Explore Morocco from Kasbahs to Endless Dunes(2025)

In this episode of The Design Tourist, host Karen LeBlanc ventures beyond Marrakech on a three-day journey to the edge of the Sahara Desert. Along the way, she travels through the High Atlas Mountains, marvels at the red-rock canyons of the Dades Gorge and Todra Gorge, and explores the ancient ksar of Aït Benhaddou, a UNESCO World Heritage site famous as a Hollywood film location. Karen meets artisans practicing traditional crafts—from fire painters who use saffron and indigo pigments revealed by flame, to Berber carpet weavers preserving centuries-old textile traditions. She also learns how Berber and Bedouin communities have coexisted for generations, blending their languages, customs, and ways of life. The adventure culminates in Merzouga, where Karen rides a camel caravan across the towering dunes of Erg Chebbi, experiences a luxury desert camp, stargazes under the unpolluted Saharan sky, and joins Berber musicians in a night of song and dance around the fire. Through landscapes as cinematic as any film set and encounters with Morocco’s indigenous traditions, this journey reveals the mystical beauty and enduring culture of the Sahara.