Saturday 12 September 2015

Morocco: On the way South

Finally, after much longer than we ever expected we arrived in Morocco. Since the ferry was delayed we had no choice but to spend the night in Tangier from where we made our way down South the following morning.




The hotel in Tangier
Morocco welcomed us with a blue sky and lots of sunshine. Just perfect!
Lunch break

Camping Des Oliviers Chez Christian near Essaourria

Despite having motorways Morocco is a reasonably big country so we needed more than a day to get to the starting point of our first route in the South. Camping Des Oliviers was a nice break on the way and we were very lucky to come across it. We were driving till very late that day and had no hope of finding any campsites that would be open at this time. Hence we were looking for a spot to wild camp rather than a commercial campsite when we noticed signs for Camping Des Oliviers and despite very late hour (half midnight!) we decided to check it. To our surprise the gates were still open. We were even more surprised that a man came out of the campsite and allowed us in! I can't imagine this to happen in Europe!


When travelling in Morocco for the first time I was hoping to meet other people who go off roading. Unfortunately we didn't meet anybody then so when I noticed a 4WD with English plates I was naturally curious about the people. It was a family of five, a couple with three kids, two girls and a boy who were making there way back up North. I could not miss such a chance to finally speak to someone who also goes off roading! I invited the couple over for a glass of wine and we had a lovely evening chatting about our experiences and much more. They were lovely people who had been going off roading long before the kids and carried on when the kids arrived even when they were very young. The oldest child, a girl, was taken to Island for days of off roading in snow when she was just two where she attempted to climb a glacier!

And that's the town where the campsite was located.

On the way to Agadir and Vallee du Paradis

'An umbrella city' - a place that seemed very popular amongst Moroccan holiday makers who simply set up homemade tents not far from there.

On the way to Vallee du Paradis 

We didn't get to the main spot in the valley as it required walking and also because there were crowds heading in that direction which made us presume that it would be very busy there. Instead we found a little river pool which we had to ourselves. 

A cafe

Agadir


The campsite in Agadir got closed for the night very early so although we arrived there just a few minutes past eight we were not allowed in and there were policemen ensuring that no one could enter the campsite. Well, it didn't bother us much. We just drove out of town and found a pleasant spot to wild camp.

Going further South

Another beach along the way. This one just like the nearby town was extremely clean which is not a very common feature of places in Morocco.

Nearly there. Just last short stop.

29 July - 2 August 2015

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