3 days · 2 nights
3-Day Camel Trek Around Erg Chebbi
from €150 / person
Price per person, based on two travellers sharing. Private departures on request.
Most "desert tours" are road trips with a camel ride attached. This is the opposite: a genuine trek, three days travelling at camel pace around and through the dunes of Erg Chebbi, sleeping where the caravans used to — in simple wild camps that move with you, not a fixed tourist camp.
Days follow the old rhythm: walk or ride through the cool morning, a long shaded rest and lunch at midday, then on through the afternoon to camp. Your cameleers cook every meal on the fire — including bread baked in the sand — and the route mixes dune fields, the black hammada, a nomad family visit and the quiet eastern side of the erg that day-trippers never see.
Highlights
- A true trek — no vehicles from start to finish
- Two nights in nomad-style wild camps deep in the dunes
- All meals cooked on the fire, bread baked in the sand
- The quiet eastern side of Erg Chebbi and a nomad family visit
- Small groups only — never more than 8 trekkers
Itinerary
Day 1 — Merzouga to the southern dunes
We load the camels in the morning and set off south along the edge of the erg, with lunch and a long rest under tamarisk shade. The afternoon leg enters the dune field proper; first wild camp in a hollow among the sands.
Day 2 — The eastern erg and the nomads
A full day rounding the quiet side of Erg Chebbi, where the only tracks are animal ones. We share tea with a nomad family on the hammada, then climb back into the dunes for the second camp — the most remote night of the trek.
Day 3 — High crests and return
An early start over the high central crests — the best viewpoints of the whole erg — and an unhurried return to Merzouga by early afternoon, where showers and your luggage are waiting.
What's Included
- One riding camel per trekker plus pack camels
- Local cameleer-guides (from Merzouga and the nomad families of the erg)
- All meals from lunch day 1 to lunch day 3, water and tea
- Wild-camp equipment: tents, mattresses, thick blankets
- Luggage storage and shower in Merzouga
Not Included
- Transport to Merzouga
- Sleeping bag in winter (rentable locally)
- Travel insurance
Frequently Asked Questions
How fit do I need to be?
If you can walk 3–4 hours a day in soft terrain with a long midday break, you are fit enough. Riding is always available — most trekkers alternate.
What is a wild camp?
A camp we set up wherever the day ends: sleeping tents, a kitchen fire, carpets on the sand. No fixed structures, no other groups, no light but the fire and the sky. Toilets are the desert — we carry a spade and leave nothing behind.
How is this different from the overnight trek?
The overnight trek visits the desert; this one lives in it. You cross the parts of the erg no fixed camp reaches, and by the second day the silence is something you can hear.
When does this trek run?
October to April only. Summer heat makes multi-day trekking unsafe, and we will not run it then.
Can it be extended?
Yes — private departures of 4 to 6 days range further south into the hammada. Contact us to design the route.
Ready to Answer the Call?
Choose your tour and start your adventure today.