Whilst travelling on your own offers freedom and the opportunity to do exactly what you want, when you want; travelling on a tour like our Intrepid Morocco adventure allowed us to see so much in such a short period of time.  And gave us the opportunity to see things that would have been pretty tough, or pretty scary to do on our own.  At one point we were less than 10KM from the Algerian border!   Here’s the final installment of the Morocco trip.

Sahara

As we neared the desert the temperatures continued to rise and our poor van struggled to keep us cool. But slowly the scenery began to change – the greenery was left behind and camels appeared on the side of the road.  Then we saw them – rolling sand dunes stretching out ahead of us – and a group of camels, patiently waiting for us.

A quick stop to pack our overnight bags with the minimum necessities (plus a few smuggled bottles of wine) and a lesson from Abdullah on how to tie our headscarfs so we would look the part, and we were off to meet our camels.

We set off on convoy and slowly civilisation was left behind until all that remained around us were dunes and a slow setting sun, casting a beautiful light and long camel shadows beside us.

Now camels are pretty incredibly animals, able to walk for long distances in the heat, and over rolling sand dunes – but they are anything but comfortable!  After an hour of riding we were ready to jump off and explore our camp for the night.

The camp consisted of tents surrounding an open area with a table for dinner and room to relax.  Our camel guides transformed into chefs and produced an amazing feed of couscous and tagine and we chilled out with our wines as the heat slowly left, sun faded, and stars began to shine.  We opted to take our mats outside and slept at the base of the nearest dune under the stars.   An early start saw a few of us climb up the dune to watch the sun rise before we climbed onto our camels and headed back.

Atlas Mountains

An unexpected surprise of the trip (probably should have read the trip notes more) were the many opportunities for walking in the countryside of Morocco.  We stayed at a number of local home-stays (Auberges) giving us the chance to explore.

The Atlas Mountains provided a beautiful backdrop for an afternoon stroll, before we wandered through a local village providing a curiosity for all the local children.

Another night we stayed near the base of Mt Toubkal, the highest peak in Northern Africa.  We walked for about an hour up the hills to get to our base, and from there chose from a range of walks to explore the area. Our walk wandered through the countryside, and a small village where a young boy was bawling his eyes out.. Our guide questioned his nearby sister and he was on the way home at the end of term with a poor school report to give his parents!

And finally we stayed in the Todgha Gorge at a lovely spot with a pool.  Another guide took us for a wander that lead through the vegetable gardens of the village, showed the complex aqueducts and lead us through the massive gorge.

Ait Benhaddou

By now we had seen so many ancient sites, we were getting a little hard to impress.  That is until we headed to Ait Benhaddou.  The site is now a UNESCO protected site and thankfully any modernisation of it is not allowed.  Apparently when it is high season, the area can feel quite touristy with many of the little buildings re-purposed as shops and loads of day-tripping tourists from the surrounding area.  Thankfully for us, it was Ramadan, and almost completely empty – we were free to roam around it on our own.

The site has been the base for many movies including Gladiator, and the owner of our Auberge was named ‘Action’ as he had been an extra in so many famous movies.  He also put on an incredibly amusing couscous cooking demonstration.

Essaouira

As the heat in many parts of Morocco soared past 35C we all looked forward to Essaouira, the beach town of Morocco.  This laid back town provided the perfect spot to relax, with markets to stroll around, a beach, and port as well as many interesting laneways and the first opportunity for us all to head out for a few drinks at a bar.  A few good nights out were had here!

Marrakesh

Our final stop on the tour and time to say our goodbyes to our new friends.  Our final dinner was a feast in the open air markets in the central square.  Surrounded by snake charmers, monkeys, women ready to strike with henna pens and general chaos – it was the perfect way to end the trip.