Blog Dec Marock'n Roll Pt1

Blog 26 – Dec '14 – Marock'n Roll Pt 1

Towards the end of my field season I felt the chance to experience more of Africa was slowly slipping through my grasp. Action was required. With very little effort - an email akin to ‘Mum let’s travel’ - the travel plans commenced. The original list of options was gigantic. Eventually we settled on Morocco as it had been at the top of Mum’s list for as long as I can remember. It did seem like the least logistically intelligent move, considering I had to almost circumnavigate Africa to get there (Etosha - Windhoek - Johannesburg - Dubai - Casablanca) and had 5 flights to get home. But it turned out to be a brilliant choice. So because of that, and because I felt a non-Etosha blog was in order, I thought I would give you a blog on how I rewarded myself for another field season being over!

I spent over 18 days in Morocco and I thoroughly enjoyed every second of it, so the blog length got a little out of hand! It seems this blog will need to be in two parts. As the trip was actually 2 trips combined - Northern Morocco and Southern Morocco - this first part will be about the northern stretch - a predominantly city and town oriented tour and the next blog will be the southern part with the Sahara and mountains. Throughout the trip the transport and accommodation changed a lot - we caught planes, public buses, chicken buses, charters buses, minibuses, petite taxis, grand taxis, trains both short and long haul, camels, donkeys and local’s cars, all over 18 days. The accommodation included tents (because I clearly haven’t done that enough), sleeper trains, palaces, gites (traditional mountain homes), riads (traditional Moroccan houses with central courtyards), hotels and guesthouses.

On arriving in Casablanca, I had a few minutes to quickly wash the last three plane rides off me and then it was straight into the noise, chaos and colour that Casablanca offers. As a tourist spot there isn’t a lot to do but I got to experience the Medina with its winding alley ways and shops selling everything from spices and lanterns, to cheap Chinese knock-offs (because apparently markets across the world have all undergone a Chinese product invasion - it is a bit of a letdown to go from mounds of spices to cheap Manchester United jerseys). A trip to Hassan II Mosque was also on the list and definitely not a letdown. The mosque has a retractable roof, weighing in at 1100 tons, and typical Moroccan design throughout- elaborate, colourful, expensive and overall beautiful.

From Casablanca it was on to the holy town of Moulay Idriss, a charming hilltop village near the political capital of Rabat, where we got to see the public bakery (create whatever you want and take it down to the bakery to have it baked ready for pick-up later in the day) and were lucky enough to get inside a local’s home. Whilst being taught about Moroccan door design and the cultural reasons behind it we were sprung by the door in question’s owner who graciously invited us into his amazing riad home to see how they are designed and decorated. Just on the outskirts of the village is Volubilis, a UNESCO World Heritage site of many beautifully restored roman ruins in a hillside that could be easily confused with Tuscany.

Touring through Rabat, Meknes, and Fes (the old capital of Morocco) exposed us to Morocco’s beautiful cities, bustling market places, mosques, ruins of kasbahs and an amazingly diverse cuisine. Through this part of the trip we were unfortunate to experience a bit of rain, although, as we were about to learn we were in the midst of a Moroccan flood. The worst flood in decades. The rains continued for 2 weeks and caused massive chaos as they washed hillsides, roads and infrastructure down what were once dry river beds. The second part of our trip was starting to look a bit iffy - roads to both the Atlas Mountains and the Sahara were flooded, the Sahara itself was experiencing flooding and the rain was still coming. I was travelling in Morocco and I was seeing a side that so few people experience in this usually arid country. I was also starting to be a little concerned about my wardrobe - snow had started falling 2 months earlier than normal and that coupled with the rain had me thinking that another jacket was going to be vital! Fortunately this part of the trip was just wet, not flooded out so we continued on to the most charming town of the trip - Chefchaouen - the blue city. The whole town is a wash of blue, even the streets (those that continue on to a dead end) are painted blue and the town has become a handicraft shopping destination. Beads for jewellery making - check. Berber rug - check. Other nick-knacks that smell/taste/look nice - check! Of all the places in this first half of the trip, Chefchaouen was my pick thanks to the colour and the amazing views.

We then caught the Marrakech Express from Tangier to, you guessed it, Marrakech - this was an overnight sleeper (or insomnia) train which was definitely my least favourite accommodation and form of transport for the tour! On arrival in Marrakech is where part one of the tour ended so the adventure will continue in the next blog…