That that was as far south as we were going
Trip Start
Unknown
1
9
10
Trip End
Ongoing
Tiznit, Morocco
Wednesday, May 18, 2011
Wednesday, May 18
Well we decided that that was as far south as we were going, so now it is
for long road back, going over a lot of the scenes we have already seen,
but at a different angle, however today it was a wet angle, as it
rained almost all the way, so perhaps it was just as well we had already
experienced the route.
We stayed on the N1 all the way
through to Tiznit where we did a left-hand turn, and passing through on
the way south we had observed a small obscure French supermarket down a
side road, so this time we stopped and found that they did not stock
bread, vegetables, or very much in the way of cold meats. Obviously you
go to other trades or shops for these items. Then we carried on out to
the sea to Timslitt and a campground that we observed as were travelling
south, were the only ones here although we did see another motorhome on
the road earlier today the GPS cordinance are N 28° 48.253 W 09°
49.623 at an elevation of 34 m
Thursday, May 19
We
left the beautiful camping spot overlooking a beautiful view of the
ocean and started heading north towards civilisation. We first reached
civilisation in the form of a four lane highway with people wandering
all over the road and no organisation of any sort.
We
even reached the stage where the road we were on appeared on the Garmin
and we were actually on the road not several hundred metres to one side.
The main road went around a large city of Agadir which evidently was
flattened, totally flattened by an earthquake about 50 years ago with a
tremendous loss of life, they rebuilt the whole city on different
location, and looking at it now it has not put anyone off because there
are rows and rows of apartments.
We are seeing a
tremendous amount of Peugeot motor cars a lot of 504's in both the car
and in a pickup, are all doing extremely well still carrying several
times the load they were designed to carry.
Almost
everywhere we've been going in Morocco with seeing the tremendous large
combine harvesters of the John Deere type, is not uncommon to see six or
10 of them sitting in the one location, yet the volumes of the wheat we
have seen had been nothing like what will be required to keep all of
these machines going. We have also see in about six of the old Tractor-drawn thresher, something I have not seen since I was a child, and that's a little while ago.
The
main road followed the sea and we found an open space right on the edge
of the sea, near Amesnaz, there was almost totally deserted and were
stopped here for the moment, the GPS cordinance are N 30° 37.251 W 09°
48.740 at an elevation of -4 m, this proves the comment about the
accuracy of the GPS to the fact that, whilst they use military
satellites, they have been de-tune to the tune of 90 m, which is
gratifying that we are actually not below sea level.
Friday, May 20
We
left our beautiful spot overlooking the Atlantic Ocean and headed up
the N1 towards Essaouira passing through several small villages on the
way with the total chaos in the main street, perhaps the old Muslim
saying “ I cannot die unless it is my day to die “ explains the casual
wandering all over the main street, I can't think of any other reason.
We
saw more goats sampling the Argan tree leaves and fruit, some right at
the top of the trees, we saw many roadside stalls selling the Argan oil,
we didn't stop because we weren't sure what was or how to use it, and
their explanation in French would have been no help whatsoever.
We
eventually arrived at Essaouira, made our way to the main parking area
by the fishing wharf, there was a very helpful Moroccan guy who guided
us into the car park, as a woman was going out, she wiped out one of our
navigation lights on the side of the motorhome, no big deal! We finally
got to where he wanted us, and then the sales pitch began, you want
your van washed, we said, yes how much, he said 100 Dm, which works out
to about €10 and it was so jolly dirty we thought was time it looked a
little bit cleaner.
He wanted his 20Dm tip now, and also a shirt or shoes or both! We told him we give him his when we returned.
We
made our way into the old city wandering through it along with a lot of
other tourists, all looking at the junk they put out the tourists, we
obviously now getting into the tourist route so I guess we can expect
this from now on, there's quite a contrast with the near naked western
females and the ladies of the city to cover everything including the
eyes, which peer out through a mesh. I often wonder what they think!
