The Sahara Desert travel guide

The Sahara will surprise you. For one thing, it’s probably bigger than you think. The largest hot desert in the world, the Sahara occupies roughly 10 African countries, and is roughly the size of the States. Another thing – the Sahara isn’t always hot. Algeria’s dunes sometimes get dusted with snow. And it’s barely sandy: in fact, the Sahara is mostly stony plateau. Get to know this misunderstood monster with our Sahara travel guide.

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The Sahara travel guide

We’re all just big kids when it comes to deserts. They’re sand pits for our imaginations, so incomprehensibly vast and empty, that we fill in the blanks. In the 19th century, there was a Jules Verne-worth plan to flood the Sahara with seawater, and make a Sahara Sea, but this desert isn’t to be trifled with. Besides, it already has its own sand seas – known as ergs, which shift and sing and rumble like any ocean.

It’s a bare, brittle environment, where trees die on their feet, and dust devils (whirlwinds) and sandstorms descend. The Saharan sirocco – a desert wind – can be felt right across the Med.

Thanks to the problem of desertification, the Sahara grows bigger every year, threatening to engulf the historic trade route towns on its edges. In summer, it reaches temperatures close to 50°C. Who would want to visit such a hostile place? Well, once you’re on the top of Erg Chebbi and the sun is resting its molten form on the dune-soft horizon, you’ll see. The draw of the desert is intoxicating, and everyone should experience it at least once.

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The Sahara is...

Best experienced from a Beduoin desert camp – sleeping on the sand next to the cooling embers of a campfire comes highly recommended. Mr Sandman, bring me a dream.

The Sahara isn’t...

A walk in the park. Expect a long drive to reach the edge of the desert, unmade roads and no shade to speak of.

Things to do in the Sahara

Leave any Ozymandias aspirations at home and don’t leave a mark on the desert. Most desert camps will be meticulous about packing up without a trace – even burning camel dung on the fire. When travelling by 4WD, go with an experienced local guide who will stick to known tracks and minimise erosion on the journey. Download a map of constellations. There are more stars in the sky than there are grains of sand in the desert and you have the best chance of seeing as many of them as possible on an open air Bedouincamp in the Sahara, where good weather and absence of light pollution makes meteor-spotting conditions close to perfect. Pack warm clothes for the evening, and in general wear long, loose fitting clothing that are comfortable and cool, and cover you up – both for sun protection and to be respectful to local Muslim culture in conservative countries like Morocco.

Things not to do in the Sahara

Photograph people without permission. Ask politely before you take any photos and listen to the advice of your guide. Fight the sway. When you’re on a camel, you’ll be quick to notice they’ve got an extraordinary, swaying gait. You might be tempted to sit up as straight as you can, but ditch the dressage. The most comfortable way to ride a camel is to sway with it (but not so much that you fall off). Lean in, like you’re on a motorbike – your back will thank you. Think climbing a dune will be easy. Big mistake: you’ll exhaust yourself on the shifting sand as you work your way up an erg. Take it slow.

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What does visiting the Sahara entail?

So go on, we hear you ask, how do I visit the middle of nowhere? Well, first of all, most tours don’t just magically drop you in the middle of the desert. It takes time to reach the Sahara proper from civilisation – which means a long drive to the gateway towns that sit precipitously on the desert’s edge. To get to Chinguetti, Mauritania, for instance, it’s 65km from the nearest town on unmade road. The most popular, accessible place from which to reach the edge of the desert is in Morocco. You can drive from Marrakech to Merzouga or M’Hamid in a day to see the Moroccan Sahara. Most tours will probably let you spend a few days in Marrakech, before heading up the Draa valley – as a small group, or in a tailor made tour, stopping at interesting settlements along the way. Once you reach the famous sand seas, you’ll spend maybe one night in a desert camp, before heading back.

Morocco gives you a taste of the desert – but Algeria, well, Algeria is the desert. The Sahara occupies four-fifths of the country, so it’s pretty hard to miss. Spend between 10 and 15 days in the country on a small group tour and you’ll enjoy plenty of time in the dunes. On your trip, you can either drive down from Algiers or take an internal flight straight to the desert towns of Timimoun or Bechar. Four-fifths desert not quite enough for you? You can also find intrepid Sahara experiences in Chad and Mauritania (90 percent of which is in the Sahara). You can expect to spend a lot longer in the desert on these trips – between two and a half and four weeks – driving across wind-whittled plateau and water-haunted river valleys.

Is it safe?

The Sahara’s sand trickles into dangerous territories like Libya, where you can’t currently travel. The Western Sahara is a disputed region, and the FCO currently also advises against travel to much of it. However, specialist small group tours do enter the region from Morocco. Much of Mali is dangerous to travel to at present and generally any visit to the Sahara should involve a check of current FCO advice.