Piste de la Vallée du Draa — Zagora to M’Hamid el Ghizlane via the Draa River Palmeries and Erg Chegaga Gateway

The Draa is Morocco’s longest river, and below Zagora it loses its paved skin entirely. The piste south follows the true right bank of the river through a near-continuous ribbon of ancient palmeries — Tamegroute, Tagounite, Oulad Driss — before the valley chokes out into hammada gravel plains and delivers you to M’Hamid el Ghizlane, the last town before the dunes. Tamegroute’s green-glazed pottery and the 17th-century library of the Nasiriyya zawiya are two kilometers off-route and worth every minute. South of Tagounite the track splits into multiple braids across flat gravel desert, GPS is more useful than signage, and sand drifts begin creeping onto the track year-round. The final 15 km into M’Hamid runs over mixed sand and compacted gravel with one serious sandy section just before the palm groves.

A high-clearance 4WD is sufficient on the main piste in dry conditions, but the sandy approach to M’Hamid warrants reduced tyre pressures. This is not a technical route — the challenge is navigation and heat management. Summer temperatures exceed 48°C and the route is best run October through March. Fuel is available in Zagora and M’Hamid; carry 20 litres extra as a buffer. Water should be treated — rely on sealed bottles from Zagora. No permits are required for the piste itself, but Erg Chegaga day-runs beyond M’Hamid require a local guide by practice and by logic. The reward is one of the most intact pre-Saharan landscapes in North Africa, and you’ll share it with almost nobody.