Take one of Morocco’s most comprehensive geological tours to explore the country. Fossil collectors, mineral hunters, geologists, and adventure travelers are the target audience for this 13 day trip from Marrakesh to the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara Desert.
With exposed rock layers spanning from the Pre-Cambrian to the present, Morocco is one of the world’s most geologically diverse nations. Trilobites, ammonites, corals, dinosaur bones, shark teeth, vanadinite, baryte, quartz, azurite, and malachite are among the world-famous minerals found in Eastern Morocco.
This tour creates a unique Moroccan travel experience by fusing science, culture, desert scenery, and Berber ancestry.
Marrakesh (Google Map)
Arrive at Marrakesh Menara Airport and meet your driver. Transfer to your hotel. Depending on arrival time, enjoy a short walk in the old medina or relax after your flight. Overnight in Marrakesh.
Leave Marrakesh crossing the High Atlas Mountains via Tizi n’Tichka Pass. Stop at Sidi Rahal, a famous mineral site rich in quartz, chalcedony, agate, and amethyst. Enjoy lunch with a local miner. Continue to Ait Ben Haddou Kasbah (UNESCO) and finish the day in Ouarzazate.
Visit Ait Ben Haddou Kasbah, then explore a stromatolite fossil site. Drive through the palm-filled Draa Valley. At Serradrar, collect Silurian Orthoceras fossils. Continue through desert landscapes to Alnif. Overnight.
After breakfast, head into the desert to visit a Cambrian trilobite mine known for large yellow trilobites. Picnic in a palm oasis. Continue to Jbel Tiskaouine to collect Ordovician calymenes and flexicalymenes. Return to Alnif.
Explore Isoumour, famous for Devonian rolled trilobites (Phacops). Visit Atchana, another Devonian fossil field. Collect red ammonites at Lakrabis. Continue through desert tracks to the oasis of M’harch.
Collect Devonian trilobites at Mecessi. Visit Jbel Mdawar for Devonian goniatites. Picnic in the open desert. Continue to the golden dunes of Erg Chebbi near Merzouga. Overnight.
Explore the famous Kemkem paleoriver beds near Taouz for dinosaur bones, fish, crocodiles, and Spinosaurus teeth. Picnic near Filon 12 mine, known for vanadinite and quartz. Pass the old Mifis mine before returning to Merzouga.
Visit Azourz to collect pyritized Devonian goniatites. Continue to Tisket for trilobites. Picnic in a sacred oasis. Visit a working baryte mine, then collect sand flowers and vertebrate fossils. Return to Merzouga.
Visit Hamarlaghdad, rich in Devonian corals, trilobites, and brachiopods. Collect rolled trilobites at Jbel Boutchrafine. Visit a crinoid quarry and fossil factory in Erfoud. Overnight.
Drive through the scenic Ziz Valley and Ziz Gorges. Visit a selenite crystal factory. Cross the Middle Atlas Mountains to Midelt. Overnight In Midelt.
Visit Mibladen old mine (baryte, cerusite, vanadinite), Ahouli mining village, and collect azurite & malachite at Sidi Ayad. Picnic in the valley. Return to Midelt.
Drive through Middle Atlas forests and cedar trees. Visit Oued Zem phosphate basin, famous for shark teeth and marine fossils. Continue to Ouzoud. Overnight near the waterfalls.
Visit Ouzoud Waterfalls, then drive to Azilal dinosaur footprints and the natural bridge of Demnate. Return to Marrakesh.
