Dune Buggy in Morocco

When you think of Morocco, you will probably picture the magnificent Atlas mountains, surrounded by picturesque green valleys filled with berries and nuts, dry and hot desert areas with bohemian chic ochre Kasbahs and souks filled with handmade leather goods, and of course the faceless dunes of Merzouga in Erg Chebbi – undoubtedly the most photographed Moroccan landscape, and one of the few places in the country where you can actually see Andalusian architecture and Sahara desert landscape duality. The desert region of Morocco is famous for its hospitality, and celebrated for its Berber people. A visit to Morocco is not quite complete until you brave the odyssey from Tangier to Merzouga, and take a camel through the Sahara, to camp there and Dune Buggy Adventures in Moroccowatch the sun setting and rising while drawing all kind of shapes into the fine orange sand.

Dune buggying in Morocco, especially Erg Chebbi is a recently gained popularity activity among tourists who want to make the most of their desert vacation. Known for its faceless dunes and being the centerpiece of countless films, Morocco is a favorite among travelers who want to visit the desert. Dune buggying in Morocco is a recently gained popularity activity among tourists who want to make the most of their vacation in Merzouga. Fuelled by adrenaline and the pleasures of racing on cascading sands, discovering hidden places like oasis and Kasbahs, or just plain fun, your desert vacation cannot conclude without trying this exhilarating activity.

The Allure of the Moroccan Desert

Vast stretches of coarse sand, arid scrubland and predatory rock face folding beneath endless blue horizons. The scents of the desert. The sounds of hard silence broken only by rustling winds, crickets and the whisper of distant flames in the night. Life here is tough and serene. Nature shapes itinerant lives of distant ancestors and still today the Berbers preserve their nomadic ways, arriving periodically to modern cities to barter with artisans and traders. A mystic cocktail of stark contrasts delivered by ancient time, space and elusive light. An alluring yet dangerous desert that fires up one’s imagination, no wonder the most insatiable of filmmakers have chosen this region as the backdrop for their broadest works. Antiquity echoes from the effigies sculpted in the rocks of the valley. Stories of stolen romance flit by night in the dunes. Exotic beauties weave silky spells alongside the kasbah. The desert demands inexorable tribute. Fearsomely scorching sun and dizzying whirlwind storms, freezing nights and relentless days. And yet those who dare venture to its forked tongue…Across the valleys – mornings fragrant of freshly basked bread, mesmerizing evenings scented with mystic incenses. In between: the kasbah. In the land of the guardians, a unique ethnic cocktail inspired by history and the scattering of whites and blacks all along legendary caravan routes.

Every entity finds its place in the world. These have already been defined: the merchant, the brought up, the who cuts across the desert along neverending trade-roads; the farmer settled in oases; the nomadic pearl. The kasbah: a citadel, a compass, a caravanserai, a fortress, an oasis. Shadowy sheltering treasures, secret hiding places, colorfully decorated houses of thick clay walls, interspersed with the bright geometrical hues of open bougainvillea.

Types of Dune Buggies Available

By the search, you will find a great variety of Dune Buggy tours in Morocco. The options include vehicle capacities and durations. Dune Buggies in Morocco are manufactured with different brands with several specs, here are some examples of famous types:

• Buggy Polaris RZR 1000 For 2 or For 3: The Buggy Polaris RZR 1000 is for 2 or for 3 passengers. It has 2 High Back bucket seats with 5 points harness. It is equipped with Helmet Mount Bluetooth and 30 Professional Helmets. You will enjoy the ride through the grand Baroud desert in high sound system with Bass. You will cross small dunes, chott, Canal, and over the sand hills.

• Buggy Can-Am X3 Turbo For 2 or For 3: The Buggy Can-Am X3 Turbo has 2 High Back Bucket Seats with 5 points harness. It is equipped with Helmet Mount Bluetooth and 30 Professional Helmets. You will experience the Off-Road tour in the Grand Baroud Desert in high sound system with Bass. You will cross small dunes, chott, Canal, and over the sand hills.

• Buggies Kangoo: Our Buggies Kangoo are made for 2 passengers, 1 in the driver’s seat and the other as a co-driver. You will enjoy discovering the area through small dunes and over the sand hill. It is equipped with Helmet Mount Bluetooth and 30 Professional Helmets. You can book the tour for group activities as well.

