L7213UCmariad
25 Apr 2024
Tour che consigliamo. Si macinano tanti chilometri, ma ne vale la pena. Si fanno delle soste che rendono meno stancante il lungo tragitto. Abbiamo viaggiato in un pulmino con 15 turisti il driver e la guida Mohammed che è stata sempre attenta a soddisfare ogni richiesta dei turisti. Consigliamo anche di prendere la guida "extra tour" a Aıt Ben Haddou, simpatica e preparata. Esperienza nel deserto unica, camp semplice ma ben organizzato. Insomma, consigliamo sia il viaggio in sé che l'organizzazione a cui ci siamo affidati.
Esperienza nel deserto fantastica. Ho scelto la tenda luxory e devo dire che era bellissima con tutti i confort cena e musica nell'accampamento piacevole. L'itinerario del viaggio bello anche se le guide incontrate cercano sempre di portarti in alcuni negozi per cercare di farti comprare a prezzo maggiorato la merce. Dovrebbero invece concentrarsi più sullo spiegare monumenti e la storia dei posti a cui dedicano invece poco tempo. I ristoranti selezionati per i pranzi sono quasi tutti pessimi. Il viaggio per arrivare è stato lungo fortunatamente il nostro autista è stato bravissimo e ci ha fatto pesare meno il viaggio.
This tour could have been much better but with a different company than AUDAX who was the local tour operator for our 3 day Marrakech to Merzouga and UNESCO site etc.
1. We were told we'd be picked up at 9am but the night before, we got a text that we'd need to be ready at 7am! The hotel breakfast wasn't even open and we managed to get some coffee and toast luckily by rushing the staff. 2. We got picked up a bit later anyway (thanks to that, no breakfast for us although we had paid for it at our hotel) and got dropped off near the souks in marrakech. 3. we boarded a black mini van and the only two spots left for us was one next to the driver and the window seat. There were 17 people in that vehicle, packed like sardines. I am short but my legs were cramped as the dashboard of the vehicle stuck out. The WORST THING IS THAT THAT THE AC WAS NOT WORKING IN THIS VEHICLE. The driver lied to us multiple times that it was working. All the people in the back complained and nothing was done. The driver left his side of the window open at all times. On the passenger end of that row, the window button was taped up!! We had to ask the driver to open/close it every time and we couldn't control how much was open/closed. We heard complaints that people in the back were boiling. At least we had windows open we thought but when we heard that closing our windows might help, we gladly told the driver to close our window so they could get a bit of AC. Turns out that they didn't get much AC, we got nothing at all in the front row because the driver told us there are no vents for the front row!!! The dashboard had several vents but opening them did NOTHING for us. Not even hot air, let alone cold air! So we were baking with the sun hitting us from the front windshield, with no AC! Even when our side of the window was closed, the driver never closed his side. If the AC was working like he claimed, he'd have to be crazy to keep the window open and run the AC and use up more gas!
The van had a slope and the people in the rows behind the driver couldn't see any scenery! At one point, one couple asked the driver to people around. we were willing to swap but no one asked us or said anything. One couple that needed to swap with us in the second row (bcoz my husband has knee issues and needed room to stretch) didn't seem to want to swap. So I sat cramped so that my husband could at least have some room in the front row.
The drive through the desert was hot, sandy but we chugged along without AC. The driver was NOT a guide. He did NOT speak English. I spoke French and once he found out, he basically ignored my husband asking him anything. After the intitial few times, the driver stopped even responding to anyone's complaints about the AC!! HE KNEW VERY WELL HE WAS LYING ABOUT THE AC WORKING IN THAT VEHICLE!! It was a long painful drive in a vehicle that HAD 200KM mileage!! WE were grateful that at least we had the view from the window while others had nothing due to the slope in the vehicle roof. It blocked their view (unless they were like kids' height which none of them were!).
The hotel we stayed at the first night was OK. No hot water for shower, then no water at all to brush/wash our face etc. I managed to get a shower while my husband got cold water trickling. It was a very rustic bathroom. WE didn't mind provided it had hot water but the shower sprayed water all over the bathroom IF/WHEN it decided to work. de
The room had no AC. When we asked, instead of switching us to a room, they said they couldn't find a tech to come to fix it at that hour. THEY KNEW IT WAS NOT WORKING BEFORE WE WERE PUT IN THERE AND WE LOST ANOTHER NIGHT OF SLEEP ON TOP OF ALL THE PREVIOUS NIGHTS BECAUSE AC SEEMS LIKE REAL LUXURY EVEN IN GOOD HOTELS IN MOROCCO!!
