El desierto de Agafay al atardecer

You leave Marrakech in the late afternoon and the city stops abruptly. Within half an hour the ground turns to pale grey hammada, ridged and treeless, with the Atlas rising behind it. Agafay is not sand. It is stone desert, and it holds color differently.

A camel, or a short walk out along the ridge, fills the hour before the sun drops. Then dinner on a terrace held for your party: harira, lamb from the clay oven, mint tea poured from height. Musicians play at a distance rather than at your table.

Once the light goes the temperature falls quickly and the sky opens. Bring a jacket. The drive back takes forty-five minutes. It suits travelers with one free evening and no appetite for a long day on the road.