Many of our clients have written in our guestbook, to say how much they enjoyed their tours. Below are some of the comments we’ve received over the years.
You can also read an article about a tour with Brahim and published by Britain’s Observer newspaper (click here) and two stories written by clients (James Hathaway and Friedel Rother).
See letters in:
52 Responses to “Others say…”
Rita and I took a trip with Muhammed (chef) and Ishriel (Camel Guy) on March 25 and 26 into the desert near M’hamid. We walked through the dunes and across the stoney plains to the Erg dunes, camped out overnight at the nomad well, then walked back the next day—about 20 miles in total but all easy walking done at a camel pace (the camels carried all our gear). Originally we thought we’d ride the camels but, after trying it, walking was much better. Everything went very well—the trip was well organized, the food (tagine, couscous, salads, etc) was very good, the guide and Muhammed couldn’t have been friendlier and better at their jobs. We shopped around and the price was also the best in town. We also found in shopping around that the trips offered by the hotels(Land Rover caravans) and by other operators (10 miles of camel ride beside the highway) were just a bit of a rip-off especially considering the prices (up to 2000/dh/person/day). The trip was all we hoped it would be and I would recommend it very highly to anyone—note the walk is not strenuous. I’m 65 and so is my wife and had an easy time of it. Bon voyage.
We started our journey yesterday. This was our first experience in the desert. We didn’t expect this wonderful service. We had an excellent service from Brahim here at the hotel and the food was delicious. The most amazing experience was our trip to the desert. We had an excellent and knowledgable guide Mohamed who conducted our caravan and also showed us his wonderful land. We rode the camels and I have no words to describe how amazing it was.
We really enjoyed the trip! Brahim, thank you so much for your kindness and great information. We will surely be back and will look you up then. Have a great year!
Dear Brahim , Hussen and Aziz and Mohamed. Shukran for a REAL experience of the kasbahs, the desert and the various cultures of the Moroccan people .We are leaving you with so many wonderful memories of sights, sounds, laughter and music. Thank you for your inspiration. We hope to see you again encahlah. B’salam.
Brahim, Hussein and Iziz, shukran for an excellent tour of the desert and kasbahs. The drumming, singing and campfire were great! Hussein is an excellent cook! And Aziz does a very good rabbit impression! A Sqlaam!
Brahim, Thank you so much for sharing your desert and for being so genuine and open – didn’t matter how philosophical or personal we got with our questions , it was always “no problem”. Aziz and Hussein – you guys cracked me up – lots of laughing, singing, bread and magic.
Brahim – I had such a good time! I know at times I am “not easy” but you made the whole experience easy. It will be my favourite memory of Morocco, especially because I didn’t see any gerbils, rats or snakes. It’s not funny! Let me know if you get 1,000 (or was it 10,000) camels.
If you want to get away from the normal tourist trap and experience the desert in the traditional way with friends then get away with Brahim and his family. We were lucky enough to stumble across this place and couldn’t have asked for a better adventure. Brahim is informative, funny and gives you a real insight to the way of life of the local people. Also check out the great cookery skills of Mohammed (his brother). Enjoy yourself and thank you for this experience.
Josh and Toni from Newcastle in Australia did a 2-1/2 day camel trek in the Sahara desert. Had an awesome time. Loved the beats. Thanks Brahim for a great experience
Thank you for your incredible hospitality and great adventure—highly recommended.
We only had time for a day trip but within the day we were treated to the Tinfou Dunes on camel, mint tea and a relaxing lunch in the bivouac, the old kasbah and the Q’ran school. It was fantastic and well organised. Brahim is an excellent guid who can explain all the traditions and any questions you have. Definitely recommended.
A great experience being in the desert! Very good service and explanations from Hammou and Mohamed as well as from the boys in the desert. Today just a short experience. Next time we’ll join the caravan to Timbouctou! Thank you amigos, Tschuss
A wonderful 2 night trek out to Erg Lihoudi – a truly enchanting place. A real experience! After all the activity of Marrakech you couldn’t find a starker contrast when sitting on top of the dunes watching for shooting stars (there were plenty!). Brahim had so many stories to tell. Mohammed made the best tagines and Saif kept the camels in order, well, until he let Holly take control! A truly memorable few days!!
I can only repeat James’ comments. It was a fantastic experience – 2 nights in the desert, I wish it had been longer. I maybe could have had time for some lessons in camel control!!