Safety Measures for Dune Buggy Tours

Dune buggy rides are thrilling and fun, and so are quad biking excursions, but both of these adventures can pose serious risks. Accidents that cause injuries occur rarely, but when they do happen, the consequences can be devastating. On the one hand, there is the threat of getting hurt, due to the overspeed and tipping of the buggy or quad themselves, and driving them on non-tarmac roads; on the other hand, there will be the risk of being run down, due to the crafty driving of inexperienced fellow buggy or quad riders. As a result, brakes and safety belts are useless, and the speed at which a buggy or quad bounces through the desert will surely not be limited. Children are even less equipped to face the consequences. Therefore, providers of buggy or quad tours often have to enforce some safety measures: children may not ride on their own, and they can only join on board if there is enough space and they meet certain age and height requirements; no intoxication is allowed; each driver must show an adequate driving license; and participants, especially children, need to wear helmets. These measures aim at protecting customers against danger from accidents, as no dunes and no sand outside the tracks are safe – on the contrary! In case of infectious diseases, neither vaccines nor any sanitary protocol will really protect against infection. Just having the contact information of the local healthcare facility nearby in case something goes wrong would do, and better prepare riders if they know beforehand. So don’t hesitate to enquire about the measures a provider implements to keep you safe, for they will likely make your dune buggy tours even more memorable!

Choosing the Right Tour Operator

When looking to explore the desert, mountains, or valleys of Morocco on a buggy, be sure to pick the right tour and tour operator to ensure an unforgettable experience. Some points to consider before choosing an operator are: the buggies should be well maintained far away from injuries, safety gear provided, skill and knowledge of the group on a driving tour, inexperience with tourists as tour guides is unsafe and should be factored into the details as well. Enjoying the best buggy ride would be a fortunate feeling especially if there is an experienced person leading the pack. The best tour guides should also be familiar with the scenic sites, know the route like the back of their hand and have an artistic sense to suggest the best photo opportunities along the way! Buggies that are equipped with roll bars and are fully enclosed are strongly recommended for families with children due to height safety rules. Tourists who are expecting a wild ride should inquire on buggy models to make sure expectations are met on the excursion and the buggies provided. Booking ahead of time is generally a good idea, but for the adventure-seekers, walking on-site and choosing the first is a great way to put adventure into the day! Be sure to check on the prices, though, and the current driving laws if opting to rent a buggy for more than a day. Operators that may offer rental services should make tourists present a valid passport and possibly a driving license. Prices for renting in Morocco stretch to about for four days.

  • Factors to Consider

There are many factors to consider when choosing a tour operator for your buggy trip. First, what kind of experience are you looking for? Most tour operators offer similar services but obviously it’s not worth choosing on price alone. Whether you want a half-day tour or a week-long outing, there is a company in Marrakesh who will suit your needs. One consideration unique to buggy tours is whether you are looking for all-terrain adventure or an easy tour. Some companies offer easy rides through valleys along the river, while others take you for tunnel rides through mud pits or technical climbs up sand dunes. If you prefer the traditional option or if you have children, then the buggy is probably for you. If you want an adventure, look for a company offering ATVs. Most tour operators have both ATVs and buggys so they would be able to accommodate your needs. Your experience is largely determined by your guide. If you want to go crazy, ask for a guide that does as well. If you’d prefer to take it easy, discourage the guide by keeping your buggy slow. However, there are usually only a couple of buggys in a tour, so if someone else wants to go crazy, the tour will go fast.

  • Reputation and Reviews

There is a wealth of content online about tour operators, including their own websites. This is where your complex filtering system comes in; the information you expect to find here is the Quality of Service, the years you have working in Dunes Buggy Tours, and the reviews and comments on their Service Users. Serving the Tour Operator, considers what their Users say about them on specialized travel portals and social network sites, and take into account whether there is a Business or Tourist Promotion Institute that betrays the Company.

Alongside your word-providing system (the number of years they have been offering the service; their number of clients each season; their Dune Buggy activity on the media; their presence on the most visited tourist sites; and so on) the Reviews from the Clients will clarify what you think about that Tour Operator, and also what you can expect to find on their service. The Quality of Service by a Travel Company on Dunes Buggies Tours can be quickly assessed using advanced filters. Use Tourist Promotion Organizations to find operative standards required in Dune Buggy Adventures, including Groups to Guide Reports and Tour Coordinator. Service Quality varies depending on location; for example, the safety rules requested by the tourist authorities are extreme. Using this report in advance about tour operators will reinforce your knowledge and will help you choose one or another.