I
guess we could have wandered round the marketplace for another hour or
taken up the offer of the guy that wants to guide us around the place,
but I felt an hour was sufficient, so we wandered back to the motorhome,
the washing was three quarters finished, so we went on to look at the
wharf, the boat construction, the sorting of the nets and the long
lines, and the cleaning of the fish, which smells the same the world
over.
We got back to the motorhome, my friend who was
supervising some guy who was washing the motorhome, wanted to know if we
want to sleep there the night, but with the smell of the fish market in
the background we elected to take our clean motorhome back on the road.
A
new destination was Safi and most of the time we were driving along the
Atlantic coast kilometre after kilometre of beautiful golden sands and
no way to get down to the beach, except one place which had a sign
pointing to the left, to international camping! Well to the left we
duly went, over a little bit of a causeway, to a large rock which had
painted on it, camping, with an arrow to the left which was over what
looked like a tidal estuary, and the tracks looked like the last vehicle
had major problems so we decided to move on. Just to prove that the
side trip looking for the camping was not a waste of time we found about
10 flamingos browsing through the tidal flats and as always they made
interesting photographs.
Again it was through the small
villages and the total chaos, of course was Friday and one village
looked like it also had a major market today, and for the next 10 km or
so, we passed people walking, cycling, riding donkeys, in horse and
carts, and finally we passed a pickup that was delivering a load of
sheep, I guess purchased at the market.
It must be the
onion season because we passed several camels being loaded up with
onions and then move the onions a kilometre or so down the road, I guess
though being moved to a collection point because we saw a large truck
being loaded but there was sure a lot of handling getting those onions
to market.
It was heart wrenching not to be up to camp by
the ocean, and we drove on and on with no access. I guess it is only a
matter of time before these beaches have apartments there full length
and then it will just look like anywhere else in Spain or France.
We
eventually arrived at Safi, which turned out to be a Phosphorous City
as on the outskirts we pasted a tremendously large processing plant with
massive piles of the naturally red raw phosphorous and out in the bay
we saw about six ships anchored, two and two usually make four, so I
guess they were here to pick up a phosphorous.
On through
the city and we came to a large supermarket and we stopped there to get
some supplies, moved on and we found a signpost pointing to a municipal
camping ground, so here we are, all of the staff only talk French, so I
guess at some time, before we leave, will be given the papers to fill
in and take the money off us.
the GPS cordinance are N 32° 19.032 W 09° 14.272 at an elevation of 67 m,
Saturday, May 21
I gave the camp manager details last night and wanted to pay him, he said oh no no no pay in the morning.
Of
course this morning he was nowhere to be found so I spent the best part
of 15 minutes looking for him to give them some money and he spent 15
minutes trying to get me some change!
However we got back
on the road heading north, our next stop was the old Portuguese city of
El Jadida and again we carried on R301, which remained the Coast Road,
and for most of the drive we were about 200 to 300m from the sea and the
beautiful golden sands, and absolutely no access to the beach for at
least 100 km, you of course could walk over land, probably like the
locals, no beachside cottages, no nothing only houses for the workers,
and I guess it was facing the sea, it would be counted as a problem when
the wind blew it off the Atlantic in the winter.
No it is only the western society they have time and money to build by the ocean for pleasure and not for work.
The
countryside changed from desert type of country with the ground
basically being rock and a few little tufts of grass growing here and
there and then it changed dramatically to lush gardens with all sorts of
vegetables being grown, in bulk, and there were large trucks being
loaded everywhere.
We again past what I assume was
another phosphorus extraction plant and this time there was a lot of
conveyor belts leading down to a wharf for obviously transport to its
destination.
