Home / Morocco Photography Tour
2023/4 dates TBA:
€2400 per person
8 nights/9 days
Price based on twin occupancy
*Single occupancy, extra Eur €250
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Accommodations
- 1 night Marrakech riad
- 1 night hotel nr. Ait Ben Haddou
- 2 nights Berber desert camp
- 1 night wilderness camp
- 2 nights Tafraoute hotel
- 1 night Essaouira riad
NB: high standard, boutique 3* hotels/riads and a comfortable desert glampsite.
Inclusions
- Award-winning English speaking tutor
- Airport transfer days 1 and 9
- 4×4 vehicles with drivers daily (max. 3 participants per car)
- Desert guide 3 days
- Accommodations 8 nights (*drinks at hotels excluded)
- 8 breakfasts
- 7 evening meals
- 2 lunches
- Camel trek
Tutor
Award-winning Michael Breitung is an established landscape photographer from Germany. He is a keen explorer and an avid fan of Morocco, in particular the desert wilderness. While he has photographed extensively across continents, he instantly fell in love with the tranquility of the Moroccan landscapes and led our 2020 photo tour.
View some of Michael’s photography on the image reel and below –
Morocco Photography Tour 2023/4
Please enquire with us for new dates (TBA). Workshop details remain as follows.
Our Morocco photography tour is open to photographers of all levels. Join us if you are looking to hone your creative photography skills and travel to Morocco’s most compelling landscapes, from desert to coast.
Experience the contrast of the iconic cityscapes of Marrakech and Essaouira with the remote Saharan dunes and Anti-Atlas mountains near Tafraoute.
We run our Morocco photography tour around the period of the new moon to maximise opportunities for night photography.
We arrange for you to camp under the Milky Way for 3 nights, with one wilderness camp next to the canyon mountains of Iriqui National Park, and two nights at Erg Chigaga dunes.
Your tutor will ensure that you reach the right place at the right time to capture beautiful landscape and cityscape photos, and offer expert guidance throughout the tour.
Click on the images to enlarge / © Images are copyright Michael Breitung
Photography Tour Itinerary
Day 1 - Arrival to Marrakech, overnight in the Medina
Meet at our Riad in the Medina of Marrakech at 3pm. We head straight out to explore the various areas of the colourful Medina. Through the narrow alleyways we make our way to the Museum of Photography to get some inspiration for our trip. Then we head up to the rooftop to photograph the Marrakech skyline with the Atlas Mountains in the distance.
At sunset we spend time around the Jmaa el Fna square. Then we return to our Riad for a typical Moroccan dinner and debrief before tomorrow’s journey.
Day 2 - Travel from Marrakech across the High Atlas to Tamdaght (via Telouet Kasbah)
Aim to depart from Marrakech by 08:30am. Driving hours approx. 4.5 hours (excluding visits en-route).
We drive from Marrakech over the High Atlas Mountains towards the Ounila Valley. En-route we make stops to photograph the various views of the mountains. A telephoto lens will be helpful in capturing the layers of the mountains as they are lit by the sun.
Around noon we visit the Telouet Kasbah and explore its interior. We photograph the different architectural styles intermixed in this Kasbah.
Afterwards we head down the unspoilt Ounila Valley to Tamdaght where we will stay in a beautiful Riad just outside the historic walls of the Kasbah. This Kasbah will also be our photo subject for the evening.
Day 3 - Travel to the Erg Chigaga and the Berber desert camp
After heading to the UNESCO site of Ait Ben Haddou to photograph sunrise we have a long drive ahead of us (approx. 6.5 hours excluding stops en-route) to reach the highlight of our tour, the Erg Chigaga dunes.
We stay for two nights in a remote Berber desert camp in the midst of the erg. This location offers endless opportunities to photograph the Erg Chigaga. We climb different dunes to get great views of the surrounding sea of sand.
The first evening we head to the highest dune in the area. Here we can photograph in all directions as the sun sets behind the horizon and the colours of the desert transform from gold, to red, to blue.
Day 4 - Day at leisure in the dunes of Erg Chigaga, with option to visit a nomad family
Optional time in the car approx. 1 hour.
We head out 2.5 hours before sunrise to photograph the Milky Way rising over the dunes, then watch as the morning light slowly transforms the desert. A wide-angle lens will be our tool of choice to capture as many stars as possible.
During the day we have the option to visit a nomad family and learn about their way of life in the desert. In the afternoon, we start to prepare for our second sunset shoot in the Sahara desert.
We will have the chance to photograph dromedaries in the dunes before riding back on them for our final dinner at the desert camp.
Day 5 - Travel to the Canyon landscape near Foum Zguid
With time allocated for photographing the mountains near Lake Iriqui, the Jebel Bani and Madouar, driving hours will be approx. 2.5 hours from the Erg Chigaga dunes.
Another morning shoot concludes our unforgettable stay in the Erg Chigaga dunes. Afterwards we have some additional time to enjoy the silence of the Sahara desert until we head towards the mountainous landscape near Foum Zguid. These spectacular cliffs and mountains have rarely been photographed. By wild camping close by, we will have the opportunity to get some unique photos during both sunset and sunrise.
Day 6 - Travel from the Sahara Desert to Tafraoute
Our drive West today towards the Anti-Atlas mountains takes approx. 5.5 hours.
