Over the High Atlas Mountains
Day 4
Having seen & survived our interesting - albeit quick - visit to Marrakech, we were chomping to move into Phase 2 of our trip: The drive south into the Atlas Mtns & the desert beyond. This was the main event for us. If you have had a look at a map of southern Morocco, you can see Marrakech is located in a large temperate coastal plain that is classed as tropical Mediterranean grassland or chaparral. As you move south & up you go through a temperate/cold arboreal zone in the High Atlas which morphs into semi-desert on the southern side in the high inter-mountain hilly plain between the High Atlas & the Anti-Atlas. The western part of the inter-mtns returns to chaparral as you lose altitude & approach the Atlantic coast. South & west of the Anti-Atlas it is desert. In geologic terms, the Anti-Atlas is the older range with the High Atlas the relative newcomer. In human terms, this is Berber country with a smattering of other Arabic peoples like the Bedouin & the Tuareg.
To ease the speed of our travel south – constant travel is always a sore point with my spouse – I had booked two nights in the palmeraie of Skoura. I thought – unfortunately not with enough clarity – that this would give us a slow & peaceful meander south. The big flaw in my plan was the drive from Skoura to M’Hamid to get to our desert sojourn. But I am getting ahead of myself . . .
The iPhone 5 alarm shattered a peaceful sleep at 6am. It was time to move. We had packed the night before & arranged an early breakfast at 7:30am since our driver was coming at 8am. This is the one time that the Riad Dar One staff let us down. We went down to atrium for breakfast & the riad was quiet. Not a soul until another couple with similar plans joined us with the same anticipation. It took 15 minutes to rouse someone & get our slight repast organized but it was accomplished eventually.
And our driver arrived promptly at 8am as previously arranged. Well, actually he arrived at 9am since the time had changed over the weekend to daylight savings time & many Moroccans had not made the change yet . . .
In Morocco, a driver is a driver. A guide is a guide. They are licensed separately & their duties are – in theory – limited to their licensing. But, of course, all travelers hope for a driver that will get them safely & efficiently from Point A to Point B, as well as providing some insight into the country, the geography, the peoples, the customs & all in our own native language . . . quite a tall order actually. There are a multitude of companies – big & small – offering these services & this is one of the biggest decisions you will make in planning a trip to Morocco. You can sift through thousands of posts here, on Trip Advisor, Lonely Planet et al on the subject. It really boils down to a real recommendation from someone you trust or a seat of the pants decision based on the price & the communications that you have had.
I chose option #2: Seat of the pants. I communicated with a number of companies & finally decided on Desert Majesty. Felicity (co-owner) was very forthcoming & accommodating with my plans. She agreed to work out a plan that allowed us to choose our own route, our own hotels & our own itinerary. Drivers typically stay for low cost at nearby hotels. They eat in the same restaurants where they have you programmed because the driver eats for free. They get a spiff from the vendors that they visit with you, offering your wallet as an incentive for factory tours/educational centers/co-ops etc. There is no chicanery here, it is just their business. My insistence on hotel choice was a bend in their typical plan but she readily accommodated this. She listened to what I wanted & offered it for a very fair price.
Meet Said (pronounced Sa-eed). Driver extraordinaire. Born 28 years ago in the desert to Bedouin nomads. Except for 6 years of school in Erfoud as a child, he lived as a nomad. He eventually wound up as a camel jockey in Erg Chebbi, which is where Felicity found him & hired him as a driver. He lives in a shared apartment in Marrakech – shared with Ali, another driver for DM. For us, he was the perfect driver. Safe. Personable. A total professional. We met Ali at several stops & he seemed to be cut from the same cloth. Said knew when to talk & when to leave us alone in peace. He answered every inane question we could throw at him & he shared with us his amazing depth of knowledge about the desert. And Said seemed to know every driver working the circuit. He knew every road & route that we traversed & every store & restaurant along the way. He can speak near-fluent English as well as French & the various Arabic dialects. And he had a great sense of humor which made him a lot of fun to spend time with. To say that we walked away from the experience very satisfied is an understatement. So while the choice of a tour company is an important one, it is the driver that will make or break your trip & we hit the proverbial jackpot with Said. While I am sure that there are hundreds of guides that will do the job very well & give a similar result, we were very, very pleased.
