Erg Chigaga Camp, Nick, Bobo, and the night the staff carried our mattresses outside so we could sleep under the Sahara stars.
The drive from Marrakech takes about nine hours, and it earns every one of them. Mountain passes, lush valleys, Berber villages clinging to cliff sides, crumbling kasbahs, palm groves, rock formations that look like they belong on another planet. By the time the tarmac runs out and your 4×4 tips off-road into the dunes, you have already had a full day of extraordinary. And then you arrive.
Nick and Bobo have been running this camp since 2010, and it shows — not in a well-worn way, but in the way that a place run by people who genuinely love what they do tends to feel effortless. Nick handled all our planning by email and had thought of things we hadn’t asked about. Bobo runs the camp itself with the same warmth. When we arrived, lanterns were already lit across the sand to guide us to our tents.
The tents are properly, unapologetically luxurious — king-size beds with percale cotton sheets, handmade Moroccan furnishings, en-suite with hot water. Everything is all-inclusive: three Moroccan meals a day, a full bar, camel rides, sandboarding, guided walks. The days belong to you entirely — no schedule, nothing to optimise. We rode camels at dusk, lay in hammocks, danced around the campfire, had a sunset picnic on the sand, and then the staff carried our mattresses outside so we could sleep under the stars. I have stayed in a lot of places. That night is still one of the best sleeps of my life.
The stars at Erg Chigaga are the kind you only see when there is zero light pollution for hundreds of kilometres in every direction. The desert makes you feel very small, but in the best possible way.
Insider Note
Book directly with Nick by email, the camp is not on any booking platform, by design. Go in April or October for ideal temperatures. Two nights minimum, one is not enough to properly slow down, and slowing down is the whole point.
Destination · Erg Chigaga, Moroccan Sahara
Best time to visit · October–November, March–April
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