Day 1: Cape Town - Morocco

· 07h50 Check in for your Qatar Airways flight QR581 to Doha and Casablanca.

· 09H50: Departure from Cape Town International airport with Qatar Airways. Arrive Doha at 22h20 local time and connect with QR550 to Casablanca.

· Depart Doha 01h50 and arrive in Casablanca at 08h35 the next morning

Day 2: Casablanca and Marrakech

· 08H35: Arrival at Casablanca airport

· Meet our tour guide and transfer to Casablanca

· City tour of Casablanca to include: the Hassan II mosque, Place Mohamed V, the medina (old quarters), the residential suburbs, and the Gates of Royal Palace of King Mohamed VI. Visit to local markets to see the local products and spices.

· Lunch in a seafood restaurant overlooking the Atlantic Ocean

· Transfer to our Four Star Hotel in Marrakech – Atlas Asni Hotel www.hotelsatlas.com

• Afternoon massage or footrub followed by Dinner at a typical local restaurant dining with the locals.
• Return to your hotel and overnight.

Day 3: Marrakech

· Day to explore the Moroccan kitchen: The chief in the kitchen will invite you to join him after your breakfast to a private house where your chef will show you how to prepare the midday meal. The meal usually begins with a series of hot and cold salads which are followed by a tagine, or stew. The heartiest plate, often a lamb or chicken dish, is next, followed by a heaping plate of couscous topped with meats and vegetables. A soothing cup of sweet mint tea is the grace note to this repast. It is not uncommon for Moroccans to eat using the first three fingers of a hand, and to use bread as a "utensil."

· Lunch prepare by yourself with the assistance of the chief

• In the afternoon, half day city tour of Marrakech: Dar Si Said Museum, Maison Tiskiwin and Souks with Djemaa El Fna square.

· Dinner at the hotel and overnight accommodation

Day 4: Marrakech / Atlas Mountains /Marrakech

· Breakfast at your hotel

• Your guide will call you at your hotel for a day excursion to the Atlas Mountains: Ouirgane is a village situated at 80 Km south of Marrakech. From Marrakech we take the road to Amizmiz up to the Lalla Takerkoust Dam. Then, you will be crossing the villages, Kasbahs and experience the way of life of the locals, their agriculture systems ... You are back in the sixteen century. After such an experience you will reach La Roseraie for lunch, a place you could not imagine the existence a while ago: La Roseraie is small resort at the feet of the Toubkal, set in 22 hectares of grounds and is surrounded by rose beds always in flower. The altitude of 1000m has made the Roseraie a climatic cure, always temperate, fresh in summer, gentle in winter. On the route back to Marrakech you will visit a Berber family house and have tea with them. You will also experience the way of life and their way of cooking: only demonstration of women preparing the bread and a berber tagine.
• Lunch at Kasbah Toubkal: Moroccan salads and berber tagine will be served
• You will be in Marrakech by 16h00 approximately.

· Dinner and overnight accommodation at your hotel

Day 5: Marrakech

· Breakfast at your hotel

· Full day city tour of Marrakech to include its sights and sounds:

The Ménara gardens: which cover an area of 250 acres, are planted with olive trees. The large central lake, dating from the 12^th century, is fed by a network of irrigation channels. At the water’s edge, a small Saadian pavilion, which was used for the sultan’s romantic assignations?

The Koutoubia Mosque: One of the best examples of the Hispano-Moresque art, which combines apparent simplicity with superb craftsmanship and restrained luxury. With its minaret rising 252 feet into the sky, it is certainly one of the most impressive sights in Marrakech.

El Bahia Palace: Standing in a 2-acre garden, is a haphazard arrangement of secret luxury apartments opening on to inner courtyards.

Saadien Tombs: The Saadian Tombs are one of the most visited sites in Morocco, go and visit it in order to recapture some sense of serenity and isolation. Sixty six of the Saadian, including Al Mansour and his closest family, lied buried under the two main structures, and there are over a hundred more buried outside the building

You might also visit the main mausoleum, wich is divided into three small halls. Those at either end contain tombs of children. The central one, the hall of the twelve Columns, is considered to be one of the finest examples of Moroccan-Andalusian decorative art. The elegant little mausoleum set farther in amid the gardens of the necropolis houses the tomb of Al-Mansour’s mother.

