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[nicholade]

The start of our desert adventure began at a hotel in M'Hamid. This is the closest town to the Chigaga dunes, the bigger dunes with less people, as it takes 2 hours to drive there in a 4x4. The other dune chebbi was far more popular due to its accessibility but was overrun with tourists, no thanks! We got lunch and a swim in the pool before we left. This was so amazing as we haven't been submerged in water in what feels like a long time.

The drive in was truly like driving into another planet. There is no other place like the desert. We witnessed sand cyclones (which seem to happening constantly nearby and I nearly got caught in one), mirages and many wild animals. Our accomodation for the night consisted of a handful of tents nestled amongst the edge of the dunes. These tents were very nice so it was more like glamping for the night than camping.

That evening we hiked up the dunes for sunset. Everyone goes up to the tallest dune which is 100m tall, but we chose another one nearby with no people and a view equally as impressive. These dunes have a length of 40km so all you could see were rolling sand dunes turning orange and pink from the sun setting on them. After sunset we set off for camp by running down the sand dunes which was fun but at points the sand turned hard which feels like jumping on concrete, ouch!

At camp we were served dinner and they played music for us around a fire. We took off into the dunes to watch the stars. It was a clear starry night and we saw some shooting stars. This made for one of the most peaceful moments full of gratitude for our beautiful earth.

We opted to sleep in the next morning rather than take a camel ride into the dunes. Say no to camel rides. They deserve to live a free life like you and I, plus exploring it on foot is so much more rewarding! We headed off shortly after Nick was offered 50, 000 camels for me. He initially agreed, thanks Nick haha.

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Snow to the Sahara

After freezing in the Atlas Mountains we both decided that our next destination would be the Sahara Desert. We initially had planned to drive to Merzouga and head into the dunes from there, however after a little research we discovered that the Sahara is made up of two ergs, and the erg closest to Merzouga is a tourist hotspot, full of crowds and noisey quad bikes, this meant we were off to M'hamid. It would take three days to reach our destination.

En route we paid a visit to the Ksar of Aït-Benhaddou. This is a traditional Mud Brick city on the edge of the High Atlas Mountains. It is on the UNESCO World Heritage List, and has featured in many films, mostly as a replacement for Jerusalem.

It has appeared in more than 10 movies, including Lawrence of Arabia and Gladiator.

We spent the night in the close by city of Ouarzazate, pronounced warzazate, or what-is-it?

We passed a film studio on the way into the city, and many props and film statues followed. Ouarzazate was a big enough city but it appeared not much was actually going on. We booked one night at an Airbnb, the host was a tour guide who appeared to not want to make money off us but was genuinely helpful. I sat down with him after dinner while Jade retreated to bed, next minute he has a bottle of vodka out and insists I join him for a vodka squash, the ratio of squash to vodka was probably 50:50. After a lengthy chat and four of these things, I was eventually able to pull myself away to bed, where I found Jade waiting for me, wondering why I was acting weird.

The next day we were off to Zagora, also known as the gateway to the Sahara. Outside the town is the amazing Draa Valley, which follows the twists and turns of the river - an unforgettable place where thick groves of palm trees line the twists and turns of the river, while the Jbel Saghro mountain range rises in the background. We spent the afternoon getting lost in the date palms.

Thanks to a noisey rooster we were on the road early the next morning

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Tafraoute to Oukaïmeden

Our next location was a town called Taroudant which is also known as mini Marrakech. This is only a stop off for one night before we head to the snow. We arrived in Taroudant after a long drive and had no accommodation sorted. We went to one hotel that we found on air bnb but there was no one around and the guy we were messaging didn't sound too interested in helping us. By this point we were very tired as the afternoon had dragged on so we found something else a 20 minute drive away. This ended up being a pretty fancy place with a pool and spa attached to it. We had our own bathroom and a really comfy bed. Nick even had a glass of red wine. It was very nice to have some luxury for a night.

