 More
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Children appreciate
usually a lot the experience of a time in the desert and the
caravanning. The life in the open air, the liberty, the big space,
nights in bivouac, discover dromedary and change their usual life
are quite an exciting adventure for children.
To go to the Morocco, you don’t need a visa. You can stay 3
month with a passport who is available
You don’t need an official vaccination ; however, it is
recommend to be ok with vaccine of polio-myelitis and tetanus.
Drinks are not included during our time with Iriqui
excursions. The personal, who go with you in the desert, will take
enough mineral water. At the end of the circuit, you will pay
what you have drunk and we will take back full bottles.
In Mhamid and at our permanent bivouac of the Oasis of
Chgaga, we sale cold drinks every time (water, beer, wine,
lemonade).
The
special tea prepared by the nomads is the best way to combat
dehydration and thirst, and will be provided by Iriqui during the
whole of the tour in the desert. It’s beneficial effects often
outweigh drinking large quantities of water, so drink it as often
as is available.
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IF YOU
HAVE OTHERS QUESTIONS, YOU ARE WELCOME TO CONTACT US,
BY
MAIL, FAX OR PHONE.
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Guest book
Please pass along to the folks at Iriqui that, after all was said
and done, we had a great trip. The staff at the company was really
terrific. While it would be advisable for them to provide more
information up front about the program which would reduce the
number of questions, the real stars of their enterprise are most
of the people that work there. Both of our drivers were superb.
Llabas Sbai and the Llabas who came with us for our desert trip
were terrific. Mohamed was great too.
Thanks to everyone for helping make our honeymoon top notch.
Clifford Slater.
Thank you again for a memorable Saharan journey with Iriqui. And
congratulations on the professionalism of your guides, Mohamed,
Fta and Mustafa. They were most capable. As Labbas may recall, I
am a travel journalist. I am currently writing two articles for
major US magazines about our desert experience, and would like to
confirm some bits of information. Can you please reply to the
following questions as soon as possible?
1. I need the full names of our three chameliers, in case I need
to refer to them.
2. What is the Arabic name of the bread baked in the sand? I have
it as "khubz zat
malla" but this may be incorrect. Also, what is the history of the
practice of baking bread in the sand?
3. What is the best season for a camel trek to the Sahara? Do you
offer camel treks year-round? What are the high and low
temperatures during the different seasons?
4. Is the Internet the best way to book a trip with Iriqui? If
not, please advise of a different method. Thank you very much for
cooperating. I will send copies of my articles when they appear.
Best regards,
Daphne Nikolopoulos.
A monumental error of my bank was corrected by an honest and
honourable tour operator in Morocco.
Four of us wanted to include a three-day stay in the Sahara during
our trip to Morocco. Iriqui Excursions, headquartered in
Ouarzazate, asked for a 50% deposit, sent by wire, to confirm our
reservations. Months before the appointed date, I filled out a
form at my bank requesting that they transfer $419 and then went
out of town for two weeks. There, I received an e-mail from my
bank confirming that they had followed my instructions and had
wired $4,190 to the tour company.
The
first thing I found was that Moroccan currency restrictions limit
sending Dollars out of the country, and that banks and money changers
outside Morocco will not exchange Dollars for Dirhams. There was
supposed to be a "Special Authorization" to permit the correction
of such errors, but by all accounts such authorizations are
difficult or impossible to obtain. (As Friedrich von Logau -- and
Euripides before him -- said, "The mills of the Gods grind
exceeding slow and exceeding fine".)
In several e-mails Monsieur Labbas Sbai, the proprietor of Iriqui
Excursions (info@iriqui.com) assured me that he would return the
excess -- as much of it in Dollars as he could get his hands on,
and the remainder in Dirhams. I suggested that he make some of the
hotel reservations that we would need, and pay for them out of the
money he would owe us. And he did.
True to his word, he returned the amount owed to us at the end of
his tour. Most of it was in Swiss Francs and French Francs. And we
used the returned Dirhams for expenses we incurred later during
our stay in Morocco.
A one-hour camel ride from M’hamid took us to an Amazir (that is,
a Berber) tent where dinner under the stars included "Pain du
Sable:" bread baked on a layer of sand spread over hot embers, and
covered by more sand. How they got every grain of sand off the
loaf I’ll never know. We exchanged songs with our hosts, young
Blue Men of the desert, who sang traditional Arab songs. We gave
them "I’ve Been Workin’ on the Railroad," and the Battle Hymn of
the Republic," but they asked politely if we knew any Cat Stevens
or Bob Marley tunes.
From there, a three-hour ride in a four-by-four ("quatre-quatre")
across sand and hamada (rocky ground) took us to a fresh water
oasis where Iriqui maintains several tents, shower facilities and
a kitchen. At sunset we climbed a high dune from where we could
see a Moroccan military outpost close to the Algerian border. More
dinner under the stars, music, and good Moroccan wine made for a
happy evening.
There was a French group of about 30 at the Oasis, so you don’t
have desert solitude all to yourself, but having a shower, cold
beer and a tasty dinner waiting for you makes up for a lot of
solitude.
Sincerely,
Richard G.
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