peter w.

I booked a four day desert tour from Marrakech with Trips Marra costing 280. My aims were to spread the long drive over more days, get to the desert proper and enjoy better accommodation.

I understood I'd be on a tour with Trips Marra. Instead I was first put on a 50 two day tour to near Zagora, a flat expanse of rocks and sand, not the Sahara with rolling dunes and not on my itinerary. That night I was put up in a basic camp with no water, electricity, bed linen or toilet paper. Not the riad in Dades Valley, 4 hours drive away & stated in my itinerary. Great value for 25 a day. Extremely unsatisfactory at 70 a day and hours of extra driving.

At 12 on the second day I was left in a car park in Ouarzazatae and told I'd be "picked up". No company name, car type, phone number. Nothing. Repeated calls to Hassan got only an answering machine and no reply. Round 17:00, shortly before my chosen limit at which I'd head to a hotel for the night before making my own way back to Marrakech the next day, I was approached and joined a 3 day trip to the Sahara. Again, not a Trips Marra tour. Night two, which I was to have spent in the Sahara, we stayed in a quite acceptable hotel in Dades Valley. So I'd already lost a day of my original itinerary.

Day 3 we drove on to Merzouga and the Sahara proper. Late afternoon a storm front hit just as we started out on camels for the desert camp. We turned back and the hotel we'd started out from were good and accommodated us.

Day 4 was a long drive back to Marrakech, which on my original itinerary was split over two days.

I had four days still in Marrakech and tried repeatedly by email and on foot to contact or meet with Hassan in person, but I was only ever given a suburb name. After initially claiming I'd in fact been on the tour I was promised, Hassan acknowledged this was not so and spoke of a refund. To date this has not eventuated.

I enjoyed Morocco. The Sahara was my main goal for the three week trip. Sadly, this tour was one of my worst ever travel experiences. I may well try again next year. But with a different company.