Ousaadi desert apartments

We paid $60 per night, but this trip wasn’t worth more than $20. The service was poor, the rooms at the desert camp were dirty, and the food was very disappointing. Dinner was an average tagine meant for six people, and breakfast was poor quality black coffee. The prices were far too high. I had a very bad experience and don’t recommend this agency.

I was here just a few weeks ago, and I’d tell people to stay away. The previous positive reviews seem fake, or possibly written by someone who works there to lift the poor rating. The place was badly maintained, staff were rude, and it didn’t feel like an authentic desert stay. The camels also appeared to be treated unethically. The cleaning was awful. Sand and hair covered sheets that looked like they hadn’t been changed in a while, there was a dead bug on the dining table, and the tablecloth was dirty. The camp had two toilets for everyone. One didn’t work, and the only working one had a broken seat. There was no hand soap in that bathroom, which felt especially inconsiderate during the corona situation. The separate “luxury” camp across the way wasn’t much better than the standard one, apart from having bed frames, but at least its bathroom had soap. All the staff were men, and they were rude and unprofessional. The man in a red dress and white Turban, who seemed to run the camp, was particularly unpleasant. He shouted and called people by their country of origin, or where he assumed they were from. Some staff kept asking the women in our group out, which was completely inappropriate and made us uncomfortable. One man who looked over 30 tried to persuade a 19-year-old in our group to stay up past midnight to keep him company and asked for her contact details. The meals were poor and the portions tiny. We got pasta with a side salad, overcooked tajine with a small piece of chicken that was mostly bone, then very thin slices of apple and orange with cinnamon. They played drums around the fire for about half an hour in the evening. After that they put on a speaker with what I thought was trashy Arabic pop, and at one point reggaetón. The camels didn’t look well cared for. They were kicked in the legs to make them stand or sit, and didn’t seem to get groomed or cleaned. Four or five were chained together the entire time, even while resting in the evening, and used only to carry guests between the city and camp. It was upsetting to hear them scream when they were kicked. My travel agency, Feel & Trek, organized the stay as part of a package, so I had no other option. I don’t recommend them either. A man who joined only for the camp told me he paid 480 MAD, about 50 USD, which is far too much for the service and accommodation.

Hassan was the one bright spot. He was so kind and seemed almost embarrassed by the condition of the camp. The rest of the experience was awful: we arrived in freezing wind and were given cold tea, followed by a military camp-style rundown of the programme. The owner and staff were super rude and tried to herd us into a shared tent like cattle. The beds were like concrete, and I got food poisoning from the tiny bits of chicken we had to share among ten people. Vegetarians were seated at a different table and got an egg instead of chicken scraps. The shower had to be shared with the whole camp and came with no towels. The toilets were unhygienic.

Avoid this place. When we asked to move to another camp, the manager and staff were dismissive and rude. They wouldn’t even give us the other camp’s name and location so we could arrange transport ourselves. Everything was really dirty. The sheets had big stains, and when I asked for a change, the staff acted as if they didn’t understand what the problem was. The sheets seemed to have been washed and dried in unhygienic conditions, and the light switch was almost black with dirt. There was one public toilet for more than 10 houses, with no soap and a flush that didn’t work. The food wasn’t authentic and was mostly carbs, plain pasta, rice and potato, with barely visible pieces of chicken. A traumatising experience.