Guide in Morocco

My husband, Shayne, and I had a very enjoyable 3-week trip to Morocco with Overseas Adventure Travel (Cambridge, MA; 800/221-0814, www.oattravel.com) in October ’06. We took their “Morocco Sahara Odyssey” plus the Essaouira and Casablanca extension.

We paid approximately $2,700 each for the main trip, which included economy air from New York (JFK), plus $700 each for the 5-night pretrip to Essaouira and Casablanca.

The main trip included 10 nights in hotels, three nights in private tented camps in the Sahara, one internal flight from Marrakesh to Casablanca, all land transportation and 37 meals. We visited Casablanca, Rabat, Volubilis, Meknes, Fez, Tinerhir, Rissani, Todra Gorge, Dades Gorge, Ouarzazate and Marrakesh.

We highly recommend our guide, Abdellatif El Mfarrej (phone 212 61 80 42 48 or e-mail latifguide@hotmail.com), who goes by “Latif.” In addition to leading group tours, he also leads, in English and Spanish, private tours of any length in Marrakech and all other areas of Morocco.

For one to four people, he charges $50 a day for sightseeing in Marrakech and $110 a day outside Marrakech. He also can arrange transportation and hotels. We’ve never had a guide work harder to make the trip comfortable and enjoyable. He even entertained the group in his own home. We always felt very safe and learned so much from him.

JOYCE GAD

Cary, NC