Itinerary Morocco, Per Klunderud group - KNoK 29th of February – 10th of March 2020. Day 1 Arrival Saturday 29.02 – Marrakech – Hotel Aurocher/Oukaïmeden Marrakech airport - arrival flight time with Norwegian (DY1698) from Oslo to Marrakech 16:50pm. About 1-1.5 hours for checking out luggage, passport, exchange of money etc. Meeting with our driver of the bus, Mohamed Ouddou, at the airport. Staying overnight in the High Atlas mountains near Oukaïmeden, 70 km. We will see Spotless Starling as we leave Marrakech and the hotel area is a good site for Levaillant's Woodpecker, Grey Wagtail, African Blue Tit, European Serin and African subspecies of Common Chaffinch Fringilla coelebs africana. Hotel Aurocher Oukaïmeden http://www.aurocher.com/ D 2 Sunday 01.03 Visit Oukaïmeden – High Atlas - Ouarzazate - Skoura - El-Kelaa M’Gouna - Boumalne Dades After breakfast, we drive up to the Oukaïmeden alpine mountain area (and village) searching for Rock Dove, African Crimson-winged Finch, Alpine Accentor, Black Wheatear, Red billed Chough, Alpine Chough, Blue Rock Thrush, Rock Bunting and Atlas Horned Lark, among others. Afterwards a long drive (350 km) leaving Oukaïmeden, stop at Ourika plain for Barbary Partidge, passing over the famous Tizi-n-Tichka pass (2,260 m.a.s.l.). Heading for Boumalne Dades via Ouarzazate, visit Skoura and The Rose City, El-Kelaa. Stops by the road for birding and scenery, including Corn Bunting. Common Bulbul is common in most vegetated areas. 2 nights: Dinner and accommodation at La Kasbah de Dades near centre of Boumalne. https://kasbahdedades.com/ D 3 Monday 02.03 Full day Tagdilt Track and surroundings Today we will start a bit early, to head to the Tagdilt Track. This is without doubt one of the top areas for birding in Morocco. Excellent chances for Red-rumped Wheatear, Thekla Lark, Greater Hoopoe Lark, Temminck's Lark, Short-toed Lark, Trumpeter Finch, Black-bellied Sandgrouse, Cream-coloured Courser, Long-legged Buzzard and the highly nomadic Thick- billed Lark. At the second part of the day we will visit a rocky canyon – Wadi Imider -, searching for Western Mourning Wheatear (Maghreb Wheatear), Desert Lark and "GAYUIN" - Pharaoh Eagle Owl. Here the people live in caves with flocks of sheep and goats. (Remark: Gayuin is the name of Pharaoh Eagle Owl in the Barbary language, and also the company name of Brahim.) D 4 Tuesday 03.03 Boumalne Dadès, Alnif, Rissani, Erg Chebbi/Auberge Dunes D'or A possiblity for some birding in Tagdilt Track (if we miss some specie), before leaving in direction of the desert and Erg Chebbi, via Alnif and Rissani. Some 250 km by good roads. Stopping for birding, lunch and scenery. Dinner and accommodation for 3 nights in a very nice Kasbah hotel at the edge of Erg Chebbi sand dunes, Kasbah/Auberge Dunes D'or http://kasbahdunesdor.com/index.php/en/ D 5 Wednesday 04.03 and D 6 Thursday 05.03 Desert areas, - Erg Chebbi & Rissani One of the highlights of the trip will be the 2 full days spent near and into the Sahara desert for birding, trekking and visiting nomads of Erg Chebbi; the largest dune system in Morocco which makes for a spectacular backdrop for some high quality birding. Brown-necked Raven, Saharan Scrub Warbler, Greater Hoopoe Lark, Desert Sparrow, African Desert Warbler, Fulvous Babbler, Bar-tailed Lark, Spotted Sandgrouse, Cream-coloured Courser, Lanner 1 Falcon and hopefully wintering Tristram’s Warbler as well as migrating Subalpine Warbler and Iberian Chiffchaff. Also good chances for more views of "GAYUIN" Pharaoh Eagle Owl, roosting at daytime. D 7 Friday 06.03 Erg Chebbi – Tissint We leave the desert, heading SW towards the coast. Several stops en route for birding. Arriving to our hotel in Tissint (about 500 km), for one night. Staying in Kasbah Tissint - https://kasbah-tissint-ma.book.direct/ Near to Tissint village we will search for Lichtenstein's Sandgrouse and Rock Martin. D 8 Saturday 07.03 Tissint - Massa Continuing our trip west, ending up in Massa (350 km) at the Atlantic sea front. As we drive through the Sous Valley we make stops for Black-winged Kite, Pallid Swift, Moussier’s Redstart, Black-crowned Tchagra, Maghreb Magpie and Cirl Bunting. The area is renowned for the tree-climbing goats feeding on the fruits of argan trees. We will see them from the road, probably with good chances of photos. We stay for 2 nights at our hotel, Residence Fanti, close to Sous-Massa National Park. https://residence-fanti-ma.book.direct/ D 9 Sunday 08.03 Coastal areas, Oued Massa Oued Massa is one of the most popular sites with visiting birdwatchers in Morocco with good chances of Bald Ibis (which we may have seen already near our hotel), Ruddy Shelduck, Western Cattle Egret, Eurasian Stone-curlew, Kentish Plover, Alpine Swift, European Bee- eater, Zitting Cisticola, Cetti’s Warbler, Black-crowned Tchagra, European Stonechat and with some luck European Turtle Dove. We have already seen House Bunting, but at Oued Massa we have chances of really good observations. If we have time we make a short drive to Douar Sidi Ali where Brown-throated Martin breeds. D 10 Monday 09.03 Oued Sous - Marrakech En route to Marrakech we visit Oued Sous, a magnificent estuary with lots of birds of exceptional variety. We will look for Greater Flamingo, Little Egret, Black-winged Stilt, Yellow-legged Gull, Gull-billed Tern, Sandwich Tern, Great Spotted Cuckoo, Moustached Warbler and Sardinian Warbler as well as Woodchat Shrike, Subalpine Warbler and Iberian Chiffchaff on migration. Possibly we will also find Marbled Duck and Mediterranean Gull. In late afternoon, we reach the highly fascinating town of Marrakech. Accommodation in Marrakech, Palais al bahja hôtel & spa https://www.palaisalbahja.com/ After hotel check-in we make a short visit to the famous Jemaa el-Fna Square in the old city of Marrakech’s medina quarter, UNESCO listed World Heritage. Here we may be entertained by street musicians, artists, fortune tellers, storytellers (if your Arabian is that good), snake- charmers (which probably do not stand up to Norwegian animal rights laws) and the occasional House Bunting. There are several nice restaurants in the area. D 11 Tuesday 10.03 Marrakech airport – Norway/Sweden/Spain Breakfast at the hotel, and searching for Little Swift and Pallid Swift outside. Transfer to the airport, where we have our flight to Copenhagen at 11:35. PØK version 29.10.2019 2 .