Tour 7: The Atlantic Coast & Southern Desert of Guelmim
(7 days / 6 nights)
Tour Dates 2024:
01 – 07 September 2024 (Spaces Available)
09 – 15 September 2024 (Spaces Available)
17 – 23 September 2024 (Spaces Available)
01 – 07 October 2024 (Spaces Available)
09 – 15 October 2024 (Spaces Available)
17 – 23 October 2024 (Spaces Available)
NOTE: If you have a specific date please let us know your arrival and departure dates!
Tour Cost: The price is depends on number of participants on the tour, for the price please contact us!
Group Size: Max 7 people, if you are a tour company or big group please contact us!
Tour starting/ending: Agadir airport, Morocco
Price includes:
* Comfortable transport.
* 6 Nights hotel accommodation en-suite rooms and Half-board
* Guiding services and general assistance where and when required.
Price excludes:
* International airfare
* Lunches & drinks
* Travel insurance
* Item of a personal nature and tips
Target Birds on this trip: Northern Bald Ibis, Marbled duck, Black crowned Tchagra, Moussier’s redstart, Long-legged Buzzard, Little Swift, Temminck’s Lark, Bar-tailed Lark, Hoopoe Lark, Thick-billed Lark, Desert Wheatear, Red-rumped Wheatear, White-crowned Wheatear, Black Wheatear, Scrub Warbler, Fulvous Babbler, Rock Bunting, Little Owl, Laughing Dove, Cream-coloured Courser, Audouin’s gulls, Greater flamingos, Brown-throated Martin, Barbary Partridge, Moussier’s Redstart,…etc!
ITINERARY
Day 1: Agadir Airport
Meet and welcome you at Agadir airport and transfer to the hotel for check in, we will spend couple of hours birding around, then back to the hotel for some rest and get ready to the next day.
Dinner and accommodation Agadir.
Day 2: Agadir – Tamri Estuary
After breakfast at the hotel, we will head north, stopping firstly at a beach where there will be Lesser Black-backed Gulls of two races, Audouin’s Gulls and a few Yellow-legged Gulls. We will continue north to Tamri in search of one the rarest birds in the world – the Bald Ibis. Morocco supports a colony of about 250 pairs that breed in this coastal area. Late in the afternoon we travel back to Agadir.
Dinner and accommodation in Agadir.
Day 3: Oued Massa – Oued Souss
South of Agadir is the famous Oued Massa. We have an early start to Oued Massa on the Atlantic Coast. Target birds: the secretive Black-crowned Tchagra, Marbled Duck, Moroccan Cormorant, Moussier’s Redstart, Stone Curlew, Glossy Ibis, Laughing Dove, Sardinian Warbler and Brown-throated Martin.
Later we visit the Oued Souss – an excellent area for Flamingos, shorebirds and large numbers of roosting gulls and terns.
Dinner and accommodation in Agadir.
Day 4: Agadir – Anti Atlas mountains – Deserts of Guelmim
After breakfast, we depart for the desert south of Agadir for our two-night stop in Guelmim, a wonderful north African town dubbed the “Gateway to the Western Sahara”. Our drive south will take about five hours; en route we will stop in the rugged Anti-atlas Mountains to look for Black wheatear before descending towards Guelmim itself. Our desert exploration begins a few miles south-east, where we hope to find White-crowned Wheatear, Fulvous Babblers and Spanish Sparrow in the village.
Dinner and accommodation in Guelmim.
Day 5: Full day birding in Guelmim Area (Southern Desert)
After breakfast in our hotel, we will be heading south-west of Guelmim along the Tan-Tan road which leads all the way to Mauritania country. Whilst the most sought-after desert species can occur almost anywhere, we have a number of specific sites to visit and hope to find Desert and Red-rumped Wheatears, Bar-tailed Lark, Cream-coloured Courser, Greater Hoopoe and Temmincks horned Larks, Long-legged Buzzard, Lesser Short-toed Larks and Trumpeter Finch. If we are lucky we may find Thick billed Lark, Scrub and Spectacled Warblers in a roadside wadi.
Dinner and accommodation in Guelmim.
Day 6: Guelmim – Anti atlas mountains – Agadir
After breakfast, we leave Guelmim and back to Agadir through the Atlas mountains with some birding stops in the road. Late in the afternoon we arrive to Agadir where we will spend the last night during the trip.
Dinner and accommodation in Agadir.
Day 7: Agadir – Airport
If time allows some more birding in the Agadir area, then transfer to the airport where the trip ends.
NOTE: This is a flexible itinerary which may be adjusted to allow for changes in arrival and departure times, weather conditions and other related factors.
MORE INFORMATION
Accommodation: We stay in a selection of comfortable hotel, all rooms are en-suite.
Food: All hotels provide a simple breakfast typical of Morocco, consisting of fresh bread, butter, honey and jam. Fruit juice and tea or coffee is also available. For lunch we will have picnic lunches when out in the field. Evening meals will be a mixture of local and international dishes.
Walking: The tour is not strenuous. Leisurely walking, very occasionally over moderately rough terrain, is the only physical requirement on most days. Most birding is done close to our vehicle, though we will need to walk to see mountain species, and some exertion will be required in mountain environments. There will be the option to stay close to the vehicle, should anyone wish to go back.
Weather: Typical temperatures. Changeable and sometimes cold, windy or wet weather is very possible on the Atlantic and the Atlas Mountains, so bring a warm jacket, gloves, warm layers and adequate rainwear.
Group size: Max 7 people, if you are a tour company or big group please contact us!