0410 Tata to Tafraoute

31^st Jan 2016

6 WOW day !  A gorge like no other ever seen ! Anywhere !

I woke up at about 8 am and looked out of my port hole to see a sky of amazing and varied hues just before the sun came up.  I got up to take a photo (my camera was down below !) but unfortunately by the time I got out there the sun was just about to appear over the horizon and the sky lost some of its variations in colour.  Still a pretty scene though.  Spent some time trying unsuccessfully to upload photos for my blog – The poor quality wifi down here is getting somewhat frustrating.  I have everything written – Just cannot get it uploaded.  Also got caught by a few other campers wanting to chat, so it was about 10.30 am by the time we drove out of the camp site ! 

The first hour or two was spent driving with this amazing exposed rock formation on our right – It was almost like a man made wall, with the blocks being regular shapes and almost like big stones used in an Inca wall or something.  Really quite spectacular and different, and it went on for so long – Maybe 100 kms or so ?  Then the desert turned a bit sandier, but still with the Anti Atlas to our right, and at Akka we turned towards a town nestling in what looked almost like a split in

a mountain, like it had been sliced open with a sharp knife.  As we approached it we found this little oasis and town which was like time had forgotten – It was just out of this world and like nothing we had ever seen before. 

Once through the little town, it was back to the desert on an increasingly narrow (one lane) road, passing scenes that were almost biblical in the fact that they were just a life that seems to be almost untouched by the

modern world. People working in the fields, date palms on the oases, people walking along the road in hooded gowns, or riding donkeys, women at the well winding the handle to draw water from the well.  Really quite breathtaking simply because it is so different.  This is not a people in poverty – This is people getting on with their lives (and making it work) in the same way they have done for hundreds of years.   And as we passed, everyone of them not only waved to us, but waved with a big smile on their face.  Just totally delightful. 

After Icht and the oasis at Iguiouaz the road started to climb, and before we knew it we were looking down on the river bed and oasis and village from above -  we could see the other “road” we had been told about actually in the river bed, but I think the view was better from above.  We climbed more, and then came to the enormous dry river bed – And a concrete bridge across it – Trouble was a whole section of it had been washed away in the last rains – It must REALLY flow here when it finally does rain !   The visible damage and immense scouring was very evident for many more kilometres as we would our way up the river bed – Yes the tarmac stopped shortly thereafter, and we were in 2^nd gear bumping our way up the rocky track that was the river bed. 

The gorge we were in was surrounded by steep rocky cliffs that seemed to reach up to the blue sky above us, and made us feel very small in this enormous river bed.  There were a couple more bridges that were completely washed away, and the tyre tracks just led around them as best they could !  We came round one corner and there were lots of goats in the road and in the trees (literally IN the tree !), and a women goat herd (goat herdess ?) sitting on a rock while her animals foraged as best they could.  This bridge here also had section missing, and it was such a peaceful spot that we stopped right there on the bridge and had our lunch.  Just an amazing moment in time.

After lunch, we continued slowly along the rough trail – This was going to take a while to do the 100 kms to Tafraoute !  We saw nomads tent pitched high up on the hill sides – Presumably the goat herdess came from one of them ?   Eventually we came to an oasis and  town in a gorge where the road was crumbling beneath us, with sections held together with thin wooden poles while they tried to build a wall to support the road, and as we climbed the hills around it, we looked down on the town, and the obvious strategic importance it once played in the area, with fortifications up on the steep cliff edges where they could see anyone coming from any direction. We climbed and we climbed, twisting through gorges with the most amazing rock formations, and different colours in the afternoon sunlight. 

As we approached Igmir, we saw many of these trees that the goats had been feeding on, and saw the small berries they were obviously eating, and realized that these must be the Argan tree, a slow growing thorn tree similar to an olive that can survive temps of up to 50 deg C.  A bit like a certain coffee, the goats eat the nuts and their digestive juices dissolve the tough elastic coating on the shell.  The nuts are then recovered from the goat’s dung, and the kernels are split, lightly toasted, pulped and pressed.  1 litre of oil takes 30 kg of nuts

and 15 hours of labour, solely done by women.  The resulting Argan Oil is obviously expensive, and is apparently in increasing demand around the world !  We finally arrived at Igmir, where the road was scarcely wide enough for us to get through – But then there was not much traffic on this road anyway – We had probably only seen a dozen cars all day !  The oasis in Igmir was dense and undoubtedly cool in the summer heat, and despite the poor roads there were some very fancy looking houses in the village.  There were also a lot of old mud brick ones, most of which still seemed to have people living in them !

We then climbed further – up out of the valley up the steep dirt road, past a section of road that had completely disappeared leaving the guard rail hanging in mid air 6 feet away from the road !!  Scary !  Then up and up, on a road literally torn out of the cliff sides, and where they dug out the rock sides, they pushed the debris over the side, leaving great swathes of different coloured rock pouring down the mountain sides.  We passed 1200 metres and were still climbing.

The gorge itself rivaled the Grand Canyon, in my opinion.  It was just spectacular, and we were stopping every 2 or 3 minutes just to gaze at the scenery.  Photos don’t even come close to showing what it was like, so suffice it to say that what we saw today probably surpassed  anything we have seen in the last two years on the road.  We ended up over 1500 metres, and there was a 2145 m peak we passed along the way.  I have deleted over 150 photos today, and still have 175 or so left in there that I just cant take out. So skim through them and just try to get a small idea of what we have seen today !

Finally we dropped down to about 800 metres, seeing increasing numbers of Almond trees that are in blossom – The almond harvest here in the spring time is a big festival.  and as we approached Tafraoute the scenery changed into one of massive boulders strewn everywhere across the landscape.

We dropped into Tafraoute and went straight to the nearest camp site, pooped after a long day climbing mountains in some of the most amazing countryside we have ever seen.  Gobsmacked.

Pics are here - https://picasaweb.google.com/110185357936043625130/0410TataToTafraoute?authkey=Gv1sRgCJbfgejhpIuoZg