FAQs

1. Send me a brochure/catalog.

2. Do you work with Travel Agents?

3. How much should I tip?

4. Is it safe for women to travel to Morocco alone?

5. In the camps in the desert — will it just be my traveling companion and our guide(s) or will there be other travelers as well?

6. Can I avoid the 4:30 AM pick-up time and make other timing changes to an itinerary?

7. Why do I need travel insurance/why is it important?

8. We've been told not to visit the Western Sahara.

9. Why is your price lower/higher than the competition?

10. The single traveler/single supplement.

11. Extra gear for the desert

12. Is Morocco Safe?

13. What are your References?

14. When do your tours regularly start?

15. What is a private tour?

16. How are transfers handled?

17. Do I need vouchers?

18. What are your office hours?

19. Cancellation Policy

20. Consumer Disclosure

Send me a brochure/catalog

All our tour information is available only on our website at www.SaharaTrek.com.  Any changes to tour itineraries due to change in flight times or changes in prices due to exchange rates are quickly and effectively communicated by updates to the website, which we do as frequently as necessary.  By not printing paper brochures and catalogs, we help protect the environment while saving money on office overhead and pass the savings onto our clients.
Please review our website to choose among the great vacation possibilities listed there and let us know if you have questions about any of the tours.  We are always here and happy to answer any questions you may have.

Do you work with Travel Agents?

Not really.  The travel industry has changed as people have become more net savvy and budget conscious.  It used to be the travel agent controlled the information and based available tours on the amount of commission they'd get paid, not the desires of the clients.  With the internet, travelers can do their own research and find the programs and prices that suit  them best without the commission driven filter of a travel agent.  Because we don't have to pay commissions we can reduce the cost of our tours by 12-20% and pass that savings on to our clients.

How much should I tip?

The standard is 50 dirham (about $5) per person, per day for the guide and about 30-50 dirham (about $3-$5) for the driver.

Is it safe for women to travel to Morocco alone?

Travel to Morocco for a single woman is possible, but not always wonderful.  Western women alone still draw quite a bit of attention that they may not always welcome.  Moroccan men are inquisitive and persistent though not dangerous, as violence against a woman, especially a western tourist, is frowned upon.  There is no way to sugar coat the fact that unless you are with a guide, you will be approached and propositioned in one way or another all the time.

In the camps in the desert — will it just be my traveling companion and our guide(s) or will there be other travelers as well? 

All our tours are private tours which means that all resources are for the exclusive use of the client on the tour at that time.  However, as it may happen that there may be other clients with a similar schedule to yours, for example, they may be scheduled to be in the high desert at the same time, your camps may share cooking times and resources, but your actual camps would be spread out (it's a big desert).  If you choose to, and both parties agree, you can spend more time together, but that's up to you.  But for the most part, yes, it would be just you and your traveling companion in your own camp with our very trustworthy, reliable guides whom we worked with for years.
 

Can I avoid the 4:30 AM pick-up time and make other timing changes to an itinerary?

There is only the one flight out from Ouarzazate which connects with the transatlantic flight departing from Casablanca in mid-day.  Even though there are later flights during the day out of Ouarzazate, only the early morning one connects to the international flight that gets you to JFK the same day.  So to answer your question, unfortunately there is no way to avoid the early morning pick up for your flight out.

The current tour schedule is based on the optimal use of time given the resources, flights, distances, and other means of transport involved.  Rearranging the itineraries is possible, but it always adds to the cost of the tours and involves additional travel and backtracking between cities and it is best avoided.

Why do I need travel insurance/why is it important?

We highly recommend travel insurance because there are always uncertainties when it comes to travel in general and international travel in particular.  Same as you cannot guarantee that you will not get sick the day before your trip and are unable to go, no airline carrier can guarantee that you will get to where you need to be without any problems or delays.   The payments that we receive from our clients and forward to the ground operators in Morocco are sent months in advance and absolutely cannot be repatriated to the US.  Once the tour is in progress, no refunds are possible for unused portions if something happens like you get sick and cannot go on.  That is one way travel insurance keeps you covered along with many other possible scenarios.  Please review the consumer disclosure on our website.

We've been told not to visit the Western Sahara.

And they're right, the Western Sahara is an area in "transition," that's why our tours say far away from there, firmly in the Moroccan Sahara.

Why is your price lower/higher than the competition?

Our costs are determined by what we do, and what we don't do.

We do:

• operate only in Morocco using only carefully selected accommodations and guides for all our clients, making us their biggest customer and securing the best rates.
• work under contract with Royal Air Maroc for all the flights for our clients, and after many successful years we get a very favorable rate.
• base our costs on 2 people traveling on a private tour, not a bus of 50
• answer the phone 7 days a week for questions and reservations
• are always available incase of emergency

We don't:

• pay travel agents commissions
• print and mail thousands of big glossy brochures
• run pricy ads in glitzy magazines
• include meals at overplayed tourist restaurants
• add tips, porterage, and other services that you might not even use to the cost of the tour

The single traveler/single supplement:

We strive to deliver the best value possible on the tours to our clients.  In order to achieve that, our tours are based on double occupancy where two or more travelers share the expenses.  However, when the party does not have two travelers, the cost doubles for the single traveler.  The single supplement is the equivalent of the ground only price of the missing second person.  As our tours are private, we do not combine groups on a tour, so it is not possible for a single tourist to travel with other guests. 

Extra gear for the desert

There is ground cover and blankets provided for the desert overnight camping.  But winter nights do get cold in the desert, so depending on your required comfort level, you may want to bring some extra warm clothes.  The camp chores and food cooking is done by the guides in the camp, so you do not need anything for that.  You really need very little for the desert, but you may want to see our suggested packing list for ideas listed in our Practical Guide under the About Morocco tab. 

Some camping can be under a tent on one of the nights, but the remaining nights are spent under the stars.  Here is a link for the temperatures in Morocco.  The closest city to the desert that the temperatures are provided for is Ouarzazate.  The temps in the desert will be about the same as in that city, maybe a bit cooler.

Is Morocco Safe?

Morocco remains one of the most stable and progressive Islamic countries in the world and has close ties to both Europe and the US.  That being said, we always take precautions.  We use accommodations deep inside of cities in pedestrian districts and away form the large tourist hotels, our guides are good friends of ours and have been working with the company for years, we only operate private tours to avoid the large and obvious tour buses, finally we operate in cities and desert regions well known to us and never send our clients to places that we feel are unsafe/unstable (Tangier and Rabat being at the top of the list).  So sure are we in the safety of our programs that the families of our US employees even traveled with us to Morocco with great regularity.

The world can change in an instant and if you're looking for the safest place to be, you might want to consider staying at home (which is rarely much fun).  If you're looking for some adventure mitigated by years of experience and planning, then we're ready when you are!

What are your References?

SaharaTrek is a member of the Better Business Bureau where we have a satisfactory record and our consumer history (good and bad) for the past 3 years is published on their website.  We are licensed, regulated, and bonded by the Florida Dept. of Consumer Protection.  We work under exclusive contract with Royal Air Maroc, and are listed as a preferred supplier with the Moroccan National Tourist Office.  The International Airlines Travel Agent Network (IATAN) also endorses our company.  We have been reviewed and appear in no less than 18 separate newspapers, magazines, and guidebooks.  And we also publish our clients’ feedback on our website.  However we do take the privacy of our clients very seriously and we will not provide the contact information of any of our previous clients.  Per the privacy policy (as required by the Better Business Bureau), we do not sell, disclose, publish or provide any information on any current or past clients to outside sources regardless of purpose.

Toll-Free: 888-849-4464

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Outside the USA: 727-421-0218

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