Visit Morocco: route to desert

<div style="text-align: justify;">As far as the climate goes, it is better to visit the south – or at least the desert routes – outside midsummer, when for most of the day it’s far too hot for casual exploration, especially if you’re dependent on public transport. But July and August, the hottest months, can be wonderful on the coast, while in the mountains there are no set rules.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI8jbE6BamqipB1lNKiMuQNFSECHZ9UOXEzhrLosXrO5wbX6cIMpzx5qDQA9GugBozaPmpfn7OlBZu088q3TYB-6Kmc0hgihP4EFcYSoLCMtEkTVoE3gjRZjKwkQglacT9smMgMZWZVqU/s1600/102SSCAM.jpg" imageanchor="1" rel="lightbox" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Eljadida port"><img border="0" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiI8jbE6BamqipB1lNKiMuQNFSECHZ9UOXEzhrLosXrO5wbX6cIMpzx5qDQA9GugBozaPmpfn7OlBZu088q3TYB-6Kmc0hgihP4EFcYSoLCMtEkTVoE3gjRZjKwkQglacT9smMgMZWZVqU/s320/102SSCAM.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div style="color: red; text-align: center;"><br />
</div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Spring, which comes late by European standards (around April to May), is perhaps the best overall time, with a summer climate in the south and in the mountains, as well as on the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts. Winter can be perfect by day in the south, though desert nights can get very cold – a major consideration if you’re staying in the cheaper hotels, which rarely have heating. If you’re planning to hike in the mountains, it’s best to keep to the months from April to October unless you have some experience of snow conditions.</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Islamic religious calendar and its related festivals will have the most seasonal effect on your travel. The most important factor is Ramadan, the month of daytime fasting; this can be a problem for transport, and especially hiking, though the festive evenings do much to compensate. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><b>Morocco’s climate</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFlj6UUft9we4iGI_XGY-alBWRlOK3QeJQ-5L5VXEdu5gMf4p8bzQWLo_mV68CoQ0leXu7uJLhPfi1w8zXCWIraWX5LBYQk2p8EINAyEAQf-FfLsILdqP3YsgigFZB7vDsvhTwFPWxlwE/s1600/climat.bmp" imageanchor="1" rel="lightbox" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;" title="Morocco's climate"><img border="0" height="279" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFlj6UUft9we4iGI_XGY-alBWRlOK3QeJQ-5L5VXEdu5gMf4p8bzQWLo_mV68CoQ0leXu7uJLhPfi1w8zXCWIraWX5LBYQk2p8EINAyEAQf-FfLsILdqP3YsgigFZB7vDsvhTwFPWxlwE/s320/climat.bmp" width="320" /></a></div>

As far as the climate goes, it is better to visit the south – or at least the desert routes – outside midsummer, when for most of the day it...