The trip was unbelivable: the dunes, the tagine, the stars, the bivouak, the mint tea, the people, the music… We were speechless. We had to see it to believe it. We’ll recommend it to our friends. Thank you! We will come again.
What a fantastic time we had. The food was fantastic, very tasty, well prepared, we were looked after well! The team work was amazing and efficient. As for Brahim, words are not sufficent to describe his efficency, his kindness, his knowledge and his co-ordination. Five stars for the entire trek!
We had such a wonderful time with Brahim and the group. Great variety of scenery, people, food. Amazing. Very friendly people. Good attention to details and individuals. Great organisation. I couldn’t recommend Brahim more highly.
Dear Brahim,
I am writing this letter of commendation for the superior, Professional services you provided to me in Zagora and Tata during my 15 Day excursion to study the gravures pupestres in southern Morocco.
The professional organisation of the limited time available was greatly enhanced by the information and contacts you arranged along the route.
This greatly enhanced my productivity So that I am able to complete a rather substantial trip report that develops the information and Data that you enabled me to acquire.
I sincerely appreciate your expertise in securing these contacts, especially Mould of Akka who accompanied us as a professional specialist in gravures rupestres.
Furthermore, I appreciate your putting me in touch with Mr Hasni of the Ministry of Tourism, who provided valuable information which will be used on a reform visit.
The hotels you arranged were excellent as was the cuisine. This greatly enhanced the trip.
Finally, but not last, Mohamed our driver negotiated rough terrain with great competence, making difficult access seem easy.
All of this coordination, expertise and planning are due to your great expensive .It was a pleasure and also a great success.
Sincerely,
Ralph J Coffman (Marblehead, Mass. U.S.A.)
Dear Brahim, Mohamed and Housein. Spending time in the sahara has been a time dream for us. And you three have made this dream come true. Seeing the first dunes appear at the horizon, touching the sand for the first time and being stunned by the millions and millions of stars at the desert sky will be unforgetable moments. Shukran jazeemen for your amazing hospitality.We have had the most wonderful days with you. All best wishes and hoping to welcome you in London one day.
Fantastic tour around the desert. We had an excellent experience and Ibrahim is one of the best hosts aroud Morrocco. Thank you very much!! Keep it that way.
To our dear friend and guide Brahim, in only 3 days you have given us such a wonderful experience of the “really” desert! You have given us a glimpse of what it means to truly love the desert and the people in your country. As it would take a lifetime to really appreciate Morocco, we hope to come back and continue our education! Until then…. don’t eat too many “snakes” (snacks…)!! THANKS FOR A BLOODY GREAT TOUR!!
Brahim, Mohamed & team, Fantastic experience. We consider ourselves very lucky to have met so many wonderful people from such a far away land. Your culture is rich with history – the legacy of the people with the land –and seeing how you have made the most of everything you have to work with – how magical your traditions and current ways of life are. We will send more to see and experience. Thank you and the team for working with our family.
Brahim and the team. Thank you very much for the magical experience we had during these days! Thanks for the reservation of the full moon – it was incredible. The food was super! P.S. Thanks for the cultural experience, with all the contrasts of the kasbah, the desert dunes and bivouak. Merci beaucoup. Shukran.
Thank you for an experience we will bring with us for the rest of our lives . Incredibly fantastic! Thank you for letting us be a part of the nomad and berber culture and your generosity to share your experience from life. Meeting Bah Ali Bahba and Omar and their culture as well as experiencing the desert is more than we ever could have expected. And thank you for the laughters, good food, stories and music.
Dear Brahim, I wish I had a nicer piece of paper to write to you. Thin white blankness does not convey the warmth of my feelings. You have given us a part of your soul, together with unforgettable experiences and a beginning of an understanding. I hope we will have a chance to learn more about Moroccan and nomad way of life, together, in the future. Warmest thanks.
Dear Brahim! Thank you for a nice, interesting and relaxing tour in the desert. Personal highlights—Sara: Getting up early and watching the sunrise over the dunes. Tova: Riding the dromedar. Also it was interesting to see the desert. Wandering in the sand without shoes on was an unforgetable feeling. Luf: Experience the desert. Ilva : The visit in the small museum in the desert with tea and Brahim’s stories about the life there. Hope to see you again mybe in the desert!
