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Published: January 12th 2013
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Renting a car for a day in Agadir turned out to be more difficult than anticipated. Because it was a very busy time of year, nobody wanted to give us a car for just one day but eventually we managed to persuade one of the local firms. Morocco's roads have a treacherous reputation and the accident statistics make grim viewing, but it was the only way to have the day out that we wanted.
First of all was a trip to the
Souss-Massa National Park for a bit of birdwatching. That meant driving out of Agadir and finding the coastal road that runs to the South. The roads were busy and it wasn't easy to read the signposts but eventually we left the urbanised areas behind us and were driving through the countryside and negotiating the frequent roadworks. As expected, we missed the turning to the town of Massa because it wasn't signposted. More by luck than judgement we found our way there and then continued on blindly hoping to stumble across the national park. Fortune was with us but had we known that you simply follow the good signposts to the campsite, it would have been much easier!
At the
entrance to the park we were hassled by the official guides. They seemed to be telling us that we couldn't enter without a guide which we thought was untrue. They only spoke French and a guide would have been pretty pointless as our language skills do not extend to ornithology! We drove on past them and made our way along the sandy road. At times we wondered if it was wise to continue without a 4x4 but with some careful negotiation we made it to the parking area.
From there it was impossible to get lost. It's about an hour's walk to the beach and along the way we had stunning views of the river and saw an awful lot of birds. As far as we know, we saw an osprey, a little owl, a falcon (see the panoramic image) and a Spanish Imperial eagle which werereally cool, as well as shanks, cranes, herons, plovers, cormorants and small birds like yellowhammers, linnets, stonechats, serins and redstarts. For a photographer (Russ) and a twitcher (Trish) it was a really good day out. It was pretty hot and dusty but we made it all the way to the huge Atlantic waves
crashing against the shore.
Back at the car we retraced our route making a small diversion to have a look at the auberge hidden in the sand dunes. If we ever make it back to this area, we will probably try to stay there. It looks an intriguing place to spend a night. The sound of the ocean might disturb your sleep though!!
Our plan was to drive inland to the walled city of Taroudannt. We knew if we went there we would be returning to Agadir in the dark. It was a bit of a daunting thought, but we went for it anyway. The city has over 7km of city walls all in perfect working order. Unfortunately inside the walls we found it to be a very functional city with not a lot to see. Once you've seen one souk, you've seen them all! Our kebab snack was delicious though. It was also quite odd seeing inflatable Santa Claus on the market stalls. The best part was the carpentry souk which was a bit different to everything else. Maybe we missed something but it was a long way to drive just to admire the walls no matter
how impressive they were.
The drive back to Agadir was breathtaking - literally! Heart-stopping too!! If you travel at less than 20kph on Morocco's roads, you don't need to have lights at night. That led to rather a lot of guesswork as we had to work out whether or not the shadows we saw were moving, stationary or imaginary! With great relief we finally made it back to the hotel. We could breathe again and live to see another day!!!!!
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