...full post

<div class="jump-link">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnmikhjmbTU9omQbivMwjQL8_QMSAC7uyfKSBhvwLe0lb5kvOin1l0XHK7GQQQNAWhjm45xmlyik4gF7V7fPfqgiHwgFQKGiYYAXm3p5V6TcyxyHycY3oaVrLDeSZDDL9uswys6gMNubpJ/s1600/DesertU_Circle_2013_72.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgnmikhjmbTU9omQbivMwjQL8_QMSAC7uyfKSBhvwLe0lb5kvOin1l0XHK7GQQQNAWhjm45xmlyik4gF7V7fPfqgiHwgFQKGiYYAXm3p5V6TcyxyHycY3oaVrLDeSZDDL9uswys6gMNubpJ/s1600/DesertU_Circle_2013_72.jpg" width="320" /></a><span style="font-family: inherit;">Immediately when you arrive in the Sahara, for the first or the tenth time, you notice the stillness. An incredible, absolute silence prevails outside the towns; and within, even in busy places like the markets, there is a hushed quality in the air, as if the quiet were a constant force which, resenting the intrusion of sound, minimizes and disperses it straightaway. Then there is the sky, compared to which all other skies seem faint-hearted efforts. Solid and luminous, it is always the focal point of the landscape. </span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">At sunset, the precise, curved shadow of the earth rises into it swiftly from the horizon, cutting it into light section and dark section. When all daylight has gone, and the space is thick with stars, it is still of an intense and burning blue, darkest directly overhead and paling toward the earth, so that the night never really grows dark..</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-size: large;">T</span>he Moroccan pre-Sahara begins as soon as you cross the Atlas to the </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">south. It is not sand for the most part – more a wasteland of rock and </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">scrub which the Berbers call hammada – but it is powerfully impressive.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The quote from Paul Bowles may sound over the top, but staying at </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">M’hamid or Merzouga, or just stopping a car on a desert road between towns </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">somehow has this effect.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span>
<span style="font-family: inherit;">There is, too, an irresistible sense of wonder as you catch a first glimpse of </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">the great southern river valleys – the Drâa, Dadès, Todra, and Ziz. Long </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">belts of date palm oases, scattered with the fabulous mud architecture of </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">kasbahs and fortified ksour villages, these are the old caravan routes that reached </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">back to Marrakesh and Fes and out across the Sahara to Timbuktu, Niger and </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">old Sudan, carrying gold, slaves and salt well into the nineteenth century. They </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">are beautiful routes, even today, tamed by modern roads and with the oases in </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">decline, and if you’re travelling in Morocco for any length of time, they are a </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">must. The simplest circuits – Marrakesh–Zagora–Marrakesh, or Marrakesh–</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Tinerhir–Midelt – can be covered in around five days, though to do them </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">any degree of justice you need a lot longer. With ten days or more to spare, the </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">loop from Ouarzazate to Merzouga (via Boumalne and Tinerhir), and thence </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">southwest to Zagora and M’hamid, becomes a possibility, stringing together </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">the region’s main highlights via good roads and dependable transport </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">connections.</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="350" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=tinghir+morocco&sll=31.516764,-5.532389&sspn=0.033109,0.066047&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Tinerhir,+Ouarzazate,+Souss-Massa-Draa+45800,+Morocco&ll=32.203505,-5.383301&spn=3.253405,4.669189&z=7&output=embed" width="685"></iframe><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<small><a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&q=tinghir+morocco&sll=31.516764,-5.532389&sspn=0.033109,0.066047&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Tinerhir,+Ouarzazate,+Souss-Massa-Draa+45800,+Morocco&ll=32.203505,-5.383301&spn=3.253405,4.669189&z=7" style="color: blue; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">View Larger Map</span></a></small></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
</div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><a href="http://www.blogger.com/post-edit.g?blogID=6870866644079530229&postID=212548515368659665" name="more"></a><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">The southern oases were long a mainstay of the pre-colonial economy. Their </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">wealth, and the arrival of tribes from the desert, provided the impetus for two </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">of the great royal dynasties: the Saadians (1154–1669) from the Drâa Valley, and </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">the current ruling family, the Alaouites (1669–present) from the Tafilalt. By the </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">nineteenth century, however, the advance of the Sahara and the uncertain </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">upkeep of the water channels had reduced life to bare subsistence even in the</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">most fertile strips. Under the French, with the creation of modern industry in </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">the north and the exploitation of phosphates and minerals, they became less and</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">less significant, while the old caravan routes were dealt a final death blow by the </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">closure of the Algerian border after independence.</span><br />
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">Today, there are a few urban centres in the south; Ouarzazate and Er </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">Rachidia are the largest and both were created by the French to “pacify” the </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">south; they seem only to underline the end of an age. Although the date harvests</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">in October, centred on Erfoud, can still give employment to the ksour communities, </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">the rest of the year sees only the modest production of a handful of crops</span><span style="font-family: inherit;">– henna, barley, citrus fruits and, uniquely, roses – the latter developed by the </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">French around El Kelâa des Mgouna for the production of rose-water and </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">perfume in May. To make matters worse, in recent years the seasonal rains have </span><span style="font-family: inherit;">consistently failed, turning the palmeries pale yellow. Perhaps as much as half</span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;">the male population of the region now seeks work in the north for at least part.</span></div>
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<span style="font-family: inherit;"><iframe frameborder="0" height="350" marginheight="0" marginwidth="0" scrolling="no" src="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=s_q&hl=en&geocode=&q=figuig+morocco&sll=32.068611,-5.583801&sspn=2.106279,4.22699&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Figuig,+Oriental,+Morocco&ll=32.116667,-1.226944&spn=2.103704,4.22699&z=9&output=embed" width="685"></iframe><br /></span></div>
<div style="text-align: justify;">
<small><a href="http://maps.google.co.uk/maps?f=q&source=embed&hl=en&geocode=&q=figuig+morocco&sll=32.068611,-5.583801&sspn=2.106279,4.22699&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Figuig,+Oriental,+Morocco&ll=32.116667,-1.226944&spn=2.103704,4.22699&z=9" style="color: blue; text-align: left;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">View Larger Map</span></a></small></div>
</div>

route to desert The Moroccan pre-Sahara begins as soon as you cross the Atlas to the south

Immediately when you arrive in the Sahara, for the first or the tenth time, you notice the stillness. An incredible, absolute silence ...

...full post

When to go

The Moroccan pre-Sahara begins as soon as you cross the Atlas to the south

Popular Posts

Blog Archive