Morocco

Bou Inania Medersa
It seems that only when we finally stood on the African continent did our overland journey begin. We took the ferry from Algeciras in Spain to Ceuta (a Spanish enclave in Africa) a 35 minute trip across the Mediterranean Sea. We watched Europe disappear over the Northern horizon as Africa appeared on the southern horizon. We went through customs with absolutely no problems or hassles, the Moroccan officials were helpful and friendly.

We headed for Chefchaouen, a little town where we planned to spend our first night in Morocco.

Lady in Fes al Bali Medina

RAIN IN MOROCCO

As we pitched the tent it began to rain hard so we headed for a restaurant to have a celebration Moroccan meal. We were early and the only patrons, after a delicious meal, Tom left to return to the car. I sat in the listening to the rain fall when suddenly there were screams and 2 men working in the restaurant began to fight, I watched as the one tried to strangle the other, women came screaming, joining in the melee and separated the 2 men. "Welcome to Morocco," I thought.

Leather Shoes
The next morning we headed into Chefchaouen town and wandered through the medina, everything was quiet and many stores closed because it is Ramadan. We did not linger too long as we had to head to Fez. We planned to drive the notorious route via Ketama, known as the “wild frontier of Morocco” as the area is one of the world’s largest suppliers of hashish. The drive itself was beautiful crossing the Rif Mountains, with plunging cliffs, forests and little villages. We were told we would be hassled to buy hashish and that had to be the understatement of the day. It was relentless, we were chased by men on motorbikes, cutting in front of us, tailing us; we were chased by men in cars, every corner we were waved to stop. It became quite nerve wracking on the mountainous roads and we were pleased when finally after several hours the road straightened and we were close to Fes.

We had the GPS coordinates of the campsite in Fes but heading into a city can be challenging without an actual map. But as we entered Fes a man on a motorbike waved us down, and asked us where we were going. He told us to follow him and we did weaving our way through the traffic to the other side of the city and the campsite.

FES, LIGHTENING AND RAIN

Tanneries at Fes
We met some wonderful British travelers at the campsite in Fes who invited us to join them on a tour of the amazing Medina city of Fes el Bali. Fes is the oldest of Morocco's imperial cities and has been declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO. The Medina is a maze of narrow passageways, crowded by people, donkeys carrying supplies, shoppers and shopkeepers. We weaved our way through the passages, following our guide at times struggling to keep up and make our way through the throngs of people. Making it extra tough on my thighs was the fact that all passageways are on a slope so that the water drains, so it is uphill, then downhill then side hill, nowhere is it flat. Can't complain it is good exercise to compensate for the long hours of driving.

Donkeys have the right of way, and the owners yell, "Balaka" to warn people to get out of the way of the donkey. Children cry, men hustle us to buy, and the sounds of prayer drift from the many mosques.

The shopkeeper selling Berber carpets tried to entice us to buy, with offers of mint tea, the spice shopkeeper tempted us with the delightful aromas of all his spices, the metal worker demonstrated his skills, the weaver wrapped a scarf around my head and tried to convince me I needed it to protect me from the sun and the nougat man got his sale.

We visited the Bou Inania Medersa, absolutely magnificent and if you see only one thing in Fes it has to be this. We visited the tanneries and watched in amazement at the men working in the large vats of dye. It was a fascinating day.

As we made supper that evening we watched as the most intense and largest lightening storm either of us had ever witnessed approached us. It was time to pack everything into the Cruiser and not minutes later it began to rain, it was if the heavens had just opened above us, the rain was hard and heavy.

FLASH FLOODS ARE WE HAVING FUN YET?

Road to Sahara and climate change
The Moroccan pre Sahara begins as soon as one crosses the Atlas Mountains. Our drive from Fes south through the Atlas mountains was supposed to be beautiful, with wonderful gorges and a waste land of rock and scrub. The area is also reported to have over 300 cloudless days a year. The storm in Fes decided to hitch a ride with us and followed us the entire day, over 350km, washing out parts of roads, causing huge rock and gravel slides across the road, at times the water was as deep as 2 feet on the road, cars stalled and at times we had to stop as visibility was so poor. Our window screen wipers could not go fast enough, and Tom just muttered that he never thought he would need his snorkel crossing into Sahara. The campsite we were heading for had been flooded out, are we having fun yet? We just never know what the day will hold for us, but to be flooded out in Morocco we had not anticipated this one. Oh well such is life.

