Day 6 Todra Gorge

The hotel we stayed in last night was in the village next to the Todra Gorge. The Gorge is a limestone canyon on the edge of the High Atlas mountains. We enjoyed a beautiful early morning walk to the Gorge, followed by one or two stray dogs.

The date palms were in full fruit.

The walk brought us up to the road going through the canyon. The cliffs towered above the road.

The cliffs attracted rock climbers of both human and animal varieties.

The stall holders were out selling their wares.

Youseff then took us to see a cave dwelling family he had befriended a few years ago.

 He took a large box of groceries which he distributed amongst us to give to the family. Apparently many families used to live in the caves here but the majority have moved into local towns. The father wasn't there as he was out looking after his goats. 

 

The mother made us all some tea and was very happy to sit with us and answer questions. 

The children, 13 and 8 both went to school in the nearest town. Youseff had bought them a bike to make the journey easier for them.The children brought their school.books to show him and spoke a little to.us in French as they are learning that at school.

It was a fascinating insight into a completely unknown way of life. The mother was the same age as my daughter and the children the same ages as my grandchildren. Needless to say that's where the comparisons ended. Not sure how they manage living out here in the winter.

 

We left the family to return to the Gorge which was now filling with tourists. Our minibus was waiting to take us to our next stop which was a dog rescue centre run by an ex guide. During Covid he had converted a small piece of land into a beautiful garden with a guest house. 

The profit from the house and providing meals for passing tourist groups goes towards caring for the stray dogs.

 

After lunch we visited the large shed behind the guest house where they looked after stray and sick puppies. 

 

A couple of local.vets provide vaccinations and health care at a reduced cost. The dogs looked well cared for and healthy. Dogs can be purchased and transported abroad. Some of the puppies had that adorable pleading look but I did resist.

Our hotel for the night was near Ait Ben Hedden. This area has been used for numerous films. Hence the giant mural on the wall from the film Gladiator. We passed a couple of mobile film.units. Gladiators, some biblical films and more I had not heard of ( but everyone else had) were made here. Another hotel with a pool which we didn't use. I had bought a bottle of Moroccan red wine earlier in the day and we settled down by the pool enjoying a drink and chat. Many hotels do not sell alcohol but it is acceptable to bring your own and drink it openly in the public areas in the hotels.

After a large meal at lunchtime we were not that hungry but we did pop.out later in the evening for a slice of pizza.

Day 5

 Today we left the Sahara behind on our way to the Atlas mountains. Water used to be brought down from the mountains through huge pipes to provide for the smaller villages and towns. At regular intervals there were wells for the villages to  access the water.

We stopped to visit one of the families who lived in one of these disuded water tunnels. An enterprising family that now have opened their home to private tours.

We were taken down some steps into the tunnel.

Every 50 m or so there was a large hole where a family had accessed the water. 

Deep inside a candle lit table had been laid for us and we were served a delicious meal.

We then made our way out of the tunnel into the strong daylight.

The next part of out jouney took us through the fertile valleys of the Atlas mountains.

Of course, wherever we stopped, we were greeted by friendly faces wanting to sell us something.

By late afternoon we arrived at our hotel for the night/ The swimming pool looked lovely but it was freezing cold and nobody ventured into the water.

 In stead we all sat in the gardens to just relax and chat. The tables were set outside for us to enjoy our evening meal in the lush gardens.  We had only just started eating when it began pouring with rain. We quickly picked up our plates and ran indoors. Four of us stayed on after dinner to chat to our guide Youseff. He had been born in the desert and was brought up living the life of a nomad. It was no wonder he had connections with so many people. He changed the itinerary quite a bit to include extra visits to people's homes etc making it a very special and interesting trip. He has decided that he wants to start his own travel business rather than working for a company. He is an excellent tour guide and I hope he makes a success of it. He is one of G Adventures top guides and is off to Cambodia on a trip next week as a reward from the company

Day 4 The Sahara.

 Today we were going into the Sahara. It was along drive hence the early morning start at 4.30 am. I didn't feel great but I either had to get on the minibus or leave the tour and return home. I just couldn't face food but at least I was drinking and not feeling nauseous.

We arrived at the hotel in the middle of the afternoon. We did stop a couple of times enroute and I think I slept as well so the journey wasn't that bad, The hotel was single storey but covered a large area with a couple of swimming pools and was on the edge of the desert. 

The rooms were large and had a patio door opening out onto the desert. 

View from the room.

Camels walking past the hotel.

For a change we had some free time in the afternoon and I went down for a swim which was lovely.

At about 6.30 we met up to get ourselves sorted out for a camel ride to see the sunset.

I really enjoyed the experience although getting on and off needed you to hold on tight.

The clouds gathered in time for the sunset so we didn't get to see a particularly good one. In the evening we sat round a camp fire whilst the camel drivers played varoius folk music on a variety of drums and then we sat back and watched the myriad of stars above.

Day 3

 we would spend today in and around Fez. We started off at a community pottery where young men and women are taught the craft of pottery, hand painting the pots and making mosaics.

 

We were then taken to the Medina. With its 9000 streets it is the largest in Morocco.

Looking down over the Medina.

Our guide for the day (can't remember his name) has a You Tube channel on Moroccan food and cooking. He was recognised on numerous occasions as he was guiding us round the Medina. People asking for selfies etc. Got a bit annoying in the end!

He took us to the oldest parts of the Medina including the leather workshops with the large curing and dieing vats.

As we entered this area we were given sprigs of mint to smell to counteract the overwhelming odours from the curing of the leather.  

A rare quiet street.

The entrance to the oldest university in the world.

The oldest existing and continually operating educational institution in the world is the University of Karueein, founded in 859 AD in Fez, Morocco. The University of Bologna, Italy, was founded in 1088 and is the oldest one in Europe.

'Guinness Book of Records'

This was in an old caravanserai where they were weaving a silk like fabric from the fibres of a large succulent. Many from the group bought scarfs for use in the Sahara, our next stop on the tour.

We stopped for lunch in a pleasant restaurant away from the crowds but still in the medina. I didn't want to eat as the heat was getting to me. Despite drinking frequently, staying in the shade, wearing a damp scarf I got worse as the afternoon wore on. By the time we got back to the minibus I realised I had sunstroke. The group left the minibus to visit somewhere else but I had now starting vomiting. Fortunately for me, one of the other members of the group told the driver to just get me back to the hotel and collect everyone else later.  I was helped up to my room with the air conditioning on full and more damp clothes to bring my body temperature down. I continued being sick but with the help of a nurse who was travelling with us and some anti nausea tablets I began to slowly recover, eventually being able to tolerate liquids (flat coca cola really does help).  Our tour guide Youssef wanted to get a doctor and phoned me every hour through the night. I had a very bad night but had it under control by the time we left for the Sahara at 4.30 the next morning. I was worried that I might have to return home. We were travelling in the early hours of the morning as it was a long drive and we wanted to avoid the hottest part of the day.