When I travelled to Morocco in July 2015 I (somewhat ignorantly) expected to see a lot of sand, camels and mosques. What I didn't fully expect was the huge diversity of terrain, foods and natural beauty that I saw over my 9 days in the country. This was most evident during our 4 day tour of the country which took us from the North of the country, across the Sahara desert, over the Atlas mountains and finished on its Western shore.
Our tour began with us leaving Fez, an ancient medina city in the North of Morocco. The streets of Fez are a maze of stone where you can expect to leather tanneries and donkey traffic jams in equal number. If you wanted to avoid the chaos of the medina you could also climb the central hill of the city where you could a sunset intensified by the Saharan sand with a backdrop of Merinid tombs
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Our first day of travelling across Morocco by truck was very diverse. We travelled through coniferous forests, met a family of apes, drove through winding gorges and through desert oasis', and that was just the morning.
That evening we arrived at Erg Chebbi, the largest dunes in the Moroccan Sahara. It was here that we were supposed to take a short trip by camel to a Berber camp where we would sleep for the night. What we didn't know was that a "short trip" through the dunes actually meant a hour and a half desert trek. Riding a camel across dunes without a proper saddle for 10 minutes is fun. Riding a camel across dunes without a proper saddle for an hour and a half isn't fun.
The next morning we woke up before dawn and rode our camels back to the small town where our truck was parked. Along the way we were treated to a spectacular sunrise behind the dunes. Totally worth the three hours of camel riding. After reaching our truck we continued our trip west, where we stopped for a swim in some refreshing mountain streams. Around sunset we reached the city of Ourzazat which was known for the use of its desert and mountain landscape in many Hollywood movies.
Crossing the high Atlas mountain range probably had to be the scariest/most amazing leg of the trip. Travelling the narrow mountain road was a lot like driving Rainbow Road from Mario Kart, except with more livestock and scooters to dodge. At one point we stopped at Tikrit pass, the highest point accessible by vehicles in Morocco before descending to Marrakesh.
Marrakesh was another crazy Moroccan city to navigate, visiting ancient palaces, hanging out in gardens and trying to avoid the aggressive selling techniques of street vendors. At night the entire square of the Marrakesh medina turned into a massive night market where you could get anything from orange juice to goat's head soup.
After 8 days of cities, desert and mountains we made it back to the coast and stayed in the fishing village of Essaouira. We enjoyed what felt like a much needed day on the beach, some surfing and fresh seafood.