Sampling Intrepid's new Premium collection on a trip to Morocco

SOCIALLY ENTERPRISING

As with other Intrepid Premium tours, the itinerary strives to champion sustainability while enriching local communities, in part through visiting community projects it supports. In Marrakech, for example, I take in a non-profit providing culinary training to disadvantaged women, while a medina tour leads me to Alnoura, where 45 women with special needs make handicrafts for sale in the association’s shop.

While touring the much-filmed desert fortress of Ait Benaddhou, I visit projects backed by local NGO WeSpeakCitizen, alongside co-founder Loubna Mouna. At Tawesna, a community-run Amazigh (Berber)-style teahouse run by local women, Mouna explains how visits here help generate much-needed income for the women and the community, before introducing the trained-up kitchen team.

Education For All, a project supported by Intrepid since 2018 that provides educational opportunities to 200 girls from rural communities – where illiteracy rates reach 80% – proves more inspiring still. It centres on a school in Ouirgane where I meet Zahra, a school alumnus who now works for Intrepid. Zahra reveals there’s healthy competition between the students on the scheme, who seize any opportunities they’re offered. “Education For All is like a family – that’s why the students get high marks all the time,” she adds.

“Zahra’s really very good – she’ll be the next GM at Intrepid!” laughs my companion Zina Bencheikh, managing director EMEA at Intrepid.

HOME COMFORTS

Bencheikh also asserts that “the best food in Morocco is at home”, so meals and music in locals’ houses feature widely on its Premium trips. I enjoy a memorable first night in Marrakech, feasting and gaining a henna hand tattoo before lumbering onto the makeshift living room dance floor as three female drummers beat out a raucous rhythm.

More active pursuits include the joyous sunrise mountain hike I take from Ouirgaine’s Chez Momo hotel, the first rays picking out the rain-carved slopes as we scramble upward to better appreciate the incredible views.

Proving more of a stretch is the wobbly, glute-busting sunset yoga session I stumble through on the hotel roof, a trauma eased by a few pre-dinner wines from the property’s well-stocked bar.

TARGET AUDIENCE

Premium’s inception owes much to agent feedback, explains Bencheikh. “Agents love us and our eco-credentials but the tours were missing that layer of comfort.” This helped Intrepid identify the opportunity for a higher-end product range containing added creature comforts, a slower pace and smallish group sizes, suited to a socially responsible audience that want to get under the skin of a destination but are willing to pay extra so they don’t have to rough it.

“We’re clear about the market we are targeting – it’s the Boomers,” Bencheikh adds.

The 70+ different Premium tours, launching next month, feature exclusive, handpicked accommodation that’s typically four- or four-and-a-half star, preferably locally owned and “[has] a story,” explains Bencheikh. Standouts on my tour include Ksar Ignda in Ouarzazate, a small pool gracing its pleasant courtyard; Chez Momo in Ouirgane, my personal favourite; and inviting Marrakech properties Riad Elegancia and Riad Nesma Suites & Spa.