We were feeling very refreshed the next day and were ready for our drive to Oukaimeden. Nick had stumbled upon a rock climbing festival that was taking place over the weekend in Oukaimeden. On our drive we stopped at a cross road not sure which way to go when a local came over to help. We ended up giving him a lift to a nearby town that happened to have a Kasbah that he worked at. A Kasbah is like an old fortress. Much to his influence we visited the Kasbah and he was our guide. He didn't speak much English so we had to infer alot of what he was telling us, it was interesting though. It was full of tiny rooms, I think 300, that had rocks sticking out of the walls as ladders to the higher rooms. We walked around and it kept going with rooms hidden everywhere. His guide insisted him and I take photos together at every opportunity. So there must be about 52 photos of us. Which I later realised was to try and touch me.. hmm very creepy man. We left after this and continue onto our actual destination.

We slowly drove up into the mountains with looming clouds overhead which we were hoping would be snow! As we drove the weather got colder and we started seeing sighting of snow on the side of the road. At one point it started raining and snowing on us. The car started beeping at us and flashing an icicle sign it must sense ice on the roads. The roads were pretty dodgy with cars swerving into our side of the road and a steep drop off the mountain. I didn't know if the car would make it all the way. None the less this was an exciting drive as it kept snowing harder on us the closer we got. We finally made it into town and parked our car until we couldn't drive any further due to too much snow. We were freezing and there were lots of people yelling at us in French to pay for things and pay for parking so we went and took refuge in a nearby restaurant to figure out where we were staying. The whole weekend was organised by some American men who were now living in Marrakech. They put on a rock climbing movie in a nearby hostel which we ended up staying at. The hostel had alot of people staying there for the festival and we happened to get the room with the Moroccan group who sang and played instruments all night. Luckily at one point someone told them to be quiet so we got some sleep.

We woke up to a sunny day with a layer of fresh snow everywhere. I met some Americans in the hostel and went for a walk with them through town. This time we could see the town and the nearby ski field. There were people hiring skis in the side of the road so you could ski there. Apparently the lift was closed though due to avalanches. Most people were tabogganing. There was an observation station up on the hill that we hiked too. You could see Marrakech from this view.. well where we think it was as the clouds were blocking the view. It was fun to go hiking in the snow, not so fun to drive. Someone had drove up that hill a few days before and needed to get down but they were stuck. We spent the next 1.5 hours pushing them down the hill.

Time for the bouldering competition. Yay go Nick! This wasn't so much a strict competition and people were just wandering around the many boulders having a go at climbing. I wandered around and took pictures and got very burnt! It ended up being very hot and most people woke up the next day with red faces.

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Tiznit to Tafraoute

While in Tiznit we got chatting to a local who strongly recommended that we check out Merleft, a small town on the coast not too far away, we had also heard that there was a natural arch at Legzira beach 20km south of Merleft, this would be our itinerary for the following morning.

Merleft ended up being a quiet little coastal town and Legzira a tourist hotspot. It was a cool experience walking under the natural arch, and it made for a nice photo. There previously was a second arch which has now collapsed due to high seas, you wouldn't want this thing coming down on top of you.

Our next destination would be Tafraoute. Tafraoute is nestled in the gorgeous Ameln Valley, the village is surrounded on all sides by red-granite mountains, and is popular amongst climbers and hikers. Once settled in, instead of heading out on a wild adventure I decided we would have our first hamaam, this was wild enough in its own regard. From what I had read online you are stripped down, thrown into a sauna, severely exfoliated, soaped up, rinsed and then bent into various positions before receiving a deep tissue massage, how could I say no. I told Jade we were going for a hamaam without actually explaining what she was in for, a little surprise if anything. It ended up being a very similar experience to the online description, after all of it you come out feeling like a new person. Jade thoroughly enjoyed the experience and was wondering when we would return haha. A tasty dinner on the walk home and a deep sleep followed.

It just so happened that the following day, Wednesday, was the day the town had its local market, so the following morning we were off to stock up on fruit, veg, nuts, olives and dates, all at very reasonable prices!

