Tony and Liz's Travel Adventures: MOROCCO: Todra Gorge, Ait Behhaddou and Ouarazazate

The date: 27th July, 2012 marks Day 125 of our travels (total 222) and we still have a long way to go, except now that we are over the half way point we start counting down until we go home. Sort of sad in a way!

Sunrise in the Sahara riding on camels

But on this particular day there was some hesitation from everyone with the thought of jumping back on the camels but there was no better way to see a Sahara dawn and a long slow ride back to the Auberge with:

the chill of the desert morning breeze in our faces
the sound of our camels munching on their “whatever it is they chew on”,
the shower awaiting us at the Auberge and
the grunts from our colleagues (suffering the pain of their sore bums from yesterday’s ride).

It was beautiful and I think each one of us came away in awe of the desert and some great memories!!!

Back on the AIR CONDITIONED bus, we would be off to Todra Gorge, Ait Behhaddou and to visit Ouarzazate, a UNESCO cultural site where a number of films were set including Gladiator and Prince of Persia, on the way we would drive by a couple of Movie Studios (strangely - the fronts were decorated with Egyptian themes (Mummies) at the front of the buildings. However, that aside the movie industry contributes quite handsomely to the Maroc economy and probably the most recent movie set and cast in this area was "Babel" with Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchette (a real Aussie actor).

Wikipedia - Ouarzazate

But first a diversion from the bus trip.....

Yacine/Yaseen ... June / September
Gemini with Virgo rising

You might recall in my intro for our Morocco trip that our guide Yacine went by 2 different (spelt) names and 2 birthdays, one in June and one in September. Me, being my inquisitive self, asked him how this came to be. Apparently when his birth name was registered, it should have been Yaceen, but ended up on the papers as Yacine, which he now mostly uses.

The birthdays – being born in a remote part of the country there was a delay with the registration papers being authorised and a mix-up somewhere that eventually showed his official birth date as September. Having different dates and different names doesn’t seem to be a problem here.

Our bus ride to Todre would be about 3 plus hours, and for some reason (we think it may be from the heat or lack of alcohol) Tony P (Pommie Tony), started cracking all these corny jokes. The dynamics were pretty funny because not everyone understood them. Maybe it was because of our different nationalities. Tony and Lynette were from Leiceister, UK. So if you can imagine the accents from Wallace and Gromit – Tony sounded just like that – and he would keep a straight face after the punch line. Lynette would then chide Tony about his corny jokes and they would both be having this great little banter - and both had big smiles as large as Wallace too! It was funny, and as I said, not everyone understood his jokes but “Mate, I thought you were really funny”. Maybe you need to take more holidays (or stay out of the sun, or drink more alcohol - LOL !!).

Along the way we stopped at a fossil display/exhibit where we were shown how large slabs of rock were cut, shaped and polished to make exquisite tables, sculptures and other ornaments and for a GOOD, or BETTER or the RIGHT price, they could pack and ship you a fossil table to have as a feature in your dining room.

We would find out later in our trip (to be precise - in Europe) just how famous this area is for these fossils ie. mainly Trilobites and Ammonites (Devonian period about 350 million years old).

The photo below shows one of these cut slabs with water splashed over it to show the fossils. Luckily we had expert advice at the ready because Brian was a Geologist and we could always ask him for his opinion – and we picked his brains many times on the trip because we would often see different rock formations, crystals and minerals that we just needed to test him (LOL). Some of the crystals were just so fake that even the untrained eye could tell they were not real and were dyed in different shades ie. fluoro pink, deep purple, cobalt blue and orange. Just too much on the eyes.

Fossil slab

Hotel Yasmina, with its huge picture of King Mohomed VI greeting us at reception, would be where we’d be staying overnight on our way to BenHaddou. Here in the gorge, between 2 huge rock walls was a crystal clear river running through the centre, and our hotel was on the other side of it.

