10 Day Morocco Fossils And Minerals Tour From Casablanca

On the first day, we will warmly welcome you at Casablanca airport and transfer you to your hotel. Depending on your arrival time, you can either relax and recover from your journey or take a short tour around Casablanca to see some of its highlights. This day is all about preparing for the exciting fossil-hunting adventure ahead.

Today we will travel through the beautiful Middle Atlas Mountains, passing lush cedar forests where you may spot Barbary macaques. After a lunch stop in the forest, we continue to the Michlifen volcano, famous for its rich volcanic rocks like olivine and magma. We’ll also explore nearby Jurassic fossil sites around Timahdite, where you can find brachiopods, bivalves, and sphaeriferes. We will end the day in the city of Midelt, where we’ll stay overnight.

In the morning, we will head to the Mibladen mines, well known for their baryte, cerussite, and rare vanadinite crystals. We will also visit the historic Ahouli old mine, where old mining equipment still stands as a reminder of Morocco’s rich mining history. Later, we’ll explore Sidi Ayad to collect beautiful azurite, malachite, and fluorite specimens. We will return to Midelt in the evening for dinner and rest.

Today we will journey through the scenic Ziz Gorges, where we’ll collect Jurassic fossils such as brachiopods and bivalves. Continuing to Ziz Valley, we’ll look for Cretaceous fossils like cenomanian echinoderms and shark teeth. After a relaxing picnic in the valley, we will drive to Erfoud and then head to the magical Erg Chebbi dunes. Here, you can enjoy a camel trek and watch the sunset over the golden sand dunes before spending the night in a desert camp.

After breakfast, we will start the day by visiting the Mifis mine, once famous for its baryte and manganese deposits. We’ll then head to the Kemkem paleoriver beds, an extraordinary site rich in crocodile, fish, and dinosaur fossils. After a picnic lunch, we’ll visit Filon 12, known for vanadinite, quartz, and citrine minerals. In the afternoon, we’ll explore Devonian fossil sites to find rolled phacops trilobites before returning to Merzouga for the night.

Today we will drive north of Merzouga to collect goniatites, which are often beautifully preserved. We’ll also search for enrolled Devonian trilobites, exploring ancient fossil beds. We will have lunch in a serene desert oasis filled with palm trees, then visit the Cretaceous site of Sefsaf, where crocodile and dinosaur fossils can be found. In the evening, we return to our desert accommodation in Merzouga.

In the morning, we will head to the famous Erfoud fossil quarries to watch artisans cut large fossil slabs into decorative tables, dishes, and bookends. We will then continue to Boutchrafine mountain, a rich site for Devonian trilobites, where we can collect specimens. After a relaxing picnic under the palm trees, we will drive to the village of Alnif for dinner and an overnight stay.

This day is dedicated to exploring the fossil-rich areas around Alnif. We will visit Cambrian and Ordovician mines to search for large trilobites, such as Cambropalace and Paradoxidises. After a picnic in the desert, we will continue to Jbel Tiskaouine, where we can find flexicalymene trilobites. We will return to Alnif in the evening to rest.

Depart Alnif and drive through the scenic Draa Valley, passing palm groves, ksour, and desert landscapes. Photo stops along the way.
Arrive in Ouarzazate in the afternoon. 

Visit the UNESCO-listed Ait Ben Haddou in the morning. Continue to the Ounila Valley, stopping at the fossil sea urchin site and a traditional salt site along the river.
Drive through the High Atlas Mountains via Tizi n’Tichka Pass.Arrive in Marrakesh in the late afternoon.