Review and report of the ABD Morocco trip, Dec. 24, 2025 - Jan. 2, 2026

[Eastridge]

Sunset camel ride, part 1

First they wrap your head





After you climb onto your camel, you push away from the handlebars because the camel stands up with its hind legs first

If you're not the lead camel, the view never changes​

If you don't want to ride, you can walk. The camels walk slowly but the ride is rather bouncy.

Area for sandboarding, which the kids tried after returning to camp​

 

[Eastridge]

Sunset camel ride, part 2











The ride was about half an hour. We went some distance into the sand dunes. The camels were remarkably calm and had no problems with you petting them.





The camp provided each person a small glass jar to take some sand home. I thought it was interesting that places like Hawaii really don't want you to remove sand or rocks, but Morocco encourages you to take sand.





The camp set up a table with snacks and drinks, including wine

 

[Eastridge]

Sunset camel ride, part 3







We watched the sunset here before heading back to camp. This is one of the most memorable experiences I ever had, and I hope the photos convey what it was like. It really helped that the weather was perfect: cold, no rain, and absolutely zero wind. It might not be as pleasant in the heat and a sandstorm.

If I tried this, I would still be in a hospital​

We got the Day 5 pin.



The camels walked faster when returning to camp, so the ride was more turbulent. It was fun for that distance but I wouldn't want to ride for an entire day.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

Looks like such a cool adventure but what a drive to get there!

 

[sayhello]

Oh, my goodness! What a serious adventure!

With the carpets, I agree the Berber carpets give off a Southwestern vibe. I would have been SO tempted to buy one, but it probably would be WAY out of my price range! Plus I agree on doing the research ahead of time to know what to look for!

I had never thought about traveling to "fulfill" EPCOT, either, but that is a cool notion. I have Morocco and Norway to go. Hmmm....

Were you at all tempted to buy any of the leather goods after seeing/smelling how they were done? They looked great but...

The food you guys cooked looks delish. Although I'd need some sort of alternative for the dip, as no tomatoes for me!

The potter crafts look really cool. They probably didn't finish up your pottery because any sort of flaws in shape, etc, can cause stuff to collapse or explode while being fired. So it was probably easier to just not deal with that! But the tiles and the mini tagine look great. Any pictures of the finished products?

That's quite a shlep to the glamping!! They obviously break it up nicely, but I hope it doesn't get "complained" out of the itinerary, because people always seem to complain about long bus rides even if they are amazing and necessary to get you to a fabulous place/activity!

The glamping definitely looks WAY better than actual camping! And that whole camel ride experience looks fabulous. (Although I have to wonder if my poor back would tolerate that). Would it be anywhere near as fabulous if I walked it? Would that have been a problem going back? I'm glad Morocco is better about their camel treatment than Egypt, apparently!

Looking forward to even more!

Sayhello

 

[Eastridge]

Were you at all tempted to buy any of the leather goods after seeing/smelling how they were done? They looked great but...

We didn't buy any leather goods. The quality looked good but we didn't find something in the style we would want.

The potter crafts look really cool. They probably didn't finish up your pottery because any sort of flaws in shape, etc, can cause stuff to collapse or explode while being fired. So it was probably easier to just not deal with that! But the tiles and the mini tagine look great. Any pictures of the finished products?

I can show pictures on the last day, when we received them

That's quite a shlep to the glamping!! They obviously break it up nicely, but I hope it doesn't get "complained" out of the itinerary, because people always seem to complain about long bus rides even if they are amazing and necessary to get you to a fabulous place/activity!

That's why I started this report saying I surveyed 75% of the families and they all said the camel ride, and the activities in the oasis that are coming up, were worth the long bus rides. I hope Disney reads this, since it would be a major change to not go south of the mountains.

Also note that my trip and the one right before are close to the Winter Solstice so we have the shortest amount of daylight to get to the sunset camel ride in time. Other trips have more time to accomplish this.

The glamping definitely looks WAY better than actual camping! And that whole camel ride experience looks fabulous. (Although I have to wonder if my poor back would tolerate that). Would it be anywhere near as fabulous if I walked it? Would that have been a problem going back? I'm glad Morocco is better about their camel treatment than Egypt, apparently!

You can walk to the snack/drink stand and view the sunset, rather than riding the camel. You'll just miss out on feeling like Lawrence of Arabia.

 

[Eastridge]

Dinner and evening events

Dinner was in the main dining tent. I didn't take photos but there were two long tables and food was served family style, along with wine. It was Moroccan food, with several appetizers and a chicken tagine main dish. The food wasn't as good as what was served at the previous two hotels, but again I'm grading on a curve because we are in a remote desert location.

That night, there was a "Gnawa Music Performance" at the central firepit, and stargazing at another location that had a telescope. The performers used metal castanets and drums. For stargazing, we did not have a really deep, dark sky. There's too much light from the camp, and there were some clouds and also a full moon. But it was still pretty good viewing. A person operating the telescope showed us Jupiter and some of its moons, and Earth's moon.

Orion is in the lower right. Gemini in the lower left, I think with Jupiter. Charioteer in the upper left. The Pleiades is that tiny dipper-like formation at top​

 

[Cousin Orville]

Amazing photos! Brings back fun memories. Yes the Sahara was a highlight.

 

[Eastridge]

Day 6: Cous Cous for Kasbahs

This day is mostly driving to the oasis in Skoura.