Dinner was fine but not adequate quantity. Chopped tomatoes with salt/pepper is NOT a salad. They didn't seem to have enough food for us tbh. The views were wonderful but the stay could have been more enjoyable if the AC was working. They told us to open the small window and it was nothing but noise from the road below, despite it being in a remote location.
We met well spoken guides that walked us through Ait Benhaddou etc. The disappointing part is they told us we really needed head scarves to go through the desert that evening. We fell for their lies and spent the money! They lied to us that someone would show us how to tie them but no one did!!
When we got to the desert, we got strange looks as we had brought all our luggage with us since it made no sense to pay for 3 day tour (2 night stay) and also pay for a hotel in Marrakech to keep our luggage. Until we asked if anyone would show us how to tie those scarves on our head, there was no attempts from them. The driver dumped us where the camels were lying and took off. Luckily someone tied those scarves on our heads BUT SUNSET HAD ALMOST HAPPENED ALREADY BY THEN AND THERE WAS NO NEED FOR THEM WHATSOEVER!! THE CAMEL RIDE WAS BARELY AN HOUR, NO SUNSET TO LOOK AT!! By the time we got on the camels and rode and reached our camp, it was fully dark!! The camps were beautiful (all white and one next to the other however) with large lanterns lit up. Food was good that night and the dinner camp had AC blasting when we didn't need it lol. The music/drums were played but again, nothing exotic to be fair. My spouse played a lot too and many told him he played better than the people who were in charge of entertainment LOL. We went to bed around midnight and the camps nearby were playing much better music till much later.
The camps had private bathroom, sink etc and it was worth paying the extra for luxe camp. No complaints there for sure. After no sleep for 3 nights by then, we were told we had to be ready at 7 am to get out!
We got at 6am, had quick breakfast and put out our luggage for the 4x4 to take it where our original van/driver had dropped us off. A lot of people had walked up the dunes to watch sunrise. We had no idea, we could've done the same. Having no guide but just a driver that spoke no english meant we were left to fend for ourselves. In the camp, the guides from other groups were looking out for their visitors but we had NONE!!
The sunrise camel ride was nicer than the dark, so called sunset ride although we enjoyed the camel rides a lot. While we disembarked, the front two camels took off!! The camel that my husband was on saw that and it wanted to follow the other two. So while my husband was getting off the camel (sitting down), it got up!! That left my husband dangling with one leg on the camel high up and the other dangling. This for a guy with genetic condition of arthritis! He was doing a split without intentending to do so. Fortunately the camel guide got him down safe without anything broken/hurt bcoz my husband stayed calm the whole time.
The local camel guys are wonderful and we paid them generous tips but AUDAX events failed us by sending a driver who spoke no english, didn't give us one bit of information on our long drive (unless I prodded him in french). He was also a heavy smoker and after every stop, when he got back into the vehicle, he was wreaking of cigarette smoke which I absolutely hated! I was stuck sitting next to him. He sometimes talked so loud with his head towards me that he was spraying me!! The so called guide or whoever that I even forgot was in our vehicle didn't say a peep the whole ride!! No information being shared, no telling us about the country side, no guiding of any kind!!
The most disappointing part is that we looked forward to this part of the trip the most but the camel ride, camp stay and ride back all lasted barely a few hours!!The drive back was a very long one in the hot sun without the AC.
When we took other tours using a diff company than viator, they brought luxurious Mercedes vans with seats facing each other! That kind of vehicle should've been used by audax for the 3 day tour. NOT AN OLD 200km mileage vehicle with no AC! The fact that the window up/down button was taped up speaks volumes about that vehicle!
I wish this tour was what we had envisioned it to be but the most important aspects were way too short. The stay on the first night should've been better with AC in the room.
Overall, do this tour but not with viator/audax! The driver's name was Abdel. He was a nice guy I think and we tipped him generously but honestly, he needs to learn English in this business a little bit at least. I WANT SOME OF MY MONEY BACK SINCE WE PAID SEVERAL HUNDRED DOLLARS for two of us! We also found out that 5 women in our vehicle paid less than half of what we paid through some agent on the street! We feel like fools for paying so much for the same crappy experience they got but at least they didn't pay as much. They should never have cramped so many people in that vehicle!