Popular Dune Buggy Locations in Morocco

Dune buggy riding is an activity liked by millions of people. The activity involves off-road short-distance travel in a buggy. Adventurers ride on a buggy modeled according to their likes and preferences. Riding on such buggies in the right environment makes this activity more interesting and soul-soothing. There is no better place than do a dune buggy adventure in Morocco, if we talk about the right environment. This is because of its beautiful desert regions that are famous all around the globe. Riding on your buggies on white sands and warm weather gives you great peace of mind and allows you to explore the area. Today in this post, we mainly talk about the best locations in Morocco to do dune buggy adventures. Following are the locations you should consider while planning for your dune buggy adventure in Morocco.

Agafay Desert

This location about 30 kilometers from Marrakech is often preferred by people for a short yet exotic dune buggy ride. People who want to maximize their time in the red city and provide no extra time to a road trip love to do dune ride buggy adventures in Agafay dunes. Although Agafay is not as much beautiful as Sahara, it is still worth riding on the buggies. The buggies are fueled with gasoline because of the mountainous and rocky terrain.

Sahara Desert

Sahara is the most famous stretch of sand and the biggest hot desert in the world. A few specific areas of Sahara are known for hosting millions of tourists every year. Riding on these endless high dunes and experiencing the sunset and sunrise is worth being on the bucket list of every adventurous person. Dune buggy riding in these areas is a fun experience. You can enjoy some crazy speeds while riding on these desert buggies as their engines are high pro with high speeds and the sandy and flat desert terrain is too favorable.

  • Agafay Desert

Agafay desert, an around 30-minute ride from Marrakech is very popular among those who have short time for Moroccan holidays and tourists who want to explore off-road style an area that is different from the one of Marrakech city, at the same time prefer to miss Agafay crowded camel rides companies. Agafay desert, made by pebble and flat hills, is not the true Sahara desert, which you can visit further on the east in Merzouga or Tagounite with its famous natural sand dunes. Visiting Agafay desert I would describe like the story of the poor who eats on rich meal because do not have money to go to the restaurant. It’s exactly like that visiting Agafay desert! I mean that coming from Marrakech city where the level of pollution is quite high, just for some minutes riding, you can feel the desertic atmosphere the freshness of the air and the breathtaking views from top of the hills. I guess, that the savior is the short distance from Marrakech, what makes Agafay desert so crowded especially during the weekend.

There are several activities you can go for in Agafay desert like hot air balloon, camel rides, quad-biking beside Dune Buggy adventures. Horse back riding is also popular but I recommend you to ride a horse if you have the average weight or less because rides that go with heavier peoples back horses, usually are exhausted at the end of the ride. Whichever the activity you choose, you will pass some amazing moments. And if you head after lunchtime you will have a superb sunset.

  • Sahara Desert

The Sahara Desert is not only a place to visit but a destination that everyone dreams of having experienced. The Sahara stretches across an arid rocky expanse of literally thousands of kilometers and covers a huge area spread over several countries, including Morocco, Tunisia, Algeria, Libya, Mali, Niger, Chad, Sudan, and Egypt. Rolling sand dunes, quaint Berber villages, oasis towns made famous in tales, and warm-hearted people welcome adventurers to spend a holiday of a lifetime in the majestic Sahara.

Morocco boasts a relatively small part of the great desert, its borders meeting the Atlantic Ocean at the cape known as Cape Bojador, in Western Sahara. The enormous sand dunes that are a sight to behold rising and falling as far as the eye can see, are found at Erg Chebbi and Erg Chigaga, situated east and south of the ancient Moroccan capital of Fes and the bustling tourist town of Marrakech, respectively. Erg Chebbi is said to stretch over 280 kilometers of sand dunes with the tallest reaching a height of 150 meters. Visitors fortunate enough to arrive at Grouna will behold the scenery that inspired many artists, who noted the beauty of the desert because of the colors at sunrise and sunset. The couriers will also provide entertainments in the form of a series of Berber songs accompanied by drums, during supper round the fire.

