I flew direct from London to Marrakech on a new British Airways route
designed to ferry the pasty white British public to the heart of sunny
Morocco.Stepping off the air conditioned plane into the 42degree heat
of Marrakech's summer was only slightly,less of a shock than stepping
out of the stuffy and formal American culture into the warm and
effusive Arabic culture of Morocco. The Arabs, renowned for their
hospitality the world over are truly the most amicable of peoples. They
will greet you on the street,for the most part,cordially invite you
into their homes or shops to share some mint tea and talk. The souk in
the Djemma El Fna in Marrakech does make a fabulous sight though.After
a time the pace of life in Marrakech palls you can leave the city and
head out into the'country'side.This is exactly what we chose to do on
our second night in Marrakech. Aided by a very helpful gentelman from
Desert,we strongly recommend you to book your tour with them,watch
their website: www.whitecamel.com . From the Hotel Chahrazad where we
were staying we organised a four day tour into the wilds of Morocco.The
first night of our excursion took us south across the High Atlas to the
desert near Zagora.After the mountains you drop down into a barren and
stony plane which extends pretty much to the Algerien border
interrupted only briefly by the Anti-Atlas a few hundred kilometres to
the south.At Zagora we left the 4x4 and we took the 8x8 for of evil
smelling and cantankerous camels and headed out into the desert.That
night we camped with our Berber guides, dined with them and slept under
the stars.The Berbers are enthusiastic musicians and strict Muslims,the
whole experience was rather magical.Upon reaching our Hotel we
clambered aboard the four wheels drive,we drove West along the border
towards a little town called Merzouga,dramatic landscapes and the dunes
are the most spectacular.From Merzouga we turned west into the Todra
and Dades gorges. The Todra was first, a tight, narrow gorge with sheer
sides about 300m tall..the Dades is larger, We spent the night in a
Hotel located in the heart of the gorges.Next back to Marrakech.That's
one of my adventures and next to the South Africa.