Is Morocco good for nature lovers?

Nature lovers are often surprised by how much landscape Morocco squeezes into a single country — I cover deserts, mountains, forests and two coastlines on the same trips. In one week you can stand among 150-metre dunes at Erg Chebbi and, a few days later, be hiking beneath the snow line of the High Atlas. The contrast is the whole point: this is North Africa's most geographically generous country, and the transitions between zones are dramatic and quick.

The mountains are the backbone. The High Atlas around the Toubkal massif gives serious walkers North Africa's highest peak and gentler valleys like the Ourika and Aït Bougmez reward those who just want green terraces, walnut groves and Berber villages. North of Fes, the cedar forests of the Middle Atlas around Azrou shelter troops of Barbary macaques — Africa's only macaque — and in spring the meadows fill with wildflowers. The Dades and Todra gorges cut sheer red canyons that climbers and walkers both love.

Then there is the water people do not expect in a country famed for desert. The Ouzoud waterfalls drop over a hundred metres in tiers you can swim beneath; the Atlantic coast at Essaouira and Taghazout draws surfers and windsurfers to long empty beaches; and the Sous-Massa and Merja Zerga wetlands are major stops on the migratory bird flyway, where flamingos, ibis and even the rare bald ibis gather. The desert itself is alive at the right season, with fennec foxes, lizards and astonishing night skies.

My honest planning advice: chase the seasons. Spring (March to May) is the sweet spot — wildflowers in the valleys, comfortable hiking, peak bird migration. Autumn brings the clearest desert skies for stargazing. Summer is punishing inland but glorious on the windy Atlantic coast, and winter puts real snow on the Atlas. Tell me which landscapes move you most and I build the route around them rather than trying to cram all of them into too few days.