We had planned to spend the rest of the day hiking, however we discovered that most of the hiking in the area is recommended for experienced hikers. I'm usually all for hiking in the mountains, the more strenuous the better, however I was now equipped with a pair of ill fitting second hand boots that I had acquired from a road side stall in one of the small towns that we had passed through, this was a bit of a deterrent, my feet were still recovering from our last expedition so we opted for something easier, Les Roches Bleues. The Blue Rocks are a short walk out of Agrd odad, a town close by, painted in 1984 by Belgian artist Jean Verame (who repeated the feat in Texas) with the help of a local team of some 20 firemen, the rocks provided the perfect canvas for a multi-color piece of art. It was a nice walk and the rocks were definitely interesting, different shades of blue splattered across the valley, there has been a lot of controversy surrounding them, some people love them others quite the opposite. We perched ourselves up high on one of the many bleu roches for lunch. Many camper vans were spread out in the valley and we would learn that this area is also popular for wild camping. Dark clouds were appearing in the distance so we legged it back to the car.

A lazy afternoon followed, tomorrow we would continue our trip further into the mountains.

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[nicholade]

Tafedna to Tiznit

The drive from Tafedna was beautiful. We hugged the coastline for a while seeing sandy mountains surrounding blue seas. There are many small surfy towns we passed through, one we stopped off at. The surf looked like so much fun here. Unfortunately we had no money to hire boards and there were no atms for a while so instead we sat at a lookout and watched the many surfers.

We were planning to wild camp in Paradise Valley for a couple of nights as we've heard you can near the river. After a long drive into the valley we didn't see any sign of being able to camp as the narrow roads are right next to the river. So we decided to stop in at a hotel at the top of the valley and ask but due to language restrictions we ended up staying there instead. This wasn't so bad as they had a cute dog called Mary Jane and nice people staying there.

A couple of people staying there said we must hike the nearby mountain. So the next day we set off to do so. The hike follows a long windy road up the mountain. We parked at the bottom as it was impossible to drive up. There happened to be roadworks that day so they hike up was pretty dodgy with us scrambling up rocks and having huge cranes shovelling rocks right above with it all crashing down near by. Up the top was a tiny village where people lived. We wandered through and met a lady who was breaking open almond shells. She spoke no English but gave us many almonds and we gave her bread. There were alot of almond and argan trees. On our walk to the lookout we picked up a few almonds and had a go at cracking them open, so yum! The view up the top was worth the difficult ascent. On one side was the ocean in the distance and you could see the many anti-Atlas mountain ridges. The way down was just as interesting. At one point the road was so dry and cracked, Nick walked through a part that looked a little wet and his foot went right through into mud. It was hilarious!

That afternoon we had planned to visit the famous blue pools that were in the palm lined gorge. Mary Jane decided to join us for this hike down. The further we went down the more we heard people talking, music playing and people playing instruments. It sounded like a party! We started passing more and more people who had set up for the day along the ridge that looks down into the pools. It was crazy when we reached the bottom. There were people everywhere. Too many people to go in the water and being female I didn't feel comfortable getting into my bikini there. So instead we had a look around before Mary Jane started getting scared of the people and ran away. We picked her up and walked back to the hotel. Once we were back at the hotel we were told that Sunday (the day we went) was the busiest day for the pools. That explains why it was so crowded. They were very blue but too many people to enjoy that part.

The next day we got to see a more quiet side of the pools as we were driving out. These parts had less water so were less impressive but still pretty. We stopped at one of the many orange juice stalls that were in the water and continued our drive onto Tiznit. This was a very windy and dusty drive inland. We saw alot of camels, and this time they were wild. Usually we saw them tied to something or their feet would be tied together so they couldn't walk properly, which is very sad.

Tiznit was a small, quiet town that was known for its silver jewellery. We checked into our hotel and started to explore. Our first stop at the 'source blue' which is a blue pool in the city centre. Legend claims a woman of ill repute, Lalla Zninia, stopped to rest here at what was then plain desert. She spent the next three days repenting her wicked ways, and God was so impressed that he showed forgiveness by having a spring gush beneath her feet. Nearby are the markets which were fun to explore. Not many tourists visit so the prices were reasonable and we ended up buying some clothes. We also made the most of the street snacks- cooked sunflower seeds and beans in a bag. This overnight stop in Tiznit ended up being so much fun!

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Marrakech to Tafedna

Marrakech is a beautiful city and we could have easily stayed there longer, however if we wanted to see Morocco we would need to hit the road. A quick chat to the host of our riad and next minute we had a cheap car lined up for our trip.