Dear Brahim, When Rona and I came to Morocco we didn’t really have a fixed idea what to expect. Morocco was on our list for a few years as it brought to mind being a magical place. From the start with our contacts with JP our strong feeling of wanting to come to Morrocco grew. When we met you the first time in Marrakesh we knew from the outset we were in great hands and the trip would be beyond our expectations. Your knowledge, conversations, discussions about Morocco have been fantastic, warming and has given us an enormous insight in the culture of especially the people in the Draa valley. It is clear that communication is the way forward to learn from each other and to build understanding that there are different beliefs , cultures, religions. You and all the people involved in this fantastic trip have enriched our lives with new friends. It will be hard to leave Morocco now but Enshallah we will meet again. You all will have a special place in our hearts. Thank you very much. Shokran.
I began this tour free of expectations and open to new experiences.Travelling with Brahim, though this was only a short trip, I have learned from his stories and from his unique and very kind nurturing way of being. Brahim and the group have allowed me to look under the veil of Morocco to see a very beautiful array of cultures … a friendliness and warmth that I may not have had ability to see without helpful interpretation. This was a wondrful way to wade into the desert dunes of Morocco. I will never forget this experience, as it has touched my heart and nourished my soul. Thank you , thank you most honstly and sincerely.
Thank you to Brahim and the team to another wonderful and informative trek (our third with Brahim!). Fantastic time and many thanks again.
To Brahim, Said and Mohamed: a thousand thanks for a wonderful trip to the dunes. Their expert knowledge and friendly treatment made this an unforgetable experience. We very much recommmend their service to everybody.
Thanks – you Brahim and all the team for my very first and wonderful trip to “meet” the desert. You shared with us a real aventure from sunrise to sunset. But I felt very safe too. I will enjoy telling my friends and family about my experience and hope to return. Merci, du fond de mon cœur and peace be with you and your loved ones. Next time a zip free holiday.
Thank you for another wonderful trip to the desert. Each time you have taken me somewhere more beautiful and I find a peacefulness. I have found nowhere else in the world.
Thank you very much for everything. I will never forget this trip! I did not know that a stay in the desert can be that comfortable: tea , fresh bread! Comfortable beds – everything was perfect! The meals were wonderful! But most of all I enjoy Brahim telling stories! You are a great actor and storyteller! And I got a lot of information too. Thanks to all other people helping and joining us, like the guide of the camels, the driver and the bread baker. Thank you very much.
Brahim –you have made the end of our special holiday to Morocco even more special. Thank you so much for your time and efforts to day in introducing us Best wishes for the future, and peace be with you !!
We came to the desert to find the beauty in your country. We found beauty, warmth, kindness and humour. You captured our hearts. What a blessing to have met you all. Enshallah we meet again. In the meantime, Shukran Jazeelan. With our love friendship and very best wishes.
Our experience in the Sahara was ….perfect! Mohamed and his “crew” made sure everything was smooth – even the weather. This is such a gorgeous place and it was wonderful to be here with people who obviously love it. Also, the food was delicious and the “tent” life was so peaceful. We will be back.
Thank you so much for an unforgetable experience in the desert. We will take away your warmth and hospitality with us. Thank you also for the amazing tagines –the best we have ever eaten !! God bless. Best regards.
We had a great overnight trip to the desert with you, Mohamed. The bivouac was really confortable and well organised. Great dinner. Really good mattreseses. You know so much about the desert, history and culture – we learned a lot from you and hope to return to see more the desert with you next year.
When I planned my first trip to the desert I did not mind which country I went to, or who was my guide, I just wanted to experience being in the desert. I wanted to walk into the desert with camels because I wanted the experience to be gradual, so I could really take it in. So it was by chance that I found myself in Morocco, walking into the Sahara with Brahim Elaabdouli.
I wasn’t very interested in being in Morocco, and I didn’t think I particularly wanted to know anything about the nomad way of life. I appreciated Brahim and his team because I couldn’t go to the desert without them, and they clearly knew everything there was to know about the desert and how to survive there so I felt very safe, but that was about the extent of my interest. Over the 10 days that I was there, I changed. Brahim has an way of tuning in to the people he is with, reaching across the barriers of language and culture, and mood. He is passionate about people experiencing the desert and understanding at least a little about nomad life, and how to actually be in the desert rather than just seeing it. I have been back twice since that first visit, each time mainly to experience sitting on a remote dune at the end of the day, cradled in a cup of sand feeling the deep warmth from the afternoon sun, with whispering flutters of wind, and a sky that becomes a deep purplish blue and then black. Brahim, and Mohamed, Hosein, Hamou and others we met along the way were funny, knowledgeable, kind and cooked like a dream. They seem like a family, and are more generous than any western tourist has a right to expect. Brahim treats everyone who works for him, including the camels, with respect and kindness, and seems a fair and equitable employer. He finds ways to include nomads who have few other opportunities to earn money, and does it in a way that preserves everyone’s integrity and dignity in a world that on the whole treats local people who work in tourism as commodities.
