At The End of the Road to Morocco
17.11.2013
26 °C
We were disappointed when the 4x4 SUV we rented to drive through the Moroccan deserts and mountains turned out to be little more than a scratched-up diesel cargo van with windows, but after 3,000 kilometres of driving on donkey tracks and through chaotic city streets crammed with carriages, motorbikes and massively overloaded vehicles like this…(Yes- that really is a full sized tree in the back of a pick-up truck travelling at 50K)
and this...
we’ve fallen in love with our reliable old banger and have christened her Fatima.
Morocco has some superb toll highways but they are little used because the locals can’t afford them. However, it also has some death defying roads like the 200 kilometer single track stretch of cracked up tarmac and gravel that took us 7,000 feet into the High Atlas from Marrakech to Taroudant…
Some people might find this snaking roller coaster a little scary – even terrifying – but what a view from the top…
High in the mountains we came across a restored 11th century mosque which once served a community of 17,000…
But now only a few hundred people survive off the sparse alpine pastures in these picturesque villages of mud houses… 
Higher and higher we climbed until our ears popped and we no longer dared to look over the edge. But then the reward – a night in an ancient Berber kasbah, a fortified farmhouse built of mud and camel dung, which has been lovingly turned into an atmospheric country mansion and filled with fascinating local artefacts… 
After a peaceful night in the countryside without a mosque's meuzzin within shouting distance, we hit the deserted desert highway...
And then, as we near the end of our Moroccan odyssey, we head to the coast and the picturesque fishing port of Essaouira.... 
Next stop – Casablanca, and then to Accra the capital of Ghana.
Love the photos and the vicarious jaunt, my friends. I had some MOST interesting experiences in Essaouria. Thanks for the lovely jog of the old memory....That mountain pass looked way over the top - no pun intended!!
by Joyce