We drove on into the city, looked around for
a parking spot, found nothing, found no camp ground signs, so we
decided to head on towards Marrakesh, and just as we almost got out of
the city, we stopped checked the Internet and found there was a camp
ground about 6 km away, no GPS settings, there was a hotel given as a
landmark, so use that on the GPS, this took us straight into town,
straight into the old city with cars parked each side, produce trolleys
both sides with enough room for them at home to squeeze by, just, and of
course add to this, the people wandering across the road, the bicycles
weaving in and out, motorcycles weaving in and out, the car is coming
towards me, the cars going my Way were no problem, they were behind me!
Eventually
got through this crowded little part of town and then we were cruising
along the waterfront, past the hotel, knows signpost for any camping,
and when eventually were heading out of town, we stopped in check with
the police and they told us where it should be, in the opposite
direction.
So we headed off to find a place to turn
round, and before we knew where we were, were on a tollway heading
towards Casablanca, that was not on our list to do today so after about
15 km we found an exit, paid our money, got back on the motorway, got to
the exit, paid our money again, and then after a couple of tries we
found the correct road, and when we arrived at the campground, there are
couple police cars parked in front of the camping sign, just to make it
a little bit more difficult, but we did not let them fool us as we
turned on to be greeted by the manager.
The first thing I
did was give him the GPS cordinance, he looked at the piece of paper
not quite knowing what they were, or what to do with them, I spent some
time trying to explain it to him and I think he got the message that
will only know if we look at his advertising and see some mention.
The GPS cordinance are N 33° 14.403 W 08° 29.306
Four
o'clock we took a taxi into the city to look at the old Portuguese part
of town, they settled here in 1502 and built the port to became a
centre of trade and ships from Europe and the East anchored to take on
provisions, they of course have gone now.
We came into
town particularly to see the Portuguese Cistern built in 1514, they have
left a fraction of water on the floor and the reflections of the
columns in the vaulting when viewed on the water is among real and
mysterious sight.
We wander around the old city for
awhile and then back out on the road flag down a taxi and back to the
campground. It is of course always an education to be driven through a
foreign town by taxi driver, you travel is among real speed, go so close
to people and vehicles, you're pleased when the ride is over.
Sunday, May 22
Today
we drove through to Marrakesh, our first problem was giving out of El
Jadida with the Garmin GPS maps being very thin on the streets of the
city, the Garmin told us to turn right to go to N1, we turned left us
with being that way before and eventually we found a signpost leading
towards Marrakesh and a few kilometres down that road with the tar seal
being just the width of one vehicle and of course the vehicles coming
towards us one of the whole road, but the equation was settled when we
came to a under pass with water across the road, and a motorcyclist
signalling that we should not proceed, so was back the way we came, and
found another road a little bit better leading towards Marrakesh, and
later I discovered that I gone a little bit further I would have found
the N1, but the Garmin wanted to lead us to, because eventually that was
the road we ended up on, quite bumpy in parts, but not the worst road
we have being on!
I did the GPS cordinance in to the
campground that we want to go to, I found the link on a travelling
Africa website, a couple had stayed here and had posted the GPS
settings. Anyone that tells you the GPS settings do not work in Morocco
have got a hidden agenda, as whilst the secondary roads are doubtful the
GPS settings are still valid even if it shows an area in the middle of
nothing, at least you know where to head. On this occasion the Garmin
took us on to a tollway, which was beautiful travelling, it looks like a
tollway goes between all the tourist cities, and if one came to Morocco
and used the tollway, you'd leave thinking the roads were wonderful, we
know a little bit different.
We arrived at this large
campsite right on the button, the GPS took us right to the door, and the
campsite was almost empty, except we saw a large white “ serious
motorhome” that I thought I recognised, it was Roger and Rita's from the
Silk Route club, they are spending a few weeks here in Morocco getting
to know the country better. We had an enjoyable afternoon with them
drinking Coca-Cola and medicine (Vodka) they may be joining us tomorrow
on a tour around Marrakesh.
