Trekkingtheglobe_10
29 Apr 2025
This was probably the worst, poorly organized, guided, safe (in my opinion) I have ever been on.
From the start, the booking office directed us to one pickup point, while the guide contacted us with another - neither of whom had communicated with each other.
This tour was comprised of English and French speaking tourists (with several very young children), which presented significant problems throughout the tour, as the guide would be addressing each group for 10 minutes while the other group became very bored. For a bit more money, just get another guide and split those attending.
We began with a stop to ride camels (you kinda have to do that when visiting Morocco!). Great. Easy peasy.
We made a stop at a women's collective in a village where they make argan oil and other skin products and we're given a short demonstration on the process. I know this is very cynical of me, but I felt like this was the mandatory tourist fleecing stop; the argan oil products were in plastic containers and weren't light resistant - a big no-no.
Proceeding to the part of the tour I had was concerned about...we were served lunch in the village in the Mountains where I guide grew up. It was absolutely beautiful!
After lunch, we embarked on what the guide said was a 3km hike (I think it was longer). He failed to properly advise the group as to the general area we would traverse. And so our hike began, simple enough....
This is where I came to feel this hike wasn't safe for all those involved - namely the children. There were large leaps, areas that required good balance, and areas someone could easily fall. While this was happening, our guide was upfront, not looking back, but on his phone. What really concerned me about the lack in consideration for the safety of everyone was when we had to cross several wooden, shaky, unsteady crossings over areas of fast-moving water. The children, in particular were apprehensive at best and frightened at worst. Even I was reluctant. Thereafter, we find ourselves at this random area with a small waterfall and a stand to buy drinks. Our guide disappeared somewhere; he neglected to inform us why we were stopping there. A good portion of the time when our group actually needed our guide to tell us where to go, he neglected to do so. The worst instance was when a panicked French mother and her very young son frantically asked which bridge to cross and I didn't know. My partner literally had to call the guide because he was so far away from us and had no clue that people were left behind - and scared.
After a few more minutes of hiking, we reached the pick-up point to return to Marrakech.
I strongly recommend a different tour operator. I don't have any confidence in our tour guide. I feel this is a poorly planned tour. I feel it is inconsiderate to those in the tour who speak different languages. ***Most concerning, I absolutely do not feel this is a safe tour - or, at least the hiking route we took was unsafe - especially for children under 10yo.
In my opinion, please avoid this tour.
stuartsQ3063KV
23 Apr 2025
We had a wonderful day out. Badr was an excellent tour guide. He was full of interesting facts and made the experience a lot of fun. We’d recommend anyone who’s thinking about it, to do the same trip!