7th Feb 2016
Lunch with Moroccans, High Mountain Passes,
and High Plains
It took us a while to get started this
morning, but we had to get going as we had been invited to lunch with a
Moroccan family we had met in the desert a couple of days ago, and they lived 2
hours or more north ! So once we had
packed up, said our goodbye’s to our Italian and French friends in the camp,
plus Mubarek the owner, and Hassan and Hamid the camel lads who had taken Janet
out into the desert, we were already running a bit late !
We went into the village of Merzouga just
up the road to see if we could find a bank with a working ATM, plus maybe a
sticker of Erg Chebbi sand dunes for the car.
We found a few stickers, but not of Erg Chebbi unfortunately, and we
bumped into some other Omar’s and Ali’s who had been trying to get us to go on
their camel rides / in their camp site / use them as 4 WD guides, and they took
us a while to chat to and placate – It is not a problem with these guys if you
just chat to them for a while, joke with them, and just spend some time with
them – That is all they want. Once we
escaped their clutches, we found the bank, but its ATM wasn’t working, so we
headed north Dirham-less, but with fuel in our tank and towns ahead where we
would find a bank.
We got back to Rissani and after seeing the
locals heading home from the market, we found a bank and got some Dirhams. Rissani has a history of desert caravans
arriving with gold, and the trading of slaves from the south. We then headed on
north towards Ar-Rachedia. As usual, we assumed we would be there in plenty of
time for our lunch date, but also as usual, things happened on the way !! First of all, heading towards Erfoud, we
passed through this totally unexpected, and very twisty, mountain pass. We climbed up through all these villages with
pisé buildings in various states of disrepair – as well as multiple retaining
walls on the mountain sides, presumably for agriculture, although there wasn’t
a lot there at the moment, probably due to the serious lack of rain this
year. At the top of one pass we stopped
to admire the view back over the enormous oasis, and met a German couple there
who had also recently enjoyed the South American trip, so we spent a while
chatting with them !
Then it was on to Ar-Rachedia, and we
finally arrived at about 1 pm. We
crossed the bridge into the town, and then texted Omar and he came to find us
and lead us back to his house. Once
there, we were made most welcome, and his wife Souad and sons Fouad and Adam
were also there, although his daughter was playing somewhere in the
neighbourhood and we only met her briefly.
Souad made us a delicious lunch with salad first, and then an enormous
tajine which, with fresh bread she had also baked, was simply delicious. We passed a very pleasant few hours with Omar
and his family, and we felt very honoured to have been invited to their house
for lunch. After a serving of the
traditional mint tea (poured from a great height into the glasses numerous
times), we finally got on our way north.
We were heading to Meknes, but there was
now no way we were going to get there today, so we amended our goal and headed
for Midelt instead. But once again, things conspired to delay us
! Not least, the incredible Gorge du Ziz
which winds up to over 1900 metres !
Shortly after leaving Ar-Rachedia we passed their main water supply –
the first big body of water we had seen.
It didn’t seem too low compared to those we had seen in Spain 3 weeks
ago, but Omar had told us that they had basically had no rain at all this year,
and that this summer they would have many water problems.
After passing the reservoir, we then would
up and up through the Gorge, always passing through villages and oases along
the way, and always with people on the side of the road waving and flashing
wide grins as we passed. As we crossed
into the Province of Midelt, and passed through the Zaabal Tunnels, it was
already past 5.30 pm and the sun was sinking lower and lower. While this made for some great sights as the
sun lit up the rocks in the pass, I was also getting concerned that it would be
dark before we arrived in Midelt, and I do not like driving in the dark when in
countries like this – First because there are too many donkeys without tail
lights on the road, and second because the locals seem to believe that by
turning their lights on they will run their batteries down, so a LOT of cars
drive without lights until it is almost pitch black !
We passed soccer games being played on the
dirt pitches beside the road, and we even saw one taxi van that was so full of
people they couldn’t even close the back doors ! In addition on the roof were several sheep
and two men, and when one of the men saw we were taking a photo, he stood up
and waved at us and grinned broadly ! Add
to that that 3 vehicles were trying to overtake the taxi, and there was a truck
coming the other way, and it was just one of those moments in time that left us
laughing our heads off at the entire situation !
By now we were near the top of the gorge
and climbed over 1900 metres before starting to drop down into the Midelt
valley as the sun went down. There were
the most amazing cloud formations above us, turning slowly more red as the sun
went down. The last few kilometres into
Midelt were in the almost pitch black and luckily we managed to find the
municipal campsite fairly easily. Municipal camp sites are not always the best,
but this one had a couple of delightful guys running it who could not have been
friendlier, and who really made the camping there pleasant, despite the fairly
ordinary facilities. But they were to
make it even more pleasant when we awoke in the morning ! In the meantime, we set up camp and after a
quick supper were in bed and asleep. A
cold night – We were still at 1500 metres and when we went to bed the temp was
about 4 deg C.
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