On Location May 08 Morocco

Just three and a half hours from the UK is Morocco, where in just two weeks, I visited desert, mountains, a beautiful ancient city, coast and two of the most vibrant cities in North Africa. Oh and ate lots of delicious food!!

I started my journey in Casablanca, in the north of the country, an area that has a distinct feel of Southern Spain (or maybe it's the other way round!) dotted with white villages and olive groves.
Rabat, Morocco's current capital has a lovely, albeit less gritty feel to it than other Moroccan cities, and Meknes, with its fertile land and agricultural produce are both well worth spending some time exploring. The ancient Roman city of Volubilis was one of my highlights - the Romans really did know how to pick a beautiful site to build a city. Amidst rolling green countryside with far reaching views, I visited this site at dusk and the beautiful light on the colonnaded streets topped by the resident stalks nest and the amazingly preserved mosaic floors was enchanting.

Fes is less visited that Marrakech but no less wonderful with a medina that loses you on arrival amidst its 9400 streets. The donkeys here have specially made rubber shoes helping them to grip the winding and sloping streets - cries of 'Balek' can be heard throughout the medina, as a warning to get out of the way of an approaching donkey carrying its load!
The main industries in Fes are handicrafts including skilfully painted ceramics - baked in kilns, heated by burning olive stones. Also famous for its tanneries where some of the most beautiful leather is dyed...the natural dyes are rumoured to include pigeon excrement & cows urine amongst other ingredients!

The north and south of the country are separated by the Atlas Mountains and as I left the whitewashed city of Fes and headed south the scenery changed from mountains and cedar forests to dusty pink Berber villages and desert.

I spent one night in a private desert camp at Erg Chebbi sand dunes, located just forty minutes east of Erfoud. The orange sand dunes seem to rise out of the barren landscape from nowhere and the silence at night, broken only by the sound of Berber drumming, mixed with the amazing star-filled sky, is magical. This said - the dunes here are a well trodden route and even in low season I did share the sunrise with about 15 other people, making the whole experience that little less special. If a unique desert experience is what you are seeking, for me Morocco is not the place to do this.

For a first time visit to Morocco I would without doubt say that the combination of the Atlas mountains, Essaouira and Marrakech is a really great one.
The Atlas Mountains, home to North Africa's highest peak, offer stunning scenery with wonderful trekking opportunities. Dramatic snow capped peaks hide tiny Berber villages and crystal clear rivers where local women wash their brightly coloured laundry and graze their cattle.

The bohemian, laid back feel of Essaouira with its crumbling ramparts, thriving art community and windswept beach combines perfectly with the madness and sensory overload of Marrakech where after a day spent bartering and dodging donkeys and scooters in the souq you can always escape to the peace and solitude of one of the many beautiful riads dotted throughout the medina.
A perfect combination