Marrakech & Sahara private tour, Morocco

Planet

We feel it is our duty and responsibility to respect local customs, support local communities, respect the natural environment, and protect animals. We strive to provide tours that, not only offer our guests unique experiences and different cultures, but also positively contribute to the destination. This is achieved through our support of local people and their communities & aiding provincial projects wherever we can.

It is not always easy to get to remote locations in Morocco via public transport, so on this tour we use private transport, with plenty of stops for walking and taking in the beautiful scenery, interacting with local people, and stopping at local cafes and suppliers. Optional activities allow you to get out on foot rather than using the minivan.

We offer small group tours as feel this minimises the impact on the desert and other areas we visit. Our guides advise customers throughout on the best practices to follow.

We are serious about the environment and are aware of the devastating damage and the overall impact that plastics have on our planet.
In an attempt to reduce single use plastics during our tours in Morocco, we have partnered with ‘Water to Go.’
‘Water to Go’ products are reusable BPA free bottles with a built in 3-in-1 filtration system; the filter removes 99% of microbiological contaminants meaning you can drink any water source safely.

Our transport provides a rubbish bin for travellers to use that our guide/driver can dispose of at certain points throughout the tour or we request that travellers keep hold of their own waste until we reach a suitable disposal location, usually in larger cities.

Meals that are supplied are usually sourced from local butchers and fruits from markets or farms and we recommend certain street stalls and shops.

Working with our destination partners, we ensure the animals involved in our tours are provided with the best possible care. Adopting industry animal welfare standards (ABTA guidelines) and following the advice of animal welfare experts, ANIMONDIAL and the NGO SPANA, we prioritise animal welfare protection and encourage our guests to respect animals.

We provide advice and guidance on all matters concerning individual animal welfare and species protection. ANIMONDIAL works with travel businesses to help them better manage their impacts on animals and the natural environment.

We encourage our customers to use SPANA’s Holiday Hooves guide and we discourage our customers from engaging in the following exploitative practices:
*Businesses that keep wild animals as pets
*Feed or touch wild animals free roaming in the wild
*Engaging with animals used for begging purposes (snake charmers, monkeys on chains, etc).

To help with our carbon footprint in our UK office, we have a plastic, paper, cardboard, and printer ink recycling system, and purchase recycled ink cartridges and toners. We moved away from sending paperwork to and from Morocco a few years ago and instead created more shared online services such as our feedback forms.

People

We employ local guides and drivers with extensive knowledge of the areas we travel to but also contract local specialist guides for some of our city tours who share our company values on caring for the environment. Our guides are happy to raise awareness of the culture, politics and economy in their country.

Although our guides speak multiple languages, we provide our customers with a language translation sheet so they can talk to the locals should they wish to build a relationship and they also take part in trying on local dress and getting a feel for their traditions.

During this tour, we take our customers to a local Berber carpet co-operative where many go on to purchase goods knowing that they are helping these local families. They also get shown how to make Moroccan tea here!
There is a meal in the famous square in Marrakech on the last night to soak up the ambience rather than using the hotel.
We do try to encourage our customers to buy products from the locals rather than purchasing imported goods or buying fake items.

Our Association in Ait Ouham is coordinated by our tour guides for the Berber community in the Atlas Mountains. Their main goal is to help alleviate the poor infrastructure in schools and around the village. We also supply staple supplies during the winter months to the village.
One major project we are incredibly proud of is the building of a bridge over the river running through the village.

During the Covid-19 pandemic, we and the local authorities worked hard to help provide tap water to 120 families, using clean energy (solar panels) to pump water from the villages’ well.

We paid the boarding school fees for 11 girls from Ait Ouham village to give them a chance to continue their studies at the secondary school in Ait Bougummez valley.

Our company is paying the transportation fees for 34 students from Ait Ouham and Zawiyat Almzy villages to get home and back to Secondary school and High School during the weekend when students are visiting their families.