There is a version of Saharan travel most people already know: the coach, the camel, the staged tea. Motor Adventures is not selling that. The Sahara Experience is an off-road expedition across southern Morocco, run for people who would rather drive the desert than be driven through it.

The choice of machine is yours. Motorcycles for those who want the desert coming at them unfiltered; buggies for something faster and more forgiving; 4x4s for travellers who like their horizon through a windscreen. Whichever you pick, the routes are built around terrain that conventional operators don't attempt, and the aim throughout is to reach parts of the desert that ordinarily stay out of reach.

Motor Adventures

What makes it work is the logistics, which are considerable and largely invisible. Guides who know the ground rather than the route. Planning thorough enough that the desert can feel spontaneous. The journey starts in Marrakech and runs south over mountain passes, dry riverbeds and remote pistes to the great dunes of Erg Chebbi, before turning back for the return leg.

The accommodation is the part that surprises people. This is expedition travel that returns you each evening to somewhere genuinely worth arriving at, which is not how this kind of trip usually goes.

It is a demanding trip, deliberately. But the demands are the point. The Sahara rewards people who go far enough into it, and Motor Adventures is built around getting you further than you'd manage alone.

THE DETAILS

The Sahara Experience with Motor Adventures starts from €3,650pp. Motorcycle, buggy and 4x4 options available.

For itineraries and dates, visit www.motoradventures.com/sahara-experience, email hello@motoradventures.com or follow @motoradventuresafrica