The 8 nights photography holiday and photography tour includes the coastal medina port of Essaouira, the people and landscapes of the High Atlas and one night in Marrakesh in a specially tailored photographic tour to include a range of different genres. The chosen accommodation is in comfortable B&B’s and hotels with websites accessible via the highlighted links. There are 4 hotels used throughout the tour.
Subjects to photograph include: fishing boats, medina, Kasbahs, mountains, rock formations, High Atlas villages, craftswomen, children, artisans.
Day 1: Your photography holiday starts on Saturday with collection from Marrakesh airport and after a journey of 2hrs 15 mins journey you’ll arrive in Essaouira. Your accommodation for your 3 nights in Essaouira will be at Riad Maison du Sud which has recently been awarded a certificate of excellence from Trip Advisor. Depending on your arrival time you’ll have the chance for some sunset photography on the first night.
Day 2: The morning is set aside for a photo tour of the photogenic medina taking in the abstract possibilities the old walls, narrow streets and blue doors have to offer. The late afternoon is set aside for a tour of the working fishing port with the early evening light offering the best possibilities for warmth and colour on the boats.
Day 3: Today there’s the choice of a cooking workshop with Naima in the morning or visiting and photographing the local craftsman and woodworkers. In the evening we’ll review your images from the past two days and give you some feedback.
Day 4: At around 9.30 we’ll set off on our photography tour towards Marrakesh and over the High Atlas and the Tizi n Tichka summit on the road to Ouarzazate before arriving at Ait Benhaddou, a journey of about 6 hrs. We’ll be stopping en-route to take photos. Ait Benhaddou is the site of the oldest Kasbah in Morocco and a fantastic stop on your photography tour. The Kasbah or Ksar as it’s correctly known as, still houses many families within its labyrinth of mud brick walls. We’ll arrive in time for the ‘golden hour’ of light whilst the remote setting offers the chance for some time lapse star trail night sky photography from the terrace of your auberge.
Day 5: The day is set aside for both exploring the village, concentrating on the stunning views around the Ksar, its narrow passage ways, as well as photographing two families in their home exploring their day to day life. You’ll have the chance to shoot portraits and direct the family members as you wish. Evening dining is at the Cafe Bagdad, a favourite for drinkers of wine where once again you’ll overnight.
Day 6: After breakfast on the terrace, our tour continues onwards towards the Dades Valley, firstly taking a slight detour to the village of Fint south of Ouarzazate, an oasis with spectacular dark rocks and a beautiful river. The auberge for the evening is a another hour’s drive on set in the UNESCO heritage palmerie at Skoura, our location for lunch. In the afternoon you’ll visit a potter working using traditional methods and before returning to the hotel, they’ll be the chance for some sunset photography of crumbling former kasbahs. The hotel has a swimming pool so there’s the chance for a morning dip the next day as well as a catch up with some camera technique refreshers over dinner.
Day 7: After breakfast we’ll travel about 1.5hrs to the Dades Gorge visiting our sandal maker and his family where you can photograph him at work in his workshop and his wife and children at home baking bread and tending to the goats. After lunch at a spectacular location overlooking the Gorge in the late afternoon light you’ll photograph the rock formations here known as ‘monkey toes‘.
Day 8: After breakfast we’ll set off at a leisurely pace back towards Marrakesh taking the route via Telouet stopping to photograph the remarkable Kasbah there. You’ll overnight in Marrakesh taking in the Jemaa el-Fnaa square before returning to your Riad: Riad Princesses.
Day 9: Your tour finishes on the Sunday with an included transfer to the airport at Marrakesh.
Easyjet and BA are the main carriers to Marrakesh. From the US, flights into Casablanca are also available. We can research these flights for you.
All hotels are of a good standard; 3 to 4 star with have private en-suite facilities and the price is inclusive of accommodation, breakfast, photography and local fees paid to families and our network of local guides. The tour price for 2 people is £1195 each and for 3 people or more on the tour, the tarif drops to £970 each.
Please note the tour needs a minimum of 2 to run. Once this number is reached the tour status will run from available to guaranteed to run and you can proceed with flights. Payment is only required once the tour is guaranteed. You’ll need about £125 cash to bring with you to cover lunches and dinners.