Our vehicle was a comfortable Toyota 4x4 – a.k.a. the Japanese camel. Since the temperatures during our trip were moderate, we never used the AC.
That all said, could I have driven it myself? Yes, but my wife refused to go if I did. But a few observations for those that may be considering this option. The roads were good north of the Anti-Atlas. Well marked with decent guardrails in the mountains. South of the A-A they deteriorated to 1 ½ lanes in many spots. Moroccan drivers tailgate. Everybody. They also lean on the middle of the road as a rule. Their highway fatality rate is very high but we only saw the remnants of one nasty crash in the Draa Valley & we experienced very few ‘close calls’ – none instigated by Said, I might add. A self-driver I talked to did explain that the frequent police radars zones/checkpoints that we passed, can lead to problems due to corruption. He was pulled over in one despite a modest speed & they added all of his 'violations' up to 1700dh. 100dhs to each officer made it go away. Said employed hand signals for other drivers. A V for victory or a light flash meant radar/police ahead. His fingers on the glass meant watch for flying stones & a hand wiggle meant slow/caution ahead.
Now I will quicken the pace of the story.
We left Marrakech easily & set off southwest towards the foothills that led to the Tizi N'Tchika pass. The flat soon gave way to rolling hills with the mountains looming in the distance. As we started climbing the hills remained very green on this - the Marrakech side. At our first pit stop, we noted that the temperature had plummeted. There were beautiful eye-popping vistas all around. Small mud brick villages hugged the mountain slopes with herds grazing on the tilted hills.
Having seen & survived our interesting - albeit quick - visit to Marrakech, we were chomping to move into Phase 2 of our trip: The drive south into the Atlas Mtns & the desert beyond. This was the main event for us. If you have had a look at a map of southern Morocco, you can see Marrakech is located in a large temperate coastal plain that is classed as tropical Mediterranean grassland or chaparral. As you move south & up you go through a temperate/cold arboreal zone in the High Atlas which morphs into semi-desert on the southern side in the high inter-mountain hilly plain between the High Atlas & the Anti-Atlas. The western part of the inter-mtns returns to chaparral as you lose altitude & approach the Atlantic coast. South & west of the Anti-Atlas it is desert. In geologic terms, the Anti-Atlas is the older range with the High Atlas the relative newcomer. In human terms, this is Berber country with a smattering of other Arabic peoples like the Bedouin & the Tuareg.
To ease the speed of our travel south – constant travel is always a sore point with my spouse – I had booked two nights in the palmeraie of Skoura. I thought – unfortunately not with enough clarity – that this would give us a slow & peaceful meander south. The big flaw in my plan was the drive from Skoura to M’Hamid to get to our desert sojourn. But I am getting ahead of myself . . .
The iPhone 5 alarm shattered a peaceful sleep at 6am. It was time to move. We had packed the night before & arranged an early breakfast at 7:30am since our driver was coming at 8am. This is the one time that the Riad Dar One staff let us down. We went down to atrium for breakfast & the riad was quiet. Not a soul until another couple with similar plans joined us with the same anticipation. It took 15 minutes to rouse someone & get our slight repast organized but it was accomplished eventually.
And our driver arrived promptly at 8am as previously arranged. Well, actually he arrived at 9am since the time had changed over the weekend to daylight savings time & many Moroccans had not made the change yet . . .
In Morocco, a driver is a driver. A guide is a guide. They are licensed separately & their duties are – in theory – limited to their licensing. But, of course, all travelers hope for a driver that will get them safely & efficiently from Point A to Point B, as well as providing some insight into the country, the geography, the peoples, the customs & all in our own native language . . . quite a tall order actually. There are a multitude of companies – big & small – offering these services & this is one of the biggest decisions you will make in planning a trip to Morocco. You can sift through thousands of posts here, on Trip Advisor, Lonely Planet et al on the subject. It really boils down to a real recommendation from someone you trust or a seat of the pants decision based on the price & the communications that you have had.
I chose option #2: Seat of the pants. I communicated with a number of companies & finally decided on Desert Majesty. Felicity (co-owner) was very forthcoming & accommodating with my plans. She agreed to work out a plan that allowed us to choose our own route, our own hotels & our own itinerary. Drivers typically stay for low cost at nearby hotels. They eat in the same restaurants where they have you programmed because the driver eats for free. They get a spiff from the vendors that they visit with you, offering your wallet as an incentive for factory tours/educational centers/co-ops etc. There is no chicanery here, it is just their business. My insistence on hotel choice was a bend in their typical plan but she readily accommodated this. She listened to what I wanted & offered it for a very fair price.