  •  Merzouga Dunes

Unlike the linear Erg Chebbi that borders the eastern side of the road from Rissani to Merzouga, hanging a left at Merzouga takes you to the far more complex dune mass. Here, the dunes twist and turn, pop and drop to a greater extent than you find to the east – or at least they did a week before I arrived. With sand pockets, rocky paths, dry ravines, and relatively steep slopes to climb, from a four-wheeler perspective it’s much more captivating, fun, and exciting. Merzouga has a number of guest houses and hotels for tourists, almost all of which organize a whole bevy of desert based activities like sandboarding, quad biking, and camel treks, not to mention the trek deep into the desert to sleep overnight in a nomad camp and wake early to want to exalt the sun a little bit more.

Merzouga is also where the new blacktop road running north from Rissani dead ends. At Merzouga, the town and desert seem to be in a loving embrace, and it is at the first of the guest houses just beyond the hotel that I find the perfect desert for my Jeep: packed, plentiful and partly dry. It is also home to the little Berber woman who warned me about my two loud exhausts. Actually, I wanted to photograph her but was too shy to ask. As a consolation, I had my friend do some shooting. The village sits there all but un-visited, surrounded by colorful sand. Locals pass on their camels, a tourist rides a horse, while a photographer and his assistant capture the sunrise light shining on the dunes from their balcony.

The Experience of Riding a Dune Buggy

Dune buggy adventures are available to people aged over 12 or 16 and up (age restrictions depend on the tour). Drivers need to be over 16 years old, although some tours allow under-16s to drive if they are accompanied by an adult in the buggy. No special license or prior experience is needed, but drivers need to come prepared to follow the basic safety instructions.

What to Expect on Your Tour

When you arrive at the tour meeting point, help will be on hand to get you kitted out in safety gear (goggles, helmets, etc.) and to check that everything is in good working order. Most tours will then take you out on a short practice session in a controlled area. Once you’re comfortable and sure how the buggy responds, it’s on to the fun stuff!

Tours generally allow for two-hour or four-hour options, though there are longer and shorter choices in some locations. You can also opt for a shared ride, or a private experience with just you and your party in the buggy. Longer tours will experience more varied terrain or distance, and they usually allow you to have lunch somewhere nice along the way. Different tours will also vary in the exact places you visit, though in general, tours will take in both sand dunes and rugged desert terrain. While it won’t be quite as heart-pounding, keep an eye out for other sights along the way, including some of the indigenous people and animals who call the desert home. On your way, you might also stop off to visit an ancient kasbah or some scenic scenery.

Adrenaline-Pumping Moments

Riding a dune buggy is a little different to other types of experience. While it’s possible to thrill to the whine of powerful motors synchronized in action with friends, most of the time you’ll be driving or riding alone. You don’t have the same view as the formations of ATVs. And this is where the dune buggy is a different beast entirely from something like an ATV. Unlike some other machines you might ride in the desert, the dune buggy is fast – very fast! It doesn’t hang at heart-in-mouth angles as your brakes try desperately to haul down your speed. It is an extension of your body. You are one with the buggy, leaning as it corners. Remember to adjust your fishing-line-thin tires for the different terrains!

  • What to Expect on Your Tour

When you decide to embark on an adventurous trip to Morocco, taking a dune buggy adventure is one of the must-experience activities that should be on your list. Riding a buggy over sand dune formations and rocky tracks under the clear blue sky in a desert atmosphere makes for a perfect adventure. Riding a buggy in huge sand dunes is one of the things that shouldn’t be missed; all it takes is a bit of bravery and some help from your guide. Depending on the season, you can ride your buggy all day in the sand dunes. Dune buggies can carry two people so you can ride with a friend. It is a fantastic experience, and these vehicles are great fun even for beginners.

All you need is to listen to your guide’s instructions and practice a little. You’ll be barreling over the dunes in no time, experiencing the joy of dune buggies on an exciting sand dune adventure. Just remember, you still need to be careful and treat the surroundings with respect. The general population can still be unpredictable. When driving through the local villages in the buggy, watch out for goats or camels overseeing the street. They become your unpredictable traffic obstacles. If you’d like to reserve a buggy ride for a private group at any time of the day, feel free to contact us. The rally is also suitable for quad bikes and dune buggies. In that case, you and your group will be in for some alarming spurts of discomfiting but thrilling speed! Riding at full speed on the remarkable scenery is guaranteed.