Monday, May 23
Nine
o'clock this morning the camp minibus collected the four of us and took
us into Marrakesh and we did a good tour all around the city looking at
all the interesting spots and then they left us near the square for us
to wander for a couple of hours and we had a meal and were waiting for
us when we are ready to come home. At that point it had reached 40°C so
we were pleased to get in an air-conditioned minibus for the trip back
to the campground.
Tuesday, May 24
We said
goodbye to Roger and Rita, they were travelling south to go on a desert
safari with an Englishman we met at the campsite.
We in
the meantime headed towards Beni Mellal, but not by the main road, oh
no! We had to find the most obscure little road that existed, half a
kilometre into the road, a truck flashed his lights and waved his hands,
as they been doing all the way through Morocco because of our LED
driving lights, however this time I believe that was to try to tell us
to go no further, of course we went further and of course after we got
down the road 20 km we found ourselves at a muddy portion of riverbank,
and a full flowing river which we felt was possibly a little bit too
much for the Carthago. I'm not necessarily sure that a serious
motorhome, (four-wheel-drive truck) would have been able to attempt the
crossing! So was back the way we came to a signpost in the middle of a
grubby little town pointing to the R304 which was supposed to be an
interesting road.
Let me talk a little bit about the
little towns and villages have been passing through, first of all there
is chaos with the traffic and parking and pedestrians, that goes without
saying, there is an incredible amount of dirt and dust and add to this a
certain amount of neglect and rubbish, and don't forget the potholes
filled with water along with horse and donkey droppings everywhere,
stray dogs and cats and you have found a place you could call home and
enjoy the shopping experience.
Carrying on the R304 it
went through a little bit of a gorge whilst it was climbing up the side
of a mountain, eventually to 1200 m, but whilst it was on the bottom we
found ourselves perhaps 12 hours late, because I'm sure it was as recent
as 12 hours ago the water was flowing over the road, I don't know how
deep, but there were certainly dirt and stones over most of the road for
quite a distance, and of course the edge of the road was being
undermined so we had to watch to make sure the wheel did not disappear
over the edge, and of course the interesting part on this road was when a
truck appeared on a bend in front of us, each side of the road had
disappeared, there was just enough room for the motorhome, fortunately
the truck driver realised this and he backed up to a corner where I
could edge past, and fortunately after that the road became a little bit
more normal.
Eventually as we were getting close to Beni
Mellal we came out of the mountains at 1200 m and look down in the
valley to where we were going 700 m below and it was a beautiful
patchwork effect of all the fields with substantial hedges around them,
this is certainly a pretty sight.
It seemed to take quite
a long time to go down the 700 m, and on the way we passed a power
station with a very large pipe coming down the mountain, obviously
supplying the water to the power station, and then later we noted the
water went on down to irrigate the fields we had been admiring.
There
was a campsite shown on the map for the city of Beni Mellal, and when
we arrived at the in inevitable police checkpoint, I parked the
motorhome and walked back, the plain clothes police officer, spoke
perfect English, said there was no longer a campsite in Beni Mellal, but
told us to park at the Acima supermarket, he said you'll be quite safe,
and there are no pickpockets there.
The GPS cordinance of the car park are N 32° 19.852 W 6° 22.022
Wednesday, May 25
Today
our destination was Meknès, but first we travelled 10 km to the next
town to hopefully see some native monkeys that live in the caves that
frequent the hillside of the area. It was raining, and I would imagine
the monkeys are too smart to wander out in the rain just for some Kiwi
tourists, or perhaps, more likely, we were not looking in the right
spot.
So we set the GPS for our destination and it took us on
through the back roads to eventually we reached the N8, of course when
it rains here, there are no stormwater drains to carry it off the
surplus water, it just takes the line of least resistance, and turns the
road into a minor river. Fortunately it was only light rain so the
river was just enough to wet the tyres, but I'd hate to be on these
roads in a real downpour!
You've probably gathered by now from
my writing, that life is pretty dismal in these villages, and get a
whole lot worse when it starts to rain, as you can quite well imagine.
