With a good safety record, a great tourism infrastructure and easy access from Europe, Morocco is the most-visited African country by tourists. For birders there are a good number of North-West African (Maghreb) specials on offer and the charismatic Northern Bald Ibis is a major birding highlight. Although overall diversity is fairly low, Morocco offers access to many desert birds that are hard to see elsewhere.
We visit all key birding sites in Morocco, starting off in the high Atlas Mountains where African Crimson-winged Finch and Moussier’s Restart occur. From there we descend to the southern coast around Tamri, where the fantastic Northern Bald Ibis breeds. Having passed the western side of the Atlas Mountains we travel east through the rain shadow along the deserts of southern Morocco, visiting the famous sand deserts of Merzouga/Erfoud area where we hope to find Egyptian Nightjar, Desert Sparrow, African Desert Warbler, Crowned Sandgrouse, Spotted Sandgrouse, Pharaoh Eagle-Owl and Streaked Scrub Warbler. In the Atlas foothills we look for Dupont’s Lark and Tristram’s Warbler, before searching for Atlas Pied Flycatcher and Levaillant’s Woodpecker in the coniferous in the Ifrane area. The tour ends in Casablanca, with our final stop at the wetlands of Sidi Bourhaba to look for White-headed Duck.