Every now and then we get requests for a desert hike in June, July or August. And every now and then people are totally surprised when I say no.
But seriously, it can get as hot as 40-48 degrees here and even at night it doesn’t cool down below 35 degrees. Even night hikes are not a serious option.
I wouldn’t even recommend a round trip from Marrakech with a stop in the desert during the summer months. It’s just no fun here and I’m not a fan of tents with air conditioning (it’s better not to go to the desert than to sit in a tent with air conditioning). And there are so many beautiful places in Morocco that are great to visit in summer.
Also, we can’t and don’t want to be responsible for ensuring that our guests can cope with the heat. I travel to Germany and Essaouira every summer to escape the heat here in Merzouga. It’s exhausting enough if you don’t move. I can’t guarantee that it’s enough to drink loads to avoid heatstroke. On many routes there is no shade for hours. And it would take hours for a car to arrive and hours more to get to the hospital. We simply can’t take that risk.
Food tends to go off within hours in the heat, fruit and vegetables don’t keep. And there are no shops en route. This means you would have to live more or less on bread and oil, and the bread would have to be baked fresh every day.
The locals don’t like walking in this weather either and we wouldn’t find a camel man or cook. The accommodation that we like to use for shorter tours is closed in summer.
It is simply impossible to organise such a tour in summer.
And, probably the most discouraging argument for most people: snakes and scorpions are very active in summer. There is a relatively high risk of actually encountering one and possibly being bitten/stung. You can read more about the “dangers of the desert” here.