We are safely home enjoying the rain, snow and ice!! I wish I were back in Morocco.
I wanted to send our grateful thanks to you. I do not feel you could have managed the tour any better then you did. It was fantastic and we are truly grateful to you for giving us such an amazing experience. Please pass on our thanks to the team when next you meet them (and Peter!).
We hope to see you in the UK when next you visit.
With very best wishes and thanks again,
Judy
We all had a great time in Morocco, many thanks to you, Said and Mohammad for making our desert adventure memorable. The tagine that your brother brought for us in Zagora will get used this coming weekend as we are going on a camping trip in canoes on the Glenelg river, Australia.
We often think of you when we are taking about our holiday.
Cheers,
Michael
Dear Brahim,
We have had a wonderful time with you. We have enjoyed all the knowledge, jokes information, and kindness you shared with us .I especially enjoyed learning about the amazing Berber culture, and has made me want to learn more.
I hope to return to Morocco soon – inshallah.
Thanks for all you kindness, and hopefully see you at the Womad.
All the Best.
Emma and Stefan (from the UK)
Just got back to Scotland and send our thanks for being such a welcoming and enthusiastic guide. We really enjoyed our trip to the Moroccan desert.
Thanks for the music and the tips about Gnowa CDs – we found one by Lamaalam Abdekabir Lachab which is very good. Hope to visit Morocco again and see more of your beautiful, welcoming country.
Maybe we will meet at Womad. Hope so (Insh’aallah)
Warm wishes from Warren and Grace
I was on the tour at New Year and have been slow to get and touch and thank you for a wonderful trip.
Both Stefan and I loved our time in the desert, and you and the whole team look after us so well.
It was one of the best New Years I’ve ever had.
And of course say a big thank you to the whole team, Malfon, Said, etc.
Once again many thanks,
Kind regards,
Emma and Stefan
Dear Mohamed & Brahim:
We’ve returned from Morocco and are back in our routine. But I want to thank you both – and Mubarak & Baria of course – for providing such a great time for Tom & myself.
The entire trip was a real adventure for us. Tom made sure that Mohamed’s spices made it home and looks forward to re-creating one of his wonderful tajines. We will never be able to duplicate Mubarak’s sand bread though. More than any one event, I want to thank you for your hospitality – everyone we met made us feel welcome. Best wishes to you and your families.
Please remember us to Mubarak and Baria – these two men will not be forgotten.
Kind regards. Jim Monjot.
Back in London now after a great and relaxing time in Fes!
Thanks again for a great trip – we all had a fantastic time.
Hope to see you again some time!
Best Regards to you and Nordin!
Dear Brahim,
We are so happy we finally had the time to take Friedel on her recommendation to see the real Morocco with Brahim.
We loved the desert and so appreciate your patience and thoughtfulness in answering our many questions. We have been introduced to the cultures of the desert and the Kasbah and will be back for more. Surely this can not be the last time we tell stories around the campfire and play games. Your hospitality knows no bounds. Thank you for welcoming us as Friedel’s friends.
Ashley and Oliver, USA
Brahim – From across the globe I could feel that, as you say, we are in the same river and during our magical adventure we discovered even more how true that is. Many many thanks for sharing your world, history, environment and warm heart with us. Truly we shall not forget this wonderful experience. I know we have more experiences to share, stories to tell. Wishing you only good things.
With love and friendship – Melissa USA
Brahim is a rock star!
I’m here in Morocco for the very first time (and it will not be my last!!) all the way from the Big Apple: New York City. The highlight of the trip has been the days spent with Brahim and his amazing team, Mohamed and Omar. We saw incredible sights, learned many, many things, always feeling safe and good like one of the family. When I decide to come back to Morocco, the very first thing I will do is email Brahim – and I’ll plan the trip from there. See You in NYC Brahim; I am a great guide there.
Annetta, USA
Dear Brahim,
Thank you for the amazing trip yesterday.
We went by 4×4 wheel drive to Chigaga to see the sun go down and the moon rise in the Sahara.
It was very beautiful and will be remembered in our heart and mind.
Brahim is a very nice guide who can tell about the surroundings and is very involved with the well being of the population.
See you in Europe or Morocco or somewhere around the world
Inshallah.
From The Netherlands (Amsterdam)