• Lunch at leisure
• In the afternoon, visit of souks & Djemaa El Fna square:

Souks: It is a riot of colour, noise and activity, a wealthy storehouse of all the treasures of this vast and varied country. You will find all the silver merchants in one corner, all the gold merchants in another, and rows of stalls selling exclusively leatherwork or copper goods or jewellery. The real fascination is to watch the craftsmen at work, gilding on leather, or inlaying with enamel the sheaths of ornate silver daggers, hammering out copper, embroidering silks or smoothing out the surface of cedar wood table.

The Djemaa El Fna square: The name literally translated is the Mosque or Assembly of death. It is taken to refer to the custom of displaying the heads of vanquished rebels or criminals, since the square is known to be a place of public execution even up to the last century. Then it has been a centre for public meetings and even riots. Today it provides constant ever-changing entertainment, which reaches its climax at sunset continues late at night. It is a square where a real image and the charm of Moroccan folklore is operating: story tellers, snake charmers, acrobats, folkloric bands. Return to hotel to freshen up.

Dinner in a local restauarant famous for its Tagines and preserved lemons.

· Return to the hotel and overnight.

Day 6: Marrakech

· Breakfast at your hotel

· Then to a Moroccan house where you will have more fun at the cooking class and cook Marrakechi dishes of the Atlas Mountains: Harira Marrakechia (Soup from Marrakech), Tangia Marrakechia (the Marrakech speciality tagine: lamb slow-baked in a clay pot)

· Lunch and time to enjoy what you prepared

· The rest of the afternoon at leisure

· Gala dinner at Kasbah Tassarouth: The «Kasbah Tassarouth» is situated 15 Km from Marrakech. It is spread over two hectares of desert land with an unimpeded outlook on the Palmgrove. Its unique style brings to mind the kasbahs and Ksours of southern Morocco. The architecture of this Kasbah is formed by ½ circle, used as an amphitheatre. Fortress tours guard jealously the Kasbah. The charm begins as soon as the bus leaves the road for a short, mysterious track signalled with crazy lights !!!

When finishing dinner and while having mint tea you will assist to the big fantasia show : horsemen wearing traditional warriors dress on horseback performing the most extraordinary acrobatic feats and firing their “moukahal” (old powder charged rifles) during a frantic gallop, all in perfect synchronisation.

· Return to your hotel and overnight accommodation.

Day 7: Marrakech

· Breakfast at your hotel

· Full day excursion to Asni: Ouirgane is a village situated at 80 Km south of Marrakech. You will then go back in time when crossing the villages, Kasbahs, the way of life of the locals, their agriculture systems ... You are back in the sixteen century. After such an experience you will reach La Roseraie, a place you could not imagine the existence a while ago. La Roseraie is small resort at the feet of the Toubkal, set in 22 hectares of grounds and is surrounded by rose beds always in flower. The altitude of 1000m has made the Roseraie a climatic cure, always temperate, fresh in summer, gentle in winter where you will have lunch… here you will also have an opportunity to visit some tea houses and spice markets. Dinner this evening in Kasbah Souk.

· Return to hotel for overnight accommodation

Day 8: Marrakech / Essaouira

· Breakfast at your hotel

· Departure to Essaouira. Visit on route some of the famous Berber souks.

· Continuation to the famous coastal town of Essaouira. Behind its purple ramparts and inside its whitewashed medina with blue doors lies a city that has been influenced by various cultures (Berber, Carthaginian, Portuguese, English, Bambara and others). It was the Jewish traders, who once formed the majority of the population, who transformed Essaouira into what became Morocco's most prosperous city in the 17th and 18th centuries. Essaouira stands on a vast bay sweeping south with miles of superb sandy beach and wooded hills dominating the skyline to the east. The fortified harbor is a hive of activity with fishing nets laid out on the quayside, boats unloading their catches, fish auctions and stalls serving seafood sizzling on grills. We will interact with the fishermen and weather permitting go fishing for our lunch.

