Larger groups: we can add two further tents when the party needs them. Tell us the ages and who belongs with whom, and we will send the sleeping map with your proposal, before you commit.

Two dromedaries with their handler beside a tea corner lit by lanterns

Multigenerational by design

From age 5 to 85, the desert works

The best multigenerational trips give every generation something real. Here, 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 all happen with the Sahara behind it.

The camp is compact and flat, tents are a short walk from the dining area, and nothing requires physical effort unless you choose it. Camel rides can be twenty minutes or two hours. Sunset can be climbed to or driven to.

Evenings converge naturally: one fire, one sky, one long dinner. Most families tell us this was the point of the whole trip.

Occasions Families Privatize For

One camp, many reasons

Milestone Birthdays

A 50th, 60th or 70th celebrated somewhere no restaurant can match. Private dinner in the dunes, fire, music, and a sky full of stars for the toast.

Family Reunions

Branches of a family scattered across continents, gathered in one place with no distractions and nowhere else to be. The desert does the rest.

Anniversaries & Vow Renewals

Golden anniversaries and vow renewals with children and grandchildren present. We arrange the ceremony details discreetly.

Holidays Together

Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year and Easter in the Sahara. The most requested family buy-out dates of the season, and the ones families repeat.

American families: see our Thanksgiving in the Sahara dates and rate, or Christmas and New Year.

"Three generations, eleven people, four nights, and not a single moment where we had to think about anyone outside our family. The kids still talk about the dunes. My parents still talk about the stars."

Family buy-out · 11 guests · 4 nights

The Practical Part

Season, capacity and how to book

Sept to June

Operating season

Up to 20

Guests across 8 tents

2 to 7

Nights (3+ recommended)

Buy-outs are quoted as one global rate for the whole camp, set case by case, never per person. Write to reservations@umnyadesertcamp.com with your dates and family size, and we reply within 24 hours with a tailored proposal.

Ready for your desert journey?

Get in touch to plan an unforgettable bespoke experience.

How booking works

20% deposit

Holds your dates. The balance is due before arrival, on a schedule set out in your proposal.

Written terms first

Deposit, payment schedule and the full cancellation ladder are in the proposal, before you pay anything.

A reply in 24 hours

From a person, not an automated system. Booking direct, with no commission markup.

Frequently asked questions

Can we rent the entire desert camp for our family?
Yes. Umnya Desert Camp lends itself well to full buy-outs. Your family takes all 8 private Berber suite tents (up to 20 guests) and the camp closes to everyone else. No strangers at breakfast, no other groups at the fire. The camp, the team and the surrounding dunes of Erg Chegaga are exclusively yours for the duration of your stay.
Is a private desert camp buyout suitable for grandparents and young children?
Yes. This is the classic multigenerational format: grandparents, parents and children together. Tents are at ground level with real beds and private bathrooms, the camp is compact and easy to move around, and activities scale from gentle (tea ceremonies, sunset viewing, stargazing) to active (sandboarding, dune climbing, 4x4 excursions). Children from around 4 to 5 years old thrive here, and there is no upper age limit.
How much does it cost to privatize a luxury desert camp in Morocco?
A full camp buy-out at Umnya Desert Camp is quoted as one global rate for the whole camp, set case by case for each request, never per person. Buy-outs include all 8 tents, a private chef with all meals, desert activities, 4x4 transfers from M'Hamid and a dedicated team. Write to reservations@umnyadesertcamp.com with your dates and family size for a tailored proposal within 24 hours.
When is the best time for a private family buyout in the Sahara?
The camp operates September through June. October to November and March to May offer warm days and cool starry nights, ideal for families. Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year and Easter are the most requested family buy-out dates and book 6 to 12 months in advance.
How long is the journey from Marrakech with children?
About 8 hours 45 by road, of which the last 60 km are an hour and a half of sandy track in a private 4x4. Most families spend a night in Marrakech first and reach the camp in the late afternoon. By helicopter it is 1 hour 40 from Marrakech, landing at the camp.
How are the tents arranged for a family?
The camp has eight tents, each with its own bathroom. A tent sleeps two, and three or four with extra beds, so children can sleep with their parents or have a tent of their own. The camp takes from 2 to 18 guests, and up to 20 with extra beds. The sleeping plan comes with the proposal, before you commit.
Is there Wi-Fi or a phone signal at the camp?
There is no Wi-Fi and no mobile signal at the camp itself. For an important call, a signal can be found a short walk from camp: guests go before dinner, send what they need to, and come back. It takes about twenty minutes there and back.
Which school holidays fall within the season?
The camp is open from September to June and closed in July and August. October half-term, Christmas and New Year, February half-term and the Easter holidays all fall within the season.

Private 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.

Prefer WhatsApp?

We reply by email within 24 hours. Your details are only used to answer you.

  • 2019

    Open since

  • 4.8★

    TripAdvisor

  • 8 tents

    The camp to yourselves

  • 24h

    A written proposal, no commitment