Morocco 2007

Ouarzazate

Another early start, 7.30, for the next leg of the tour towards Ouarzazate. The fact that we were heading for Ouarzazate was a surprise to most of us as the pre-tour itinerary had said that the next stop would be Zagora, via the Draa valley. Apparently a bridge had been damaged by the storms and the road was only passable with difficulty, the itinerary has to be flexible! We were due for a night's 'wild camp' before arriving at Ouarzazate and we were pulled off the road by Ray at round 2.00pm onto a patch of bare ground - literally in the middle of nowhere. It was quite a steep dip to get off the road, our back end grounded and the 2 RVs owners expressed reservations about leaving the road. While this was going on one of the Hymers in the group found they had a puncture and someone else had an injection warning light come on and was losing power.

Camping Municipal - Ouarzazate

The wheel was changed, it was decided to ignore the engine warning light for the time being, but Ray was able to locate Fiat repair facilities, should they be needed. A 'group conference' was then held and it was decided to ditch the idea of an overnight wild camp and head straight for Ouarzazate. So that's what we did. Overall it made the day's journey a total of ten and a half hours including stops, and at 330km it was too much. Having said that, the road was superb, travelling along the foot of the Jbel Saharo and then up through Agdz, over the Tizi-n-Tinifft pass and down to Ouarzazate, in the valley between the Jbel Saharo and the High Atlas.

We reached the campsite at around 6.00pm with Hassan and Hamid leading the group in the second support vehicle. It transpired that the Unimog had broken down somewhere up on the pass... Never mind - it was Burns Night! A Scottish couple in the group had organised haggis, neeps and tatties for everyone, strung up some fairy lights, and we all joined in for a most enjoyable evening. Certainly the stocks of whisky were severely depleted!

The campsite, Camping Municipal, was fairly busy, lots of French motorhomes, plus a few German and Dutch. Facilities not bad, there was a separate supply of drinking water plus electric hookups too. Ray had advised the group not to rely on any water being safe to drink, so most people were buying bottled water for drinking purposes and just using their tank water for washing. We have a Nature Pure filter fitted, so didn't bother with bottled water, I'm pleased to say we suffered no stomach upsets the whole time we were in Morocco.

The next morning we awoke to find that Ray had arrived in the early hours of the morning, the problem had been contaminated diesel, it seems that he had had the dregs of the tank at the last fuel stop. With the assistance of one of the mechanics that Ray has on his 'contacts' list it was all sorted.

Taourit Kasbah

Then there was another conference, it was at first thought that we needed to move on that day, because of the need to get over the pass to Marrakesh before bad weather set in, but eventually it was decided that we could stay for the day, and head on to Marrakesh tomorrow. It was certainly worth stopping in Ouarzazate for a day, the campsite is on the edge of the town, a bit too far to walk to the centre so we took the van in, picking up the 2 RV crews as well. There was a small supermarket on the main drag so we were able to stock up with vital supplies and were pleased to find that it also sold beer and wine. Not only that but they accepted Visa debit cards as well! On the way back we picked up the RVers plus a large mat that one of them had bought.

Having dropped them back at the campsite we headed back to town to visit the Taourit Kasbah, an amazing rabbit warren of a place built out of mud bricks by the Glaoui family who were the last of the ruling families in the south of Morocco. A large proportion of the place is falling down and unsafe to visit, mud brick buildings need constant repairs and here the repairs were not keeping up with the deterioration. We had the services of a guide, essential really, to be able to understand how the place was used, he spoke quite good English and we had an interesting discussion about modern day Morocco as well. The guide offered to take us round the Jewish part of the old town too, fascinating, despite the inevitable visit to a relative's carpet shop!

Others in the group had gone off to visit Aït Benhaddou, which is a 'fortified city', or ksar, along the former caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech. It's a UNESCO World Heritage site and said to be the best preserved Ksar in Morocco. This is probably due in no small part to its being used as a location for many films, Lawrence of Arabia, The Jewel of the Nile, Gladiator, and Alexander being just a few. We visited later on in our trip and it is certainly worth it. It might however be useful to point out that the apparent 'main entrance' to the ksar is in fact private and it's owners will charge you an 'entrance fee'. The ksar is actually free to visit and there are alternative entries within a few hundred metres, both to the left and to the right of the private entrance.

back - 1 - 2 - 3 - 4 - 5 - 6 - 7 - 8 - next
photo gallery