Erg Chegaga

Erg Chegaga is the largest dune field in Morocco, a vast expanse of sand ridges and ergs stretching across roughly 40 kilometres of desert 50 kilometres west of M'Hamid. The dunes rise to over 100 metres and are more imposing and less visited than the more famous Erg Chebbi near Merzouga. The night skies here are extraordinary — the absence of light pollution produces a Milky Way that looks almost artificial.

Getting to Chegaga requires a 4x4 or a camel trek of two to three days. Most visitors arrange an overnight trip through agencies in M'Hamid — the standard package includes a camel for part of the journey, a camp in the dunes, dinner and breakfast, and a return by 4x4. The experience of sleeping in the open desert with nothing around you in any direction is genuinely memorable and worth the considerable effort and cost of getting there.

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A story
Erg Chegaga remained almost entirely unknown to tourists until the late 1990s, when the better-known Erg Chebbi near Merzouga began to feel crowded and a handful of guides started bringing small groups here instead. Word spread slowly — deliberately slowly, among guides who understood that the place's value lay precisely in its emptiness. Even today, on a given night, there may be a handful of camps scattered across a dune field the size of a European city-state.

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