After photographing sunrise near our wild camp, and having breakfast, the adventure continues as we drive towards the Anti-Atlas to Tafraoute. After checking in to our hotel in the Ameln Valley (outlying Tafraoute) we explore the mountainous landscapes, searching for subjects in the hills full of fascinating rock formations and huge boulders.
This is another area of Morocco that has not been photographed very often, so we will again have plenty of opportunities to come away with original photos.
Our goal for the afternoon is to find subjects to return to early the next morning to photograph under the warm light of dawn.
Day 7 - Exploring around the Ameln Valley and Tafraoute
After an early photo shoot in the hills near Tafraoute we head back to our hotel for breakfast and to plan out the rest of the day.
The area around Tafraoute provides many beautiful hikes, of which we can do a few shorter ones, visiting some of the spectacular views of the surrounding mountains and/or the local villages. The drivers are available to take us a little further afield which is optional (e.g. to the Ait Mansour Gorge with its palm oasis). If you like exploring and discovering new compositions, then this day will be perfect for you.
The views we like the most will be our destination for sunset, but not before having lunch in the hotel or in Tafraoute town, and enjoying some time to relax.
Day 8 - Travel to Essaouira at the Coast
Driving hours to Essaouira are approx. 6.5 hours (excluding stops en-route).
After an early breakfast we have a long, yet varied drive ahead of us to reach the Atlantic Coast. Descending from the Anti-Atlas mountains we drive towards Agadir, from there continue northwards along the coast road, then through the Argan Biosphere to reach Essaouira.
Here we spend the evening, exploring the Medina and the ramparts. There we photograph the beautiful coastline into blue hour.
A final dinner concludes our unforgettable adventure through Morocco.
Day 9 - Travel to Marrakech airport or Medina
Driving hours approx. 3 hours.
We conclude our trip with a final breakfast before we head back to Marrakech airport.
We drop participants at the Marrakech airport, or in the Medina (for those not departing today).
Who is the Wild Morocco photography tour designed for?
Our Morocco photography tour is designed for all landscape photographers who love to explore and enjoy getting off the beaten track. While we will certainly visit some well known and iconic places in Morocco (Marrakech, Essaouira, Ait Ben Haddou UNESCO site, the Sahara), the major part of the photo tour will be spent in less-visited but equally, if not more, beautiful areas.
By travelling in Winter, we won’t share those places with many other visitors, which will make the photography adventure even more enjoyable.
For those interested in night/astro photography, we have ensured to plan the tour close to a new moon, so we can experience and photograph beautiful night skies in the Sahara desert (i.e. at Erg Chigaga dunes in the Iriqui National Park). This location is 60km away from the nearest light pollution.
If you would like to join the tour, we recommend a good knowledge of your photography equipment. This way we will focus more on the creative part of photography and take full advantage of the unique landscapes and cityscapes we visit.
You should expect to wake early to photograph sunrise – in February sunrise is as late as 8am and the Milky Way will appear around 6am.
During our time in the desert we will hike and climb various dunes around the desert camp. The hikes can take between one and two hours – we may do several hikes a day. However, there is enough flexibility to skip some of the longer hikes and photograph the dunes closer to camp instead. For the Tafraoute area it will be similar, with various scouting hikes during day and later to reach our photo spots for sunset and sunrise.
Your experienced local guides and tutor Michael, who has already been to Morocco twice and scouted the locations in advance, will ensure that you’ll be taken care of during the tour. While the focus of our Morocco photography tour is to get you to the right place at the right time to take beautiful images, you will also receive tuition about landscape and cityscape photography techniques, such as usage of filters, focus stacking or night photography, and get tips on composition, if needed. Beyond that Michael always has an open ear for questions and is glad to share his knowledge.
About your tutor
Michael Breitung is an award-winning, established landscape photographer from Germany. In the last 10 years he has visited and photographed more than 20 countries around the world. A selection of his images may be viewed on his homepage www.mibreit-photo.com .
Michael is also a keen explorer and Morocco very quickly drew him in. He instantly fell in love with the tranquility of the Moroccan landscapes and wants to share his passion for those same places with you. Michael will be guiding you to some of his favourite locations in Morocco, a large part of which are off the beaten track, and make for a compelling photo adventure tour.
He recently scooped photo of the year for his Milky Way image above the Erg Chigaga dunes. Read more on digitalphoto.de
What to bring
DSLR or Mirrorless camera;
To get the most out of the tour, participants should bring both a wide-angle and a tele lens. The long lens will be particularly important in the Sahara desert. Good focal lengths for the long lens are 70-200, 70-300 or 100-400mm;
To photograph the night sky in the Sahara desert, a fast wide-angle lens is necessary. Recommended are f/2.8 or faster. Note: there will be plenty of other photo opportunities where no fast lens is necessary;
A tripod;
Spare batteries for our two days in the Erg Chigaga dunes. There are limited possibilities to recharge gear in the evening;
Flashlights for our hikes in the Sahara desert;
Good hiking boots/shoes for our hikes around Tafraoute;
Notebooks are optional for participants who want image critique and post processing tips during our tour.
Additional information
This will be an opportune time of year to participate in the Wild Morocco photography tour. We will be camping in the Erg Chigaga dunes just after a new moon with clear night skies to see and photograph the stars above the Iriqui National Park. The Erg Chigaga dunes is one of the best places in Morocco to photograph the stars, being 60km away from the nearest light pollution and not crowded. We will see many stars and experience true desert nights in relative isolation.
Please contact us to reserve your place or for further details.