DUNE BUGS AND FLOODS

Atlantic Coast
We arrived at Erg Chebbi one of the great sights of Morocco, golden colour sand dunes as high as 150m in some places against the Algerian border. We drove off to explore the sand dunes and soon found ourselves alone in the world, watching the sun set over the magnificent dunes rising dramatically from the surrounding plains. We pondered on the many more dunes we would see and experience as we make our way south.

The following morning we were headed for Zagora but as we approached the turn off the police waved us down and the road was closed. But after looking at our cruiser they said we could make it if we went slowly.

Goats in Tree
It wasn’t long before we knew the reason for the road closure; a bridge was completely flooded with raging high waters swirling across it. Parked vehicles and trucks on either side, people camped out watching and waiting for the water to subside. Tom and I looked and wondered if we could really make it and I had visions of us being washed down the raging river. “We can do it” Tom announced getting back into the car. I was nervous and held my breath as we drove through the water, which was splashing up as high as my window.

TOMBOUCTOU 52 JOURS

Enjoying Ramadan Meal
The sign at the end of the street in Zagora indicated that it was 52 days by camel from here to Timbuktu if the borders were open. I am pleased we are going to Timbuktu in a Land Cruiser and not on a camel. We drove down the Draa Valley to Zagora a beautiful valley set as an oasis among the surrounding mountains. Famous for its dates we could not resist purchasing some at a roadside stall, and the dates seemed too melt in our mouths, absolutely delicious and nothing like the dates one purchases in Canada.




Wonderful Spices

I GO TO COURT

The police are relentless, stopping us for anything and everything. Arriving in Marrakech with Tom navigating, I struggled to make my way through the traffic. The light was flashing green and I slowly attempted to make my way through an intersection. But I did not make it and suddenly I was surrounded by honking cars going the other way. As soon as I was through I was pulled over by the police for an “infraction” he demanded $200.00, but Tom was not paying so the police reduced the fine to $100.00 still too much for Tom, “no paye, je aller tribunal” (I not pay, I go to court). Shaking his head he took down all my details and waved us on. I wondered if I would be able to leave Morocco without paying for my “infraction”.

Typical Transportation

TURN SOUTH

We arrived at the Atlantic coast at a pretty little village of Essaouira. It was here that we would start our long drive south down the coast line. We celebrated by having a glass of fresh orange juice, for which the area is famous, and wondered through the little medina and souk admiring the carpets, spices and other goods for sale.

WESTERN SAHARA

Finally we entered the Western Sahara, which is part of Morocco and although the war with the Polisario has ended, the area is under heavy military control. We were constantly stopped by military police who wanted all our details, including passport information, vehicle information, professional information and family information and why we were in the area. We had entered the Western Sahara knowing that we would be constantly stopped and asked for the information so we had printed off 20 copies of all the information and by day 3 we had no more copies of the “fiche”. I had to resort to writing out all the information by hand.

52 days to Timbuktu by Camel

AN OASIS IN THE DESERT

We arrived in Laayoune tired and stressed and needing a place to camp. We found the most amazing Oasis, and the owner Ahmed Mohammad a Berber, allowed us to park the cruiser in his courtyard, amongst the goats, chickens and ducks and they set up a Berber tent for us to sleep in. They showed us the source of the water and most surprising to us was how sweet tasting the water was. We slept soundly to the sounds of frogs and insects in the middle of the Sahara desert a true oasis.

Marrakech
We were up really early so as to avoid the traffic of Laayoune, but as we entered the city we discovered roads closed, and hundreds of thousands men, women and children walking towards the mosque. It was the first day after Ramadan. A sea of people, women beautiful dressed, men in their flowing garb and the sounds of prayer filled the air as everyone was called to pray. It was an amazing sight, and we were really sorry we could not photograph or video graph the scene. After an hour and several attempts of trying to detour around the mosque we were finally heading out of town.

BUGS AND LUGS

We spent our last night in Morocco at a grubby little motel at the border. Tom finished his whisky as Mauritania allows no liquor and it is illegal to bring it in. It was hot, airless, and noisy and the beds we were to discover full of bed bugs. They took a real liking to me and my souvenir from Morocco, were lots and lots of bugs bites. I look like I have a bad case of chickenpox.

Tomorrow we cross into Mauritania

Overlander information: Oases Lemseyed N27º02.480 W13º05.680 20km out of Laayoune on road towards SE. Cost 200dh

Carpets for Sale


Medina Dyes