· Lunch in a seafood restaurant

· Continuation of the city tour of Essaouira

· Dinner and overnight accommodation at your hotel

· Ryad Mogador: www.ryadmogador.com

Day 9: Essaouira

· Breakfast at your hotel

· Lunch at Chalet de La Plage: seafood restaurant

· Afternoon at leisure or enjoy a 1 hour camel riding by the beach

· Local shopping time in Essaouira to buy local handmade carpets and crafts. Afternoon visit to hubbly bubbly tea houses.

· Dinner in a local restauarant with Moroccon music and overnight accommodation at your hotel

Day 10: Essaouira

· Breakfast at your hotel

• A visit of ¾ hour in a boat which will take you to the profound of the sea of this city. You will approach the rare Birds Island. Your guide will give you some explanation and history of this exciting island. This visit in the boat will be entertained by a folkloric troop and will be served Moroccan pastries and tea. A truly wonderful experience.

· Barbecue dinner this evening under the desert stars and overnight accommodation at your hotel

Day 11: Essaouira/ Casablanca

· Breakfast at your hotel

· Morning at lesiure before check-out

· Departure to Casablanca

· Check-in at your hotel

· Dinner at a local restaurant and overnight at your hotel

· Idou Anfa: www.hotel-idouanfa.com

Day 12: Casablanca

· Breakfast at your hotel

• Excursion day to Rabat, Visit the Capital of Morocco and pottery village of Sale (At about 1 hour drive from Casablanca)

* The Kasbah of the Oudayas: Stands on the south bank of the Bou Regreg estuary. It was named after a garrison of mercenaries from the Oudaya tribe that was set up in Rabat. The Oudayas, originally from Arabia, arrived in Morocco in the 13th century.

* Hassan Tower: A minaret known as the Hassan Tower is all that remains of the mosque begun in 1196. The name Hassan (godness) was bestowed on the tower in the 14th century but the reason this was done remains a mystery. The sultan Yacoub El Mansour had ambitions to build the second-biggest mosque in the Muslim world (the largest being the Samarra mosque in Iraq) but after his death in 1199 the project was never completed.

* Mohammed V Mausoleum: Opposite the Hassan Tower the Mohammed V Mausoleum commemorates the sultan who enabled Morocco to achieve independence. It was built between 1961 and 1969 by the Vietnamese architect VO TOAN along the lines of traditional royal necropolises.

* Chellah Necropolis: From the esplanade of the Hassan Tower, the streets running through Rabat’s foreign embassy district lead to the Bab Zaer, the town’s south gate. The gate, which in turn leads to the Chellah Necropolis, was built by the Almohads in the 12th century and restored during the 18th.

· Lunch in local restaurant and continuation of the tour:

* Salé: The origins of Salé are less clear. According to some traditions, Salé was founded by Moulay Idris I at the end of the 8th century. Other traditions have it that the settlement was started by Moulay Idris II at the beginning of the 9th century. However, most historians believe that Salé was most likely first established as a tiny short-lived principality of the Berber Bani Ifrans tribe led by Amir Abou Al Kemal Temin which, within a few years was overrun and destroyed by the Almoravids. Salé is an important port with numerous industries including fish canning, cork processing, ceramics, flour milling and carpet weaving.

· Return to Casablanca by 17H00

· Gala dinner at your hotel

DAY 13: Casablanca/ Doha/Cape Town

· Early Breakfast at your hotel.

· Depart from your hotel and transfer to Casablanca airport for your

connecting Qatar Airways flight No. QR 551 to Doha. Depart 0845

Arrive Doha 1905 and transfer for our flight to Cape Town departing

at 2145.

DAY 14: Cape Town

· Arrive Cape Town International airport at 08.40 full of wonderful new

memories and experiences.

Pricing R24,995.00 per person sharing

Plus airport taxes R 1,600.00 per person

Single supplement R 2,800.00

Visa R 520.00

Business Class airfare upgrade R12,500.00 per person

Contact Jenny Morris on 083 255 3477 now!

5^th Floor matrix House

61 Bree Street

Cape Town 8001