8-Day Northern Wetlands & Middle Atlas Birding Tour: Rabat to Fes

Your driver-guide meets you at Rabat-Salé Airport or Rabat Agdal station and takes you to your accommodation in the capital.

If time allows, you walk along the Bou Regreg estuary below the Kasbah of the Udayas, where gulls, terns, Little Egrets and waders gather on the mudbanks at low tide, and Common Bulbuls and Sardinian Warblers sing in the gardens.

The evening is free in Rabat, and your guide goes through the plan for the northern wetlands and the Middle Atlas.

North of Rabat you stop at Sidi Bou Ghaba, a freshwater lake behind the dunes at Mehdia. It is one of the best sites in Morocco for Marbled Duck and Red-knobbed Coot, with Western Swamphen in the reeds and Brown-throated Martins over the water.

Continuing north through farmland and cork oak country, you look for Black-shouldered Kite, Montagu's Harrier in spring and Zitting Cisticola along the way.

In the afternoon you reach Moulay Bousselham, a fishing village beside the great lagoon of Merja Zerga, and check in for two nights. At dusk the fields around the lagoon are worth watching for Marsh Owl.

A full day at Merja Zerga, a large tidal lagoon and one of the most important wetlands in North Africa for wintering waterbirds. Local boatmen offer trips on the lagoon, a good way to approach the flocks of Greater Flamingos, Eurasian Spoonbills and waders.

From the shore you scan for Audouin's Gull, Caspian and Sandwich Terns, Ospreys and herons, while the surrounding fields hold larks, pipits and harriers. In winter the numbers of ducks and waders can be impressive.

In the evening you return to the edge of the marsh to watch for Marsh Owl, which hunts low over the fields at dusk. Dinner and the night are in Moulay Bousselham.

After a last look at the lagoon you drive inland across the farmland of the Gharb, where White Storks nest on poles and minarets, towards the imperial city of Meknes.

Climbing into the Middle Atlas, you stop at Dayet Aoua, a lake surrounded by woods, good for Ruddy Shelduck, Great Crested Grebe and Red-knobbed Coot, with Booted Eagles over the forest edge.

In the late afternoon you reach Ifrane, a mountain town at about 1,650 metres, and check in to your hotel.

A day among the lakes and forests of the Middle Atlas. In the morning you visit Dayet Ifrah and the marshy lake of Aguelmame Afenourir, where Ruddy Shelduck, Black-necked Grebe, Ferruginous Duck and Red-knobbed Coot can be found, and Marsh Harriers quarter the reeds.

In the afternoon you walk in the cedar forest near Azrou, home of the Barbary macaque. Between April and August this is the place to look for Atlas Pied Flycatcher, alongside Levaillant's Woodpecker, Firecrest, Short-toed Treecreeper, Coal Tit and Hawfinch.

You return to Ifrane for a second night.

Crossing the high volcanic plateau around Timahdite, you scan the open grassland for Long-legged Buzzard, Northern Wheatear and larks.

Further south, the stony Zeida plains are one of the best places in Morocco for Dupont's Lark, a shy bird best heard and seen at dawn or in the early evening. The steppe also holds Temminck's and Lesser Short-toed Larks, Red-rumped Wheatear and, sometimes, Cream-coloured Courser.

You spend the night in Midelt, a small town below the long ridge of Jbel Ayachi.

An early return to the Zeida plains gives a second chance for Dupont's Lark, which sings most at first light.

Driving north, you stop again in the cedar forest near Azrou for any woodland species you have not yet seen, such as Atlas Pied Flycatcher or Levaillant's Woodpecker, and to see the Barbary macaques.

In the afternoon you descend to Fes, where White Storks nest on the old walls, and check in to your riad in the medina.

The tour ends with a relaxed morning in Fes. From the roof terrace of your riad you may see White Storks, Common Swifts and Pallid Swifts circling over the old city.

Take a final walk in the medina or relax over breakfast and go through your list of the trip with your guide.

When it is time to leave, your driver takes you to Fes-Saïss Airport, half an hour from the medina, or to Fes railway station.