Sahara Bound

The road to the desert from Fes is long and not always the smoothest.  The landscape is so varied - from cedar forests to dry red or brown soil to rugged rocks and eventually the sand from the Sahara.  We passed through the mid Atlas Mountains, valleys, the High Atlas Mountains (pass altitude 1900 metres), more valleys overlooking oasis before reaching our hotel - a very modern structure that looks like a fortress on the outside but was deluxe inside.

Along the way we had many interesting stops with the first being Ifrane, a city with completely different architecture.  It looks like a small Swiss village and is in fact a skiing location.  Very pretty little town.

Next stop, the apes along the side of the road.  Clearly people do not bother them as they pose and wait for food.  Intrepid’s policy is not to feed them as our food can make them ill but clearly it is not everyone’s policy.  

Next a visit to a nomad home. This one was quite different from the last one I visited.  They had a structure that the animals are put in at night and 3 different tents - one a kitchen, one for sleeping and one for visiting. The young couple have 2 daughters but both stay in the next village with relatives while they go to school.  They will move lower down in altitude in Nov with their animals but the children will remain where they are for school.

Lunch was calling and we stopped in a typical village with apples everywhere - this is Morocco’s Okanagan Valley and the apples are plentiful and huge. While we were shopping for apples, lunch was being prepared - bbq lamb and beef plus a vegetable tagine.  Smokey in the area but very tasty.

There were many stops along the way for pictures of this changing landscape.  The sun was definitely shining and the heat was blasting - temperature around 39 degrees by late afternoon and a very hot 39 at that!

A few more stops the next day before the desert as we would not head out until later in the day.  This area used to be a giant seabed hundreds of millions of years ago which means there are fossils and more fossils being uncovered and developed into beautiful pieces.

If it seems like I am talking about food a lot - well we have ate a lot! Lunch was in a little Berber village on the edge of the desert and was a delicious Berber pizza.  After lunch it was time to listen to a bit of the local music and take our turn dancing with them.