We would start our trip in Essaouria, a fishing town two and a half hours west of Marrakech. We picked up the car the next morning and were on our way. It was a short drive to Essaouria, which included a stop off at restaurant in which the staff spoke little English, resulting in us receiving the opposite of what we had ordered, "no viende!", at least the cats got fed, and shortly later somehow talking myself out of a speeding ticket, it was an interesting start to the trip haha.

We drove into Essaouria along its long stretch of beach, the wind was offshore and the swell was big. Strong "Alizée" trade winds make the city’s crescent beach popular for surfing, windsurfing and kitesurfing. We made our way to the Airbnb, which was within the walls of the old city, once again little English was spoken. We had been upgraded to the terrace which was a bonus, we had the rooftop with a view over Essaouria to ourselves! We unpacked and then headed out to dinner, this time it felt like no English was spoken, we did end up with a delicious vegan meal though, we were slowly learning French, "du tagine de legume".

The following morning we headed out to explore, we started off with a stroll down to the citadel, a historic fort with a working fishing port with seafood vendors, a tourist hotspot. When we weren't dodging seagulls we were graced with beautiful three sixty degree views. We then made our way around the harbour to the beach where we discovered that the surf had dropped considerably, no surfing for me for the time being, then making our way back into the old city to explore Le Souk and find some bargains.

The evening consisted of a delicious dinner, found by Jade, and then walking up on top of the city's wall to watch a beautiful sunset over the ocean, a perfect end to the day.

We had a rough itinerary of where we wanted to stop next but we're open to anything. The next morning we made our way down the coast to a little town named Sidi Kaouki, where we found a breakfast spot that looked out over the beach. Sidi Kaouki is pretty much run by the surf industry, every second building has a board hire sign out the front. We watched the waves roll in as we ate breakfast, I was very tempted to head out, and so close to hiring a board. By the time we had finished breakfast the wind had picked up and the surf was rubbish. After a quick chat with the young surfy guy behind the desk we had a few other spots to check further down the coast.

Tafedna was an hours drive down the coast and sounded promising, we jumped back and the car and were on our way. We chose the coastal route due to us deciding it would be more scenic, it was slow drive along a small dirt road, almost turning into a four wheel drive track in some sections, I guess the donkeys don't mind if there is a massive hole on one side of the road, it did provide an excellent view of the coast. We arrived in Tafedna shortly after lunch to find a long right hander coming in off the point. The wind was still a little unsure what it was doing, in the meantime we found a small restaurant and sat down to drink tea and make our minds up. Here we met an English couple who appeared to be the only other tourists around, after chatting they managed to talk us into hiring the boards and staying the night in a hostel nearby. Tafedna is a small fishing village, smaller than Sidi Kaouki, here there are no signs for board hire. The English couple led us to a guy that lives in the rocks, this guy was who we would hire the boards off. The winds ended up easing up and the clouds disappearing resulting in a really fun surf, Jade even surprised me with her skills, she tells me it's in her blood.

Afterwards we made our way back to the hostel, an eco-lodge, where we set up the tent, drank beer, and watched the sunset over the ocean. Another perfect end to the day, made only better when we discovered that the hostel's chef was also vegan!

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[nicholade]

Marrakech

We flew into Marrakech in the afternoon and and thankfully we had a driver waiting for us, it was chaos outside. Our driver took us to meet out host for the next few nights, Akim, who turned out to be very helpful. We stayed at a riad which is a Moroccan townhouse built up and around a courtyard in the old medina. This riad was very central to everything so we were able to explore alot over the next 4 days we were there.

We spent a lot of time wandering aimlessly through the magical, labyrinthine alleys of its ancient medina. Most of that time we were busy dodging motorbikes and carts that fly down these tiny streets. The souk sold alot of spices, clothes, jewellery, ceramics, shoes and fruit. Every stall owner would be trying to convince us to buy their goods while we walked past. Nick got called Ali Baba because of his beard and I was Shakira because of my hair. We did end up buying a couple of things and through some hard bargaining thought we got a good price, but it is so hard to tell.