Meet Said (pronounced Sa-eed). Driver extraordinaire. Born 28 years ago in the desert to Bedouin nomads. Except for 6 years of school in Erfoud as a child, he lived as a nomad. He eventually wound up as a camel jockey in Erg Chebbi, which is where Felicity found him & hired him as a driver. He lives in a shared apartment in Marrakech – shared with Ali, another driver for DM. For us, he was the perfect driver. Safe. Personable. A total professional. We met Ali at several stops & he seemed to be cut from the same cloth. Said knew when to talk & when to leave us alone in peace. He answered every inane question we could throw at him & he shared with us his amazing depth of knowledge about the desert. And Said seemed to know every driver working the circuit. He knew every road & route that we traversed & every store & restaurant along the way. He can speak near-fluent English as well as French & the various Arabic dialects. And he had a great sense of humor which made him a lot of fun to spend time with. To say that we walked away from the experience very satisfied is an understatement. So while the choice of a tour company is an important one, it is the driver that will make or break your trip & we hit the proverbial jackpot with Said. While I am sure that there are hundreds of guides that will do the job very well & give a similar result, we were very, very pleased.
Our vehicle was a comfortable Toyota 4x4 – a.k.a. the Japanese camel. Since the temperatures during our trip were moderate, we never used the AC.
That all said, could I have driven it myself? Yes, but my wife refused to go if I did. But a few observations for those that may be considering this option. The roads were good north of the Anti-Atlas. Well marked with decent guardrails in the mountains. South of the A-A they deteriorated to 1 ½ lanes in many spots. Moroccan drivers tailgate. Everybody. They also lean on the middle of the road as a rule. Their highway fatality rate is very high but we only saw the remnants of one nasty crash in the Draa Valley & we experienced very few ‘close calls’ – none instigated by Said, I might add. A self-driver I talked to did explain that the frequent police radars zones/checkpoints that we passed, can lead to problems due to corruption. He was pulled over in one despite a modest speed & they added all of his 'violations' up to 1700dh. 100dhs to each officer made it go away. Said employed hand signals for other drivers. A V for victory or a light flash meant radar/police ahead. His fingers on the glass meant watch for flying stones & a hand wiggle meant slow/caution ahead.
Now I will quicken the pace of the story.
We left Marrakech easily & set off southwest towards the foothills that led to the Tizi N'Tchika pass. The flat soon gave way to rolling hills with the mountains looming in the distance. As we started climbing the hills remained very green on this - the Marrakech side. At our first pit stop, we noted that the temperature had plummeted. There were beautiful eye-popping vistas all around. Small mud brick villages hugged the mountain slopes with herds grazing on the tilted hills.
Into the foothills of the High Atlas
We passed through an area forested with tall conifers that looked just like any forest in the west of Canada or the US. By the next stop - higher still - the vegetation was petering out except for green clusters in the river valleys. The terrace from this café allowed some excellent ‘village in the mountains’ shots. Btw these are both standard stop points on the route for all drivers because I have seen the same photos posted in numerous places on the net. Swooping higher through switchbacks we stopped at an Argan co-op in the mtns at Souk El Had Zerkten. Local village women work this tourist spot & one in particular was very personable as she described the edible Argan products that they were making & pitched the packaged product they had on the shelves. We bought some sprays as gifts & later price checking proved that they were very competitive & at least we knew their products were pure & unadulterated which is not necessarily true of the goods you find in the souks. Argan, btw is a recent beauty/health craze product growing popular in North America.
The High Atlas Mountains
After cresting the top of the pass & taking the obligatory photo of the sign at 2,260m we started the descent. Much more gradual & much drier on this side of the Atlas.
A restaurant high in the High Atlas
At Tazentoute, we hung a left & made our way on a 1 ½ lane road to one of the south’s big events: Ait Benhaddou. The new town is stuffed with tourist SUVs/vans/motorcycles as well as cheap tourist restaurants. The 17th century Ait Benhaddou is across the river which is accessed via a bridge.
