Blogs from Mount Toubkal, Souss-Massa-Draâ, Morocco, Africa
March 16th 2009
Day One After an early morning flight from Luton costing around £140 return with Ryanair we arrived at Marrakech airport. First post of call was to obtain some local currency as you cannot obtain it outside of Morocco. The next port of call should of been to the duty free shop to get some drink supplies but we passed on this which would later haunt us. Our Moroccan host Mohammed Aztat had arranged for a taxi to pick us up from the airport to take us to our mountain base camp in Imlil which was about 90minutes away. We played a game of taxi cab bingo on the plane which I proudly declare myself the winner of, a 1970s brown Mercedes, often seen in many foreign countries. Weather wise it was quite warm and cloud free. ... read more
Toubkal: Weekend Warrior Style
Published: August 8th 2007Africa » Morocco » Souss-Massa-Draâ » Mount Toubkal
June 16th 2007
Day 1: Bart’s Birthday It turns out that the part I had hiked in April with my two friends from Peace Corps Togo was only the beginning of the trail. Bright and early in the morning I set out hiking from Imlil with Bart (Peace Corps Morocco) and Dave (US civilian). We passed up Sidi Chamarouch, where I had turned around last time, at 11am and continued on up the trail to the Toubkal Refuge. We didn’t have much gear - Dave didn’t even have a sleeping bag and was relying on an airplane blanket to get him through the night at 3200 meters in the High Atlas. But the weather was perfect and we all had good shoes. The trail up to the refuge is fairly easy, with only a few steep bits, though it’s ... read more
The Children of Moroco
Published: February 6th 2007Africa » Morocco » Souss-Massa-Draâ » Mount Toubkal
February 6th 2007
As we drive south through the country side of Morocco the landscape is more and more barren and dry. There is this uniform color of orangey gold. All the houses are built with a mixture of clay and hay and blend in with the earth. As I look more closely children and people go about their daily chores. School does not seem to be the main occupation even though you see crossing signs warning that there is a school in the area, the schools are empty. Talking about signs; there are also cow sign crossing but I have not as yet seen anything that resembles a cow. This is a very poor country, you can not imagine! Instead of school the children tend sheep and goats, they work in the fields and weave baskets. Unsuspectingly you ... read more
January 30th 2007
Il existe un endroit reclu et select à Tarroudant,qui s’appelle « La gazelle d’or » ,qui pourtant n’offre aucun charme particulier ; ni mer turquoise au fond d’un lagon,ni vue prenante d’un col de montagne sur une vallée où languie une palmeraie de dattiers.Rien de tout ça et cependant le lieu est devenu un havre de paix et d’anonymat « for the rich and famous ».Nous avions d’abord songé y passer quelques jours histoire de renouer avec de vieilles connaissances que nous avions déjà rencontré dans d’autres coin de notre petite planète;mais quelle ne fut notre déception d’apprendre que ce vieux chenapan de Jacques qui y avait fait un saut à Noël comme à chaque année,était déjà retourné à ses fonctions,qu’Arnold ,toujours aussi distrait avait confondu la présente semaine avec la suivante et nous avait envoyé ... read more
Babouche et tabarnouche ça rime non?
Published: January 27th 2007Africa » Morocco » Souss-Massa-Draâ » Mount Toubkal
January 26th 2007
Certaines villes ne valent souvent que pour le chemin qui y conduit ou qui permet d’en sortir. C’est tout à fait le cas de Tafraoute, mieux connu sous le nom du « Paradis de la babouche » Depuis Essaouira nous avions progressé vers le sud , passant la nuit à Massa, dinant le lendemain midi à Agadir , après un bref arrêt à Tiznit » le paradis du bijou en argent cheap » Nous aurions pu à partir, Agadir couper vers Taroudant où nous sommes présentement, mais non il fallait acheter des babouches et l’endroit où l’on trouve les plus belles babaouches c’est, c’est, c’est……?????, vous ne devinez pas…..et oui c’est Tafraoute que j’avais appelé Tabarnouche lors de mes premières lectures du guide, de sorte que nous avons fait un léger détour de quelques 200 km.pour ... read more
From the High Atlas to the Sahara (and everythign in between)
Published: October 4th 2006Africa » Morocco » Souss-Massa-Draâ » Mount Toubkal
October 4th 2006
We just got back from the most amazing three days in Morocco. Who would have known you could see so much diversity in one place. So as I said at the end of the last update, Haley and I met a small group of Australians (Chaz, Selwyn, Travis, and Nyree) and signed up for a three day tour from Marrakech to the Sahara, through this trip we would visit the High Atlas mts., the valley of roses (no roses though?), a palmary (oasis), a famous Kasbah (desert castle/village), the Dades Gorge, and many many other Moroccan gems. We spend about 7 hours the first two days in the car and then 12 hours the last day, needless to say - our butts where very sore. I am going to just mention a few highlights from the ... read more
March 1st 2006
Oh dear, I've resorted to sensationalist and deliberately provocative headlines reminiscent of "The Sun". I've obviously been living in London too long! It's not a lie though; my trip to Imlil and Aremd did involve naked ladies. In fact I was one of them. But that comes later. Anyone travelling to Morocco to escape the winter blues of London had better steer clear of the High Atlas mountains in March. It was very cold. If the sun was out during the day it was really nice. But at night it was FREEZING. Just over the mountain from where we were staying in Aremd was a ski resort. I hadn't ever linked the words Morocco and skiing in my head, but I guess it's no different to people being surprised that you can ski in Australia. We ... read more