The itinerary lists an "Optional Sunrise Dune Walk." When a guest asked about it, the response was "You can wake up early and go on a walk by yourself in the dunes." I.e. it wasn't a guide-led thing. Ok, but it seemed a little weird to include that in the itinerary then. You could also add to our previous days: "Optional early morning jog: Get up really early and jog through the medina by yourself." Don't do that, by the way.

Adri was able to get some footage of my son sandboarding:

Spot where stargazing was last night​

Breakfast was served in the main dining tent. It had excellent fresh squeezed OJ.





Breakfast opened at 7am and we were boarding the SUVs at 9am. The SUVs went back to Erfund to meet our bus.

Camels foraging. Thanks for the ride yesterday. Pay no attention to rumors that I ate a camel burger.​

It turned out that our bus rendezvous point was also the spot for our next activity: the fossil workshop visit.

 

[Eastridge]

Fossil Workshop Visit

When I looked at the itinerary, I thought this would be a museum or a place where the kids could dig for fossils. And they did briefly explain that the Sahara used to be an ocean, and that what we would see came from a quarry discovered in the 60's that has fossils dating back hundreds of millions of years.

Upon arrival, the first sight were large sheets of stone with fossils in them:



And I thought: This reminds me of stores where you select kitchen countertops.

Then we saw more pieces where they preserved the 3D shapes of the fossils:









At this point, I turned to @Cousin Orville and said, "This is going to end in a gift shop, isn't it?"

Gift shop​

 

[Eastridge]

Fossil merch

I asked Zouhair if there would be any problems flying out with these items. He said no, this was all licensed by the government. Similar to encouraging you to take sand, I guess Morocco doesn't have any problems with exporting ancient artifacts like these.










This was an opportunity to get some fairly unique gifts or housewares. My son now has a soy sauce dish that has fossils from hundreds of millions of years ago.

We left the gift shop around 11am.

 

[Eastridge]

Getting to the hotel

We boarded the bus and headed out.

Along the way, we saw some former wells. The mounds are wells that had dried up. The ones that were active had equipment on top.





In one of the small towns along the way, the road was flooded. My driver training said "Don't drive through a flooded road -- you don't know how deep it is." The bus driver talked with locals and managed to drive through, switching sides occasionally. I was holding my breath but we did make it. Apparently that road had no drainage or the drainage wasn't working, as it had been flooded for a while. Very different from the big cities of Casablanca, Fes and Marrakesh.



We had a bathroom break around 1pm and lunch at 2pm at Chez MIchele. Food was good.



After a relaxed lunch, it was about two more hours to our hotel in Skoura: The Ksar el Kabbaba where we were greeted by a musical performance.

@Cousin Orville joins in. He gave permission to share these photos.​

And after that, what would you expect by now. Mint tea and snacks.





The staff at this hotel was the friendliest, by far, of the five places we stayed. They served as waiters, musical entertainment, guides, drivers and translators. They really made us feel welcome during our stay in the oasis in Skoura.

 

[Eastridge]

Ksar el Kabbaba grounds

A ksar is a fortified town or village. This hotel was built near the ruins of a kasbah (a style of building that was a mansion) and the rooms were in buildings that looked like kasbahs from the outside. It had elaborate grounds. It was a very different style of hotel than any place I had previously been.









It was too cold for swimming, but guests did hang out around the pool.

 

[Eastridge]

Room

Our room was nice. It didn't have enough electrical outlets, and the in-room safe was tiny.

This bathroom needs more tile.​

 

[Eastridge]

Oreo

Oreo patrolled the hotel grounds, chasing away intruders (mostly cats). So we felt safe.

Actually the hotel had gates at the entrance that were locked, and we were basically inside a fortress. There wasn't anything for a tourist nearby so there wasn't any reason to leave the hotel on our own.

 

[Eastridge]

Dinner

Dinner was in the main dining hall at the hotel. Wine was included. It was nice, although the Cornish game hen was dry.

 

[CaliforniaGirl09]

All roads lead to the gift shop, LOL! A family saying that we picked up from a tour somewhere. That looks like a pretty awesome one though. I would have been tempted and I don't buy anything anymore. Loving your report!

 

[sayhello]

Wow, that last hotel is very interesting! Very cool. Although the tile in that bathroom would definitely give me a headache!!

Sayhello

 

[Eastridge]

Day 6 pin

 

[Eastridge]

Day 7: Oh Me, Oh My, Oasis

Today we explore the oasis in Skoura. Why Skoura? Marrakesh is too far to reach in one day from the desert camp. And the oasis has some interesting sights and experiences, particularly one of the finest kasbahs in Morocco. I thought this was a good day, exposing us to a different side of Morocco.

Breakfast was available at 7:30am, and the first activity started at 9:45am.

Breakfast was not a buffet. They served some dishes and you could order eggs cooked the way you wanted.





The first activity is either a bike ride or a walk through the oasis. Both cover mostly the same areas. The bike ride is 2.5 miles long, with limited elevation gain/loss. It's not strenuous, but it is about the only physical activity of the entire trip. Adri warned that if you haven't been on a bike in 5 years, this is not the time to test your bike riding ability. Virtually the entire ride is on unpaved trails, either dirt or gravel and rocks. Sometimes it gets narrow. Sometimes you need to avoid carts with donkeys. There are places where you don't want to fall down or go offroad. My wife briefly tested a bike and quickly decided to switch to the walk instead. That was the correct decision for her. The walkers left after the bikers so that people could switch if they decided they didn't want to bike.



We stopped several times, so we never biked very far before there was a stop where a guide described what we were seeing

Ruins of a kasbah​

Irrigation provides water to the trees and farms. Families have agreements on when they can use water, sharing the same canals.