Hotel Yasmina, Todre Gorge

We were just about ready to take off our shoes because we just couldn’t see the small wooden rickety bridge between us and the hotel, when somebody pointed it out.

You could almost hear us all moaning at the thought of carrying our luggage across that little bridge when we were told it would be taken across to the hotel for us. OK, sounded good, but the hotel didn’t have a lift and the hallways and staircases didn’t seem to end, and no Air-con. And our bums were still sore! But we managed to go for a sunset walk along the river where there were families bathing and getting some relief from the heat, there were people doing their laundry and even washing their carpets in the water. There were also many people milling around or just dipping their feet in the water waiting for the end of the day or waiting for the time to end their fast for the day.

Cooling off on THE rickety bridge

On the other side of the road were natural springs where people were filling up large containers and bottles with fresh cool water. It was peaceful going to sleep to the sound of the water until someone’s dog started barking at some ridiculous hour of the morning.

One thing that took our interest was how everything blended in ie. the colour of the rocks in the gorge, the buildings and even the road we walked on, with the exception of the date palms and fig trees growing wild. Todra Gorge was a cool relief from the heat but that wasn’t to last.

Farewell to Todre Gorge

We were off to Benhaddou to visit another Moroccan UNESCO World Heritage listed site – Ouarzazate, where we would see first hand how families live in the community, meet a man who played an extra in a number of movies set in and around Benhaddou, and to meet with a lady who has been living in the Kasbah since she was a young girl. She is now (thought to be) 86.

Village stop en route to Todre Gorge

Village en route to Ouarzazate

The Kasbah was perched on top of a high red rock, but in the layers below the peak were houses set into the rock walls. Here in the family homes complete with a sitting room and kitchen it was still very basic but presentable, and the people keep their chickens, sheep and goats in a separate area of their abode. We met Lalla Mamase who served us hot Mint tea and through translation with Yacine told us a little about her life, family and information about the Kasbah. She also said that on most days she would go into the village, and up and down the pathways and steps leading from the Kasbah and back.

We struggled on our way up, and were amazed at this tiny little woman doing this everyday.

This ancient city was crumbling, and many Moroccan familes have in fact refused to move and are actively reinforcing the integrity of their family homes. Lalla's family was one and even though her husabnd is unable to live in the Kasbah, due to health reasons, Lalla and her children maintain their home. We also wondered what could be possibly done to save this site, UNESCO or not.

Kasbah of Quarzazate - we would climb to the peak

Crumbling walls of the Kasbah

A visit to Lalla Mamase

View from the top of the Kasbah

That night TJ took part in a Tagine cooking lesson and he made sure he put enough hot spice in it to match the temperature outside, hot and dry. HOT because the temperature outside was still in the mid 40’s, and DRY because his tagine had been left too long in the cooker and dried out, but still edible and tasty.

So it’s goodbye to the La Rose du Sable Hotel the next morning headed for the High Atlas Mountains and to a village called Imlil, on the way passing through the Tizi ‘n’ Tichka Pass 2260 mtrs above sea level.

TJ was well and truly over his altitude sickness, besides what’s 2260 mtrs now? Ahh yes, and cooler temperatures on the slopes of north Africa’s highest mountain in Morocco – Mt. Toubkal.

Our luggage would be taken up the mountain on mules, but we still had to make the hike up the high ridges to our accommodation, through apple orchards, walnut groves, little water channels and views as far as you could see. We drove past the Richard Branson Mansion on the way. Very nice and very much in keeping with the Moroccan style of houses, except more opulent!!

Winding roads to the High Atlas Mtns.

On the way we passed more markets, villages, mosques and road signs until we reached Imlil and for our next challenge – to see if we can climb up to the "Auberge Roche Armed" where we would have some free time to kick back for a little while and enjoy the spectacular views across to the top of Mt Toubkal.

But for now until the next blog we will do what this Sign below says EXIT and until next time.........

(obviously written by a KIWI - and seriously our apologies to our KIWI mates).

Liz and Tony