  • Adrenaline-Pumping Moments

Do not be fooled by the buggy’s size. Driving a dune buggy is not an easy task, but it surely can get your adrenaline pumping. Racing through the sand dunes on a 4-wheeler, however, is not always fun and games. While these buggies are controlled with a steering wheel, they have neither a steady base nor the traction regular cars or 4x4s do. This can create quite a frightening sensation, especially when hitting large dunes.

During the early part of the ride, it might feel extremely awkward. Taking sharp turns will probably throw you to the outside. But the real experience comes when you leave the dunes behind and enter the stony desert, only to hit the dunes again. The motors of the buggies and the buggies’ lightweight make every acceleration feel like a rocket launch. Driving at 85 km/h in such conditions is exciting. Although the circuit is one of the easiest in the area, accidents are common. A stupid mistake can lead to a scare for passengers, and injuries for those driving the buggy.

Photography Tips for Dune Buggy Adventures

Dune buggies are fulfilling for any amateur to pro photographer. There are so many unique perspectives to photograph with various angles from different heights or low in the sand, of colorful riding parties, and thrilling action capturing jumps, turns, spins, wheels in air, etc. There are also the landscapes, golden dunes, blue skies, and starry nights. At night the light is all gone, so a camera with good sensitivity to night light on a sturdy tripod will be necessary or better yet use a hot-shoe flash and do sweeping flash exposures. Luna moths sometimes flap up out of the sand between dust devils against the silhouetted sand dunes. In the mornings and evenings, you can see footprints in the cool dry sand and bird tracks if you’re lucky. There may even be few dipper prints in the damp sand under a dune. Wind blows at times making changes to the permanent dunes that don’t stay as your sand mold forms them. You’ll also have a big contrast from sun up to sundown between shadowed and sunlit areas.

Images taken during your dune buggy adventures should tell a clear story line to the viewer of how all have fun! You want to show what each moment is like. Some fun images to consider shooting include: action images capturing the group on the go all around the dune and other action images capturing the buggy jumps, spins, and thrills. Go ahead and position yourself in the direction of the jumps at the right time to capture the jumps! Remember that pictures are two-dimensional images taken at specific instant in space and time, and good images tell the story, and are better than the best movie! Capturing the wow wow!

 Cultural Considerations While Touring

When you travel to a different culture, it is important to respect their customs and not treat them as if they were the same as your own. All people deserve respect and consideration, but certain customs and norms must be adhered to if you want to witness the beauty of Moroccan culture. Here are some considerations when preparing for your trip, and during your time in Morocco.

Religion Morocco is a Muslim country. There are specific dress codes that are not always strictly enforced, but should be observed as a show of respect. For women that means modesty, which means long skirts or dresses, or loose-fitting trousers, and long sleeves. Traditions such as the wearing of a scarf over the head or face should be respected when visiting mosques or other specific sites. For men, it usually implies long trousers and t-shirts, but be aware that shirtless in hot weather is not acceptable. In the Berber desert culture, it is acceptable to wear loose-fitting shorts (within reason). If in doubt, ask your guide.

Visiting Mosques If you want to visit a mosque, make sure that you are not too late – at the time of the five daily prayers, only worshipers are allowed inside. Furthermore, ensure that the mosque is open for visits. It is your responsibility to check with your guide before stepping inside a mosque to ask if the place is well occupied, but as a general rule, visiting mosques is not allowed. Avoid stepping on prayer mats and don’t take pictures of people praying unless you have their permission. In some famous mosques, travelers can pay to enter. Typically, this applies to the Hassan II Mosque in Casablanca.

Combining Dune Buggying with Other Activities

Dune buggying is so much fun that it’s easy to forget there are a range of different activities which can be enjoyable in the Moroccan desert. These activities can either be enjoyed on their own, or alongside dune buggying. Some of them are guaranteed to be less exhilarating than spending a few hours speeding along sand dunes and hurting around corners, but they all have their own rewards. Sandboarding and camel riding are the two most popular activities to combine with dune buggying. Each has its own appeal, but both are so traditional and iconic that you’ll want to try at least one of them.

Camel riding is an activity often regarded as “touristy,” but that’s often the case precisely because it is so great. Whether you’re riding a camel to the Saharan dunes or riding one to the other side of a Moroccan city, experiencing the desert from a camel is something that everyone should do at least once in their life. However, that does not mean you have to ride a camel on its own, or for an hour or two only. In fact, many different agencies run longer hiking tours, where you’re taken for days at a time along ancient Medina routes. Some of these tours even offer dune buggy excursions as part of the experience. Riding camels day in and day out is hard work, but luckily they do come with numerous benefits too, including locals discovering a sense of wonder just seeing you ride one.