There is water on the roads, the dirt on the side of the road's turns
into mud, the minor river washes away bits and pieces of the road, of
course raincoats are a luxury that most don't have!
We were
passing through Azrou and the map indicated there was a campground
there, so we flashed our card that had camping written in English and
Arabic (we photographed a road sign earlier and hope both the words said
the same thing!) The first police we showed it to said that yesterday
was a campground back that way 4000 m, later we realised he was confused
with the English words “hundreds and thousands”. However to begin with
we went back 4 kilometres, found nothing, but another police post, and
they directed us back the way we had come and when we got to the point
in the distance that the second police told us about we realised the
first was talking about 400m.
We then show the card to a woman,
she said yes it's down there you can't miss it! We went down in the
direction she indicated and found something that may have possibly been
what they were talking about, so again we show the card to the boys that
were in charge of the fence they were sitting on, and they said yes
this is it, well it wasn't, there was nowhere to drive in no nothing, so
onward we drove, to our destination, supposed to be two campground is
here, but when we saw a sign post for the Marjane supermarket we decided
to go there and check things out from their car park.
We
evidently both campgrounds have closed down so it looks like we'll be
here and another supermarket car park for the night. The GPS
cordinance of the car park are N 33° 51.261 W 5° 34.942
Thursday, May 26
Today
we set off in the direction of Tangier, again taking secondary roads
were ever we could, at one stage of the travel today we passed by five
American built, off road Jeeps, it really looks like Morocco is a “must
go place” if you own a four wheel drive and want to do some off roading,
particularly in the desert.
Another part of the road we came
across two trucks with a small van wedged in between them, almost looks
like the rear one knocked the van into the other truck, no need to tell
you which vehicle will need major repairs.
The road passed through plantation of cork trees, evidently they are a major cork producer.
Another
interesting statistic is that education is free and compulsory through
primary school to the age of 12 and the mail literacy rate is 66% and
female 40%, this compares with Turkey where schooling is free and
compulsory at the age of 15 and are literacy rate for men is 96% and
80.4% for woman. They certainly seem to be a lot of children in the
Morocco, and it's interesting to note the number of very young women
carrying a baby in a sling on their back.
One overwhelming fact
I'll take away with me is the obvious lack of employment opportunities
in this country and is not uncommon in certain parts of the country to
see a combine harvester harvesting a field of wheat, and another
location to see this being done by hand with a sickle, and then
willowing the grain to separate the chaff.
You see trucks
transporting loads of grass or hay, and on the same road you'll see a
donkey load up with a load of grass, passing several women with a large
bundle of grass all moving in the same direction, but obviously to
different locations.
Yesterday we passed through what looks like
quite a rich area, with what looked like, on the outside beautiful
houses, and then one remembers the adobe houses we have seen in most of
the countryside. Like everywhere in the world there are the rich and the
poor, it just seems in this country the gap is extremely large.
We
stopped for the evening in a hotel -- Motel -- campground just north of
Asilah, we are close to the ocean but cannot see it, and close to the
motorway and we can hear it. The GPS cordinance of the campground are N
35° 31.718 W 5° 59.848
We are very happy with the way in
which we have seen Morocco, we travelled 5100 km in this country and
really have had no problems at any point.
We have passed through
it must be well over 100 police checkpoints, and none of them have been
interested in us, wanting us to stop, we have been waived on at each
location. Occasionally when we have stopped to ask for information, we
have been surprised at the quality of English spoken by one of the
officers on duty and I've been delighted to talk to us, and are most
interested in what we think of their country.
I remember the
introduction that Ray Smith gave us on the tour, he said that the tour
guide would be probably at the back of the group, but occasionally we
would note him speeding past, and that was because he was aware of a
police roadblock ahead, and he was going ahead to make sure the tour got
through un-interrupted. Well with our experience of the police
roadblocks that sounds a lot like Bulls##t to me!