These small streets led to the square which was tourist central. There were rows of fruit stalls that you couldn't make eye contact with otherwise they would not stop yelling at you to come visit. Everyone always had something free to lure you in and would make it very difficult to leave. It was hard to take photos in the square as everywhere you looked there would be someone dressed up or dancing or doing something to get money and you would have to pay for a photo. I did manage to get a photo of a man with a donkey cart and he started yelling at me but I pretended I had no idea. There were also many animals on display, which was hard to see. They had monkeys on leads who kept trying to pull them off and they were charming snakes. I think they drug the snakes or pull their teeth as they're very placid and not caged in. They also had horse carraiges going all day, with hardly any breaks for food or water in the heat. Tourists keep buying into these horrible practices and so they keep doing it. So if anyone goes there please don't pay for the animals to suffer. Apart from that the souk and the square was a really fun, vibrant place to get lost in. It comes alive at night with many people performing music.

The food in Marrakech was amazing! It was so easy to be vegan as each restaurant had a vegetable cous cous and tagine option. We also found a couple of vegan and vegetarian places. One of these being a henna cafe. There were lots of ladies in the streets offering henna, they would grab your hand and start doing a free sample for you. So it's best to avoid that. When in Marrakech get a henna tattoo so I opted to get one at the cafe. They had so many different designs, I got one that covered my hand and fingers. It didn't take long to complete and I just had to wait 8 hours for it to dry before taking the dye off. Now it is a dark brown colour which will fade off soon.

We visited 2 palaces in Marrakech called Bahia Palace and El Badii Palace. El Badi Palace was built at the end of the sixteenth century by the sultanAhmed al-Mansour to commemorate the victory of the Battle of the Three Kings against the Portuguese. It had a lovely view of the snow capped mountains in the background. The other palace, Bahia Palace was beautiful. It was built between 1866 and 1867 by Si Moussa, orginially for his own private use. This palace is set over two acres in the middle of the Marrakech medina and features 150 rooms.

The Saadian tombs was another place we visited. There was a huge line to look inside and like many other places everything is in French so sometimes we're not exactly sure what we're looking at. We could get a guide but being poor backpackers we always Google it later. The interior was beautifully designed.

There are many mosques in town though being non-Muslim we aren't allowed to enter. They are beautiful from the outside though. One thing that was interesting is the call to prayer that blasts over the speakers across the city a few times a day.

The first call of the day starts very early, around 5am, with the last being around 9pm. It is something we've gotten used to. This has been a fun start to our Morocco trip!

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[nicholade]

Zimbabwe to Morocco

The trip to Morocco involved a stop over in Joburg, an overnight flight to Doha, where we thought we would have a three hour layover which turned out to be a twenty seven hour layover due to us not looking at the dates closely, and then a day flight to Marrakech. This left us with another full day in Doha, we were becoming locals. FYI Qatar airlines provides free accommodation if you have an extended layover in Qatar, somehow this did not apply to us as we were in town for greater than twenty four hours. No problem. We quickly found budget accomodation with a rooftop pool, score!

We spent the afternoon exploring Souq Waqif; a large marketplace noted for selling traditional garments, spices, handicrafts, and souvenirs.

We were running low on funds due to us not keeping a close eye on our bank accounts, this with a long weekend ahead of us meant that we wouldn't have any additional funds for almost a week.

Once again Jade had discovered that there was a vegan restaurant closeby, we decided this would be where we would have dinner.

It turned out to be a nice little restaurant located in the Pearl-Qatar, an artificial island spanning nearly four million square meters. One thing to note was that the food wasn't cheap. I ordered a burger and sweet potato fries which when it came out appeared to be a child's size portion, it also ended up being quite bland, this amazing experience was provided for a measly $30 AUD, and this was just for the burger! Luckily Jade's risotto had some flavour, which she was kind enough to share with me.

We made our way back to the hotel where we had a big comfortable bed waiting for us, it felt like we hadn't slept in a bed ages. An early wake up call the following morning and we were off to Morocco 🇲🇦

I would arrive in Marrakech with one hundred dollars in my account, and minus a pair of hiking boots.

[nicholade]