Motorcycle Mystery Tour– along Morocco’s Saharan Frontier
I spent a glorious week on a motorcycle tour with Chris Scott, author of Morocco Overland, a knowledgeable desert guide with great stories and an encyclopaedic understanding of Morocco and the Sahara.
From Marrakesh we headed south, climbing over the High Atlas before dropping into Morocco’s Saharan frontier near the Algerian border. These were places far from the usual tourist circuits; over the week we met only a handful of other Western travellers, most in their own overlanders or on private 4×4 expeditions.
This trip was a rare beast: a guided tour with a genuine spirit of adventure. Chris carried the itinerary in his head and often revealed the day’s plan only when we were already on the move—always with a glint in his eye—adding a sense of spontaneity that’s hard to manufacture.
On any given day you might find yourself leaning through switchbacks on a high mountain pass, visiting Morocco’s oldest mosque, sipping mint tea at a roadside café, cruising down empty desert highways, or stumbling across a film location. Chris also tweaks each departure to keep things fresh, so no two weeks are ever quite the same.
Accommodation ranged from comfortable hotels to simple, Bedouin-run auberges where dinner was a Tagine by an open fire and the night sky stole the show.
The standout moment? An off-road detour to a remote village perched above a lush, hidden oasis—a place so magical I couldn’t give you a name for it, nor pinpoint it on a map. Some discoveries are best left for others to make in their own time.
I came home with a beautiful black-and-white Berber rug, strapped to the back of my hired motorcycle—a BMW G 310 GS, for those curious—which now sits proudly on the floor of my study.
This is a journey you could organise yourself, whether on two wheels or four, but I chose to ride with Chris—who quite literally wrote the book on the subject.
For an adventure of this calibre, it’s remarkably good value.
How to go
I travelled on Chris Scott’s Morocco Fly/Ride Tour of Southern Morocco. The tour lasts 6 days; starting and finishing in Marrakesh. The trip takes in surprisingly good tarmac roads along with gravel trails. You need to be an experienced motorcycle rider to go on this trip, but off-road experience is not necessary. I was a little rusty as I hadn’t ridden for a few years but I took it easy and the whole trip was a lot of fun.
For those wishing to travel in this area independently, there is motorcycle and car hire in Marrakesh. Grab one of Chris’s guides and/or the Rough Guide to Morocco and plan your own itinerary.