North Africa Tours in April 2027

Morocco is a fantastic country and I truly enjoyed experiencing the culture and people. The trip itself had some great activities and add-on experiences (such as riding buggies in the Sahara and horse back riding). I feel like the actual itinerary for the trip is poor in that it leaves less time to experience each city and it mostly filled with driving every day. We spent so much time just traveling between cities we hardly spent much time in each place, only to maybe look at one attraction or eat one meal before either moving on or going to bed to drive out early the next morning. It is advertised in the itinerary that there is one long driving day (about 7-8 hours). This trip took over 10 hours total from point A to point B, and was followed 2 days later by another full driving travel day of ~7 hours. There was also little no free time for exploring or individual experiences on this trip, which is abnormal for most Contiki experiences and most of the travelers were very unhappy with this. I personally am a veterinarian (with a specialty interest in zoo/wildlife), and one of the reasons I was excited and supportive of the included camel ride experience is because Contiki's prior trip details come with a PSA advertising that they only use humane animal-welfare based companies and that the camels in this experience were humanely treated and regularly see a veterinarian. After being there in person, I can say this is false advertising and alarmingly untrue. This specific company (like most in this area) neglect their animals and leave the camels sitting out in the Sahara sun all day with no access to water. They are covered in dirt, urine, and feces and look so poor and underfed. I walked up to immediately notice a large corneal ulcer (extremely painful) in the eye of my camel and the eye was watering and the camel grinding its teeth in pain. The camels remain ******* so closely together they can barely walk in a line and are being dragged/trying not to be kicked while walking. At the end I asked one of the men if the camels regularly saw a veterinarian (I knew the answer), and he laughed loudly and said "Animal doctor? No." I was severely bothered by this experience and it ruined what was supposed to be one of the best days on the trip. During the last extended 5 day portion of the trip, our van broke down and we were stranded for hours, only to barely make it to the hotel and then be stranded for the day. With 2 travel days and 3 to sightsee on this portion, we lost 2 of the 3 sightseeing days and barely experienced anything (this portion added almost $1000 to the trip total) at all in this section. I was overall underwhelmed with the trip and would recommend doing the 10-day Morocco trip if you plan to go at all. I still had fun with the amazing people and our tour guides and bus drivers saved the trip. They were the best. <3

Vehicle broke down numerous times to our one destination. Contiki allowed a tour to happen during Eid when everything was closed for a few days. Tour guide did not take us on many optional tours that were offered. Found the only redeeming part about this trip was the Agafay Desert. We barely left to do any activities from our hotel.

The locations that we visited were interesting but there were many times we were given so many facts. For me it was too much but for others on the tour it was probably perfect. There were times when I wanted to just absorb the surroundings not have continual commentary. The tour vehicle and driver were very good. Accommodation was of good standard. In Kairouan time was wasted going to a carpet place. Travellers on Explore holidays would have probably seen these before in other countries and so I found that unnecessary. Our time would have been better spent being able to wander around Kairouan itself. Seeing the camel walking around in that restrictive area in the the mill in Kairouan was distressing and I thought that should not be included in an Explore tour. I appreciated very much going to the Sahara. That was a highlight. I appreciated that there was birthday cake provided there for three of us that had birthday’s during the tour and that was a good thing. The tour guide could have probably acknowledged our birthday with each of us privately on our birthdays. The optional tour going out on the 4WD desert activities I was enjoying immensely but a person from the tour in the vehicle that was uncomfortable with the driving . The activity should be explained fully before people sign up for it as to what it will entail. The driver was not at fault. The company who runs these activities believes that people have signed off on the actitvity. I found that the Explore Leader spoke to at least me and another female member of the tour in an aggressive and condescending manner. This I never saw happen to any of the males on the tour.

The hotels were somewhat hit and miss - I think the Novotel in Constantine was the worst. Rochdi is a great tour guide - a wealth of knowledge that he delivers with ease and clarity. You don't get much time in Algiers on the tour - we were fortunate in a late night flight back on the final day so had an extra day in the city. We could have done with one more day in Algiers to really explore the Kasbah and the port and other bits. Would have also liked more mosques in the itinerary. We went independently to Djamaa el Djazair and it would have been 10x more efficient and valuable had it been in the company of our tour leader. Should be added to the itinerary in my opinion. Highlights were Constantine, Timgad, and Djemila.

Outstanding guide and trip itinerary near perfect, but with a few areas for improvement. There is a limit to how many souks you need to see. Fez in particular felt like one too many - very little new learnt in over an hour. Generally, I could have done with a lot more history, both cultural and political. The last 3 days were a disappointment in the sense that there was very little of interest beyond the mountains themselves and included a very long transfer. At least a day should have had a distinct focus.

The tour leader, Soumia, isn't just a great professional. She is an amazing human being. What a blessing to meet someone so caring, who really loves what is doing. She made all the difference introducing her country with love, kindness, respect and pride.