What are Morocco's natural wonders?

The wonder that defines Morocco is the Sahara, and it has two great faces. Erg Chebbi near Merzouga gives you the classic 150-metre golden dunes, while the more remote Erg Chigaga beyond M’hamid is wilder and emptier for those who want fewer footprints. Standing on a dune ridge at dawn, watching the wind redraw the sand, is the closest thing to a natural cathedral I know in this country.

Then there are the gorges, carved by rivers cutting through the High Atlas. Todra Gorge is the showpiece — a shallow stream threading between sheer red walls that rise 300 metres and narrow to ten metres apart, so you walk the canyon floor with the sky as a slot above you. The Dades Gorge nearby, with its famous switchback road and the "monkey fingers" rock formations, is a slower, sweeping kind of beauty.

The mountains themselves are a wonder people underestimate. Jebel Toubkal is North Africa’s highest peak at 4,167 metres, snow-capped well into spring, and even a day among the Berber villages and walnut terraces around Imlil shows you a green, alpine Morocco that surprises everyone. Add the Ouzoud waterfalls dropping 110 metres in three tiers with rainbows in the spray, and the Akchour falls and pools in the Rif, and you have proper water-and-rock drama.

I always finish with the gentler wonders. The cedar forests near Azrou hide Barbary macaques in cool mountain air. The Atlantic coast at Legzira once had its famous stone arches and still has dramatic red cliffs and surf, while Essaouira’s windswept bay is all crashing waves and seabirds. What makes Morocco rare is the compression: you can stand in snow in the morning and watch the sun set over Saharan sand the same evening.