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Nobody can leave. That is the point. · Umnya Desert Camp, Erg Chegaga, Sahara Morocco

Nobody can leave. That is the point.

Team weeks in a private camp, sixty kilometres past the last paved road

Ask for a team proposal

Why most of it fails

Your team knows when it is being team built.

The rope course, the escape room, the exercise where everyone says something surprising about themselves. Adults recognise theatre instantly, and a team that has been asked to perform closeness goes back to work exactly as it was.

What changes a team is conditions it did not choose and cannot get out of. We do not sell exercises and we do not employ facilitators. We run a camp where four of those conditions happen on their own.

Last reviewed 2026-09-13.

What the desert does

Four conditions, none of them designed

They are properties of the place, which is why nobody can opt out of them.

No signal, and nobody can pretend otherwise

There is no coverage and no Wi-Fi at the camp. Nobody steps out to take a call, nobody half listens with a screen under the table, and the person who always has an excuse runs out of one. A 4G signal returns at the top of the large dune, a twenty minute round trip, which is exactly long enough to make people decide whether the call matters.

One table, every meal, no seating plan

There is one long table and everybody eats at it. No breakout restaurant, no small groups drifting to the bar, because there is no bar. Three days of this does more for who talks to whom than any exercise designed to do the same thing.

Effort that is real rather than staged

Climbing a three hundred metre dune at dawn is genuinely hard and nobody can fake it. The director who trains and the intern who runs arrive at the top in an order that has nothing to do with the org chart, and everybody notices.

Nobody can leave

Sixty kilometres of piste beyond the last paved road. No taxi, no early train, no slipping away after dinner. A team that cannot disperse at six in the evening has the conversations it has been avoiding since March.

A three day shape

Work in the morning, terrain in the afternoon, one table at night

Half the day is deliberately empty. That half is where the week actually happens.

Arrival day
Land in Marrakech, cross by 4x4 convoy or fly in by helicopter. Tea on the sand, tents allocated, and a first dinner with nothing scheduled after it. The convoy itself starts the week better than any icebreaker.
First light
The big dune for whoever wants it. Optional and unbriefed, which is why the people who go are the interesting data point.
Morning session
Working time in the covered majlis: projector, flip charts, a 120 inch outdoor screen, all on solar power. The natural dune amphitheatre takes the full group for a plenary.
Middle hours
Rugs and woven shade on open sand. The desert imposes a flat part of the day and we do not schedule into it. This is where the unplanned conversations happen.
Afternoon
Guided buggy raids across the piste, sandboarding, a 4x4 excursion, or walking with the nomad families who move through the erg. Mixed ability by design.
Evening
Bread baked directly in the sand, fire, Berber musicians, and guided stargazing with a telescope under a Bortle Class 1 sky.
Departure
Out through the Drâa valley, or back by helicopter for anyone on a deadline. Most groups ask for the drive.

The practical answers

What an HR team needs before proposing this

Group size
Eight to twenty, taken as one group. Eight canvas suites with private bathrooms, two per tent, extra beds taking a tent to three or four.
Working space
A covered majlis for sessions, projector, flip charts and a 120 inch outdoor screen on solar power, plus the dune amphitheatre for a plenary.
Getting there
8h45 from Marrakech in our own 4x4s with our own drivers, of which the last 1h30 is piste. Or 1h40 by helicopter from Marrakech Menara, five to six seats per rotation, landing at the camp.
Facilitators
Bring your own, or come without one. We are not a facilitation company and we will not sell you an exercise. What we run is the ground.
Duration
Two nights minimum, three is where a team actually settles. One night makes the journey the event.
Season
Open from September to June. For a working programme we recommend October to April, and we will tell you so rather than take a booking outside it.
Medical
The nearest hospital is at Zagora, about two and a half hours by road. The evacuation plan and drive times are provided in writing before you commit.
Invoicing
One company, one written proposal with every line itemised, one invoice. Camp, all meals, guides, activities and every transfer.

We do not publish rates. The season, the length and the shape of the programme change what a week costs to run. Send dates and a head count and the written figure comes back within 24 hours, itemised.

Questions

Asked by whoever has to propose it internally

What makes a desert team building trip different from a normal corporate offsite? +
The conditions are shared and nobody chose them. There is no mobile signal, one table for every meal, real physical effort that cannot be faked, and sixty kilometres of piste between the group and the nearest exit. Those four things do more for a team than any designed exercise, and they happen whether or not anybody facilitates them. We provide the ground rather than the activities catalogue.
Do you provide a facilitator or a team building programme? +
No, and we say so plainly. We are a camp, not a facilitation company. Bring your own facilitator if your programme needs one, or come without. What we run is everything else: the camp, all meals, the guides, the activities, our own 4x4s with our own drivers, and the working space with a projector and a screen on solar power.
Can a team really work with no phone signal? +
Yes, and it is why most groups come. Sessions are built to run offline: printed material, a projector, flip charts and a 120 inch outdoor screen on solar power. A 4G signal returns at the top of the large dune for anyone who genuinely has to reach the office, and a satellite phone covers emergencies. The connectivity that worries organisers first is what they thank us for afterwards.
How many people can come for a team week? +
Eight to twenty, taken as one group with nobody else on site. Eight canvas suites with private bathrooms, two guests per tent, and extra beds taking a tent to three or four. Below eight a week loses its energy; above twenty the camp is full.
What activities actually work for a mixed team? +
The ones that are optional. Climbing the big dune at dawn, guided buggy raids across the piste, sandboarding, 4x4 excursions, walking with the nomad families who move through the erg, bread baked in the sand and guided stargazing under a Bortle Class 1 sky. Everything is offered and nothing is compulsory, which is the only way a group of twenty with different fitness levels stays one group.
How long should a team building trip in the Sahara be? +
Two nights minimum, three is better. With one night the journey becomes the event and there is no time for anything to settle. On the third day a team stops performing for each other, which is the part you actually came for.
How does the team get to the camp? +
8h45 from Marrakech in our own 4x4s with our own drivers, of which the final 1h30 is unpaved piste, and most groups break the drive with a night in Ouarzazate. Or 1h40 by helicopter from Marrakech Menara, five to six passengers per rotation, landing at the camp. Many teams send part of the group by air and the rest by road on the same day.
When is the best time of year for a corporate team trip to the desert? +
October to April. Days run roughly 15 to 26 degrees and nights from about 2 degrees in midwinter to 15 in the shoulder months. October, November, March and April give the longest comfortable daylight, which matters when a team wants to work in the morning and be outdoors in the afternoon.

Send the dates and the head count.

You will have a written figure, the itemised inclusions, the evacuation plan and a day by day outline within 24 hours, and you can take that to your board before anyone commits.

Ask for a team proposal

Related: corporate events, board offsites, bringing your own community.

For groups

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