Sandboarding is the kind of activity that you can do without ever having planned to try it. In fact, you can probably combine it within your tour package without much of a fight. Even if you wanted to go back home without ever having tried it, a lot of tour operators will convince you otherwise. They say that sandboarding is like surfing, but a lot simpler and easier at the same time. Others describe it more like snowboarding, but not freezing. Either way, there are plenty of boards available in Morocco.

  • Camel Riding

Camel riding is like the golden age of the desert during the early days of exploration. The ship of the desert is the ideal way to trek across long distances. And no trip to Morocco is complete without a camel trek! Most travel books say it must be done over 3 days, and most tours offer camel trekking as a way to get to the dunes, however many recommend experiences it over 1-2 hours and return home in a pick-up truck for sunset. Of course, real nomads live in the desert and prefer the longer mode of travel across the dunes. With our cozy tents set up during the night in special locations, we can also enjoy a long camel ride to overnight in the desert. Camel rides are an essential part of the experience. Rides can be arranged for just a few minutes to a few days. Most prefer not to ride for more than an hour and it can be quite uncomfortable if you haven’t ridden before. 12-14 years old are used to repeat the trek day after day, but adults may feel the muscles the next day. Camel owners can be very stubborn. A camel ride may only go as far as the owner wants, within a circle of about 1 hour distance from the owners’ tents. Keep in mind that not all camel operators offer the same level of services, reliability, or lifeguard training for the children or young people traveling in the group. Safety is by no way set in stone. It is wise to prefer camel companies that are located close to the dunes as possible or one that offers a combination of a dune buggy trek into the dunes and a camel ride back. That being said, the passionate and well-trained camel guides could make your riding experience memorable.

  • Sandboarding

After an adventure onboard a dune buggy, the fun and thrills don’t have to stop. We offer many additional activities to make your experience in the Moroccan dunes truly memorable. If you are looking for ultimate adrenaline rush adventures, sandboarding is a great way to give you that rush as a group of friends or family.

The desert is so enormous, huge, vast and majestic that at one point quickly leaves us feeling small in front of such wonder. But instead of only wondering around the dunes contemplating the beauties of the Saharan dunes without further contact, how about feeling the desert absorbing the perfect views and the perfect ingredients for some haschish with speed gliding sandboards into a chilling stop on a soft carpet of fine grains?

This sport is new and a mix between skiing and surfing. Instead of going speedily down on a smooth covered hill or a board on the edge of the sea, you go down on a board on the edge of hot dry air underneath a blinding sun. It is not really new; Berbers used to descend the dunes on wooden boards centuries ago. Sandboards are sturdier and they use them on waxed plyboard with a direction for steering the way. Snowboarders will tell you how similar both activities are except just the fact that when doing sandboarding, you will in between uses, come back using your feet and strength to climb until up the dunes again. The idea is not only strength; rather a great strength to keep well balanced as all the grains are slipping down as you stand on.

Environmental Impact of Dune Buggy Tours

Sand dune buggy tours can be an amazing experience, but you may want to think about the environmental impact of your trip and minimize your imprint. Buggy tours oftentimes run over the fragile sand dunes, which significantly damages these areas, where the flora and fauna are adapted to the extremes of dry conditions and wide temperature variations but not to heavy mechanical damage. In the months after the dune buggy shred through the area, while the snow or rain melts or comes and it starts to seem like springtime in the desert, wild flowers start blooming. However, during the flowering time close to the dunes, you may notice how the flowers are trampled over by the buggy tours, which also disrupts the tiny bugs and insects who live amongst the flowers! Of course, sand is delicate and sweeping dry plants to the side with sand is damaging for the terrain, especially in areas that don’t have deep sand – these areas can take years to recover.

Dune buggies are gas powered, and in that regard they are also polluting and make a large amount of noise as they zoom over the area. Furthermore, garbage is often found around buggy tours, just like when any other tourist activity is going on. To lessen the impact of these tours, make sure to take your own garbage out. It is also advisable to stay on the established trails to not smash down fragile plants growing around the trail and not keep the tour activity to just one area within the dunes to give others a break during the year. After all, the dunes are mother nature’s work of art, and sand artistry should be preserved for everyone to enjoy.

