STOP 6 | Morocco: Deserts and Valleys

Day 7: Desert

 

We left around 8am this morning as we had 5h drive till the Sahara camp. We enjoyed the beautiful scenery of the Ziz valley on the way, and this valley goes from high Atlantic to Algeria.

 

We stopped in the city of Errachidia to withdraw money and buy some food, and I got the chance to enjoy this Moroccan bread, which was super.

 

The route was rich with surprises at any minutes.

 

We arrived at this hotel in the middle of the desert which seemed really a gem: its name is Yasmina.

 

  

Our camp, organized by the hotel, was really close to the structure, as for safety reasons they needed to move it closer a couple of years back.

 

We spent our afternoon at 41°C enjoying the pool in the middle of the Sahara. We played in the water with 2 Moroccan kids – Yussef and Amid - who said they didn’t know English, but in reality they did know some basics.

It’s so fascinating when people get together, despite gender, race, nationality, language: just around a small ball they can play together without prejudice, beliefs, politics, concerns.

At sunset it was time to embark on a camel ride on the dunes. It took us about 1h and it was not that uncomfortable. On the way, I got to learn that our camels were between 10 and 15 years old and they were all castrated. My camel in particular was named after the color of his hair, brownish, which I shorted for “Brownie” and I gave him my last name: “Casablanca”. Brownie Casablanca.

He was the fastest one apparently, hence they placed him the last in the caravan, and also he was pretty animated: when all the camels were in a line, he was always misaligned with the group.

I was concerned about camels’ health, but such camels in particular are maintained and taken care of by the hotel staff: a camel costs about 500 EUR/USD, so it’s a huge investment for Moroccans; they eat up to 5kg of barley per day and grass and they don’t drink a lot, despite their three chambered stomach can hold up to 200 liters of water.

 

After dinner, we spent the night around the fire, despite the high temperature, playing drums and singing and dancing, before going to bed in our nomads tents.

 

Days 8-9: M'Goung Valley

We left the Sahara camp for a 6h drive towards the Mountain. On the way we stopped to see an old system of aqueduct – called Khettara (Wiki reference here): there are more than 360 in the areas, dated back to 11^th century, and they were used to pull water from the soil. They are not in use anymore, but still stand as a touristic attraction.

We stopped by a gorgeous gorge and took a walk there, after about 4h drive. Todra (or T) Gorge.

 

 

Eventually we reached Tamaloute village, and in particular Tamaloutte Gite, where we were going to spend 2 nights. A gite means a form of shelter. This gite in particular was kinda enhanced, since it was transformed more into a hotel fashion.

 

We took a nice walk to see the scenery before dusk.

 

The following day we took a 4h hike to reach a Kasbah and have some tea there.

In the afternoon we visited a Berber family, who dressed us up with djellabas.