Films that have used it for atmosphere include:
The Man Who Would Be King (film) (1975), Time Bandits (1981), Marco Polo (1982), The Jewel of the Nile (1985), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), The Mummy (1999), Gladiator (2000), Alexander (2004) . . .
We stopped just on the edge of town for pictures & the ever-present hawker sidled over with a snake for photo opps. He got his money. There is a story about the snake man: Here. After a quick lunch we walked over the river bridge & into the ksar of Ait Benhaddou. Btw a ksar is a fortified village. A kasbah/casbah is a fortified house. The experience at Ait Benhaddou is marred somewhat by vendors – albeit non-aggressive ones - but it was pretty cool to wander around.
Films that have used it for atmosphere include:
The Man Who Would Be King (film) (1975), Time Bandits (1981), Marco Polo (1982), The Jewel of the Nile (1985), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), The Mummy (1999), Gladiator (2000), Alexander (2004) . . .
We stopped just on the edge of town for pictures & the ever-present hawker sidled over with a snake for photo opps. He got his money. There is a story about the snake man: Here. After a quick lunch we walked over the river bridge & into the ksar of Ait Benhaddou. Btw a ksar is a fortified village. A kasbah/casbah is a fortified house. The experience at Ait Benhaddou is marred somewhat by vendors – albeit non-aggressive ones - but it was pretty cool to wander around.
Ait Benhaddou
Visit done, we drove to modern Ouarzazate to conclude our business at DM’s head office. Ouarzazate is obviously a main junction for tours as well as the movie sets on the edge of town that have made it famous. Basically from what we saw, it is a fairly sterile town with little charm but it does have great street lamps! At the office, we discussed my plan flaw & we decided that we would ditch our 2nd night at the hotel in Skoura in favor of a hotel that DM would source & supply in Zagora. This would set us up properly time-wise for the desert trek. Business concluded we hit a small supermarket on ‘main’ street for water & supplies (OK, OK . . . it was actually for mix for our duty free) & then back in the SUV for the ½ hour drive to our hotel: Les Jardins de Skoura, passing the manmade Lake El Mansour on the way.
This hotel is a sprawling newish mud brick building tucked in the massive palmeraie near Skoura. We off-roaded to get to it. Actually all of the roads appeared to be bumpy dirt tracks winding through the palms, at least all of the ones we drove on. Run by a French woman named Caroline, it was a very pleasant place to stay. I told Caroline that we were going to leave early & she said that she would try to sell the room for our 2nd night & she would refund me if successful. She wasn’t, so we were charged for an empty room, but it was my fault so I can’t whine about it. C’est la vie.
The hotel has beautiful gardens & a refreshing swimming pool. They serve a set dinner which we partook of – it is actually a requirement of the first night of your stay. Before dinner, we met a couple from Los Angeles on the veranda. He had developed a ‘secret’ Moroccan itinerary that he used as an enticement to get his wife over to Europe so he could visit Burgundy for wine – a trip that they had done many times & which she was sick to death of. We also met a couple from the Netherlands, traveling with their 14 year old daughter. He was a history teacher & they lived rurally. Really friendly people. He was the self-driver that I referred to above. It was actually the homely hotel dog that brought the girl to us & we ended up having dinner beside them that night. Dinner was kefta tagine with egg which was good but there was no real choice anyway. It was a fun evening trading travel stories & lies into the night over a couple bottles of wine. Note: I still hadn’t broken into my personal wine stash yet.
The hotel has beautiful gardens & a refreshing swimming pool. They serve a set dinner which we partook of – it is actually a requirement of the first night of your stay. Before dinner, we met a couple from Los Angeles on the veranda. He had developed a ‘secret’ Moroccan itinerary that he used as an enticement to get his wife over to Europe so he could visit Burgundy for wine – a trip that they had done many times & which she was sick to death of. We also met a couple from the Netherlands, traveling with their 14 year old daughter. He was a history teacher & they lived rurally. Really friendly people. He was the self-driver that I referred to above. It was actually the homely hotel dog that brought the girl to us & we ended up having dinner beside them that night. Dinner was kefta tagine with egg which was good but there was no real choice anyway. It was a fun evening trading travel stories & lies into the night over a couple bottles of wine. Note: I still hadn’t broken into my personal wine stash yet.
Les Jardins de Skoura