 Planning Your Dune Buggy Adventure

The majority of buggy touring takes place in coastal areas of Morocco. Coastal areas are unique in that they have no demographic issues; they have been uninhabited for years and the land is not owned by farmers. Along the coast, the terrain is rocky or sandy, and the buggies are great for both. But, what about an area more inland? Unlike the coastal areas, olivre naturally comes from the heavily wooded areas where tourists rarely visit. As we move inland, buggies are not as practical. Generally we stick to good dirt roads, but every now and then, over the unusually steep hills, we head off-road for a while; yet, we miss riding through beautiful forest regions. How neat would it be to stop by an old abandoned kasbah and see if we can find anything interesting, or to visit a poorly accessed small village? Also, in these inland areas, we must give a bit more thought to tour length and noontime breaks. The humidity level is lower, and temperatures can reach 40 degrees Celsius or more.

Traveling anywhere in Morocco requires some pre-planning, and buggy touring is not exempt from that. It is recognized that the buggy adventure should take place within a one-day’s trip from your hosted city. Morocco is a large country, with a great area between coast and inland. Traveling around requires some planning to optimize your time and not waste it driving. Do you wish to discover the coastal dunes, or to travel into the rural areas? A question for your buggy provider, who should provide the best option for you according to your criteria. Be aware of when you can book a buggy tour; there is a season for everything!

  • Best Time to Visit

There are three distinct reasons that make a Dune Buggy trek more exciting. Firstly, Morocco has an exotic culture and stunning landscapes of varying textures and colors; visitors will be treated to traveling experiences in Africa with Dune Buggies. A trek through the region’s mountainous terrain highlighted by areas of desert with its peculiar characteristics, caves carved into saffron-colored cliffs and beautiful oases filled with clear and sparkling water are some of the unique experiences that cannot be missed. Secondly, it is comfortable to ride a Dune Buggy on the sand and thus be able to explore and take photos of the region if you time it correctly. The ideal season for Morocco is September-October and March-April; after the summer heat of May-August and before the rainy winter. During the winter, the rain can create mud which can fuse with the sand for an overwhelming experience that could be both exciting and tiring. Finally, the Dune Buggy is very durable and made to traverse very irregular terrain and go through rivers or frozen grounds without ceasing to be fun. In winter, the tour will have its own characteristics with frozen or snowy grounds and sceneries.

The delicate warm temperature of the autumn or spring season allows you to leave for 2 to 8 hours of excursions in buggy; you will enjoy a change of great discovery of the Moroccan culture and landscape, you will have a taste of travel, somewhat like the king of the desert; with amazing and often unique feelings of being alone under an infinite quality of blue sky, in the middle of nature. In addition, these two periods feel like Morocco, reveals their architectural jewels, illuminated by the mild autumn or spring sunlight. These periods are also the best for visiting the small Moroccan villages, getting to the bottom of their shares, and taking part in the colorful Berber festivals. The buggy treks in the desert are made more exciting and lively because of the cold at night. In these periods, the contrast between the cold enjoyed after sunset and the warmth engendered during the day reawakens the senses, and makes the trekking more pleasant.

  • What to Bring

Riding on a four-wheeled buggy through the stunning Moroccan desert landscape is a wonderful experience that is undeniably fun. However, it is also easy for you to be uncomfortable during this adventure. You are free to test the boundaries of adventure in terms of the amount of dust you tolerate, the level of temperature change you are comfortable with, and the endurance of your body, and not bring certain things with you, but here is a guideline on what exactly to wear and bring with you on your buggy excursion.

If you want a refreshing, exhilarating, wonderful time, here is what you should wear. You need to wear goggles; if you do not bring any, your buggy operator could lend you special ones to wear. It is advised to wear a turtleneck long-sleeved top and full-legged pants so that you are protected against both dust and the cold from high speeds. Enclosed shoes or boots are needed to protect your feet from dust, cold, and injury. Finally, you should dress in layers, if possible, because temperature could change quite a lot throughout the day. You could take the outer layer off when the day warms up and keep the inner layer, which could be a short-sleeve top, on until the day gets warmer. It is important to verify with your buggy operator if you need a towel to wipe off the dust and dirt after the tour; remember that depending on the tour model you have chosen, the cleaning service might not be included in the package. You could bring a backpack with a small towel, snack, and a bottle of water if you want; just make sure that it would fit in your buggy.