Africa has always been a dream destination for me. For as long as I was in high school, the history and the exotic environment of Africa had a wide appeal to me. Therefore for this week’s post, I wanted to share my first-time experience spent in various areas of Morocco. I traveled to Morocco very much in the off-season so it was both great weather conditions as well as very good value. I will try to break up this post into various parts to make it easier to digest.
One of the first misconceptions I had of Morocco and Africa, in general, was that everywhere is a “safari” like environment. Obviously, this is not true because some animals cannot withstand the brutal conditions of the Sahara Desert, so there were many unexpected things I saw. I first landed in Marrakech which is a very large city in the West of Morocco. And to my surprise, the majority of northern Africa is very much an Islamic dominant environment. In fact, if I were a map maker, I might even partition northern Africa to be an extension of the middle east. Therefore upon my arrival to the city, I immediately knew that seeing elephants and lions will likely need to be saved for an additional trip. However, there was still plenty to see regardless and our journey begins when roughly 12 complete strangers hop on a car to head east across the rural Atlas Mountains & in the direction of the Sahara Desert.
Day 1
One of our first major stops was Ait Zineb, which is famous for its landscape and old tribal buildings which have starred in multiple movies. Movies like The Mummy, National Treasure, and Indiana Jones, all took place in Ait Zineb and it really gives off Tatooine Vibes from Star Wars. One of the more surprising things I learned from this trip was that most places in Morocco are filled with civil relations between Christians, Jews, and Muslims. Oftentimes in the press, we hear some brutal stories about how there is constant tension when it comes to religion in places like Israel, but our local guide explained to us that there have been centuries of peace between these religions. Therefore the tribe of Timbuktu (from AP World History!!) that resided in Ait Zineb, lived civil lives with the Jewish people. What’s even more surprising is that they communicated with each other through a written language using Macha spice.
Some more amazing history I learned about was their abundance of spices which has resulted in both great self-care and art. In Africa, they are very anti-chemicals and like to construct and utilize natural things within their daily lives. For example, they refuse to use sunblock due to the “foreign chemicals” that may affect their health. Therefore in such a hot place like Morocco, the people use Saffron which can is typically known as a blue spice. Saffran is often known in the context of cooking but on this trip, I learned it can also be used as a natural sunblock. It is for this reason that they call the Saharan caravan traders’ the “Blue Men”.
Another way they utilize their natural spices is within their artwork. Paint, Crayons, and other art products also typically contain a massive amount of chemicals and once again the tribal people of Morocco refuse to take part in the present ways. Therefore they draw in a similar method to water coloring where they will dip their brush into water and use natural spices as a “paint”. One of the most surprising “paints” they used was “Macha” where they can extract the desert colors very well. Once they have painted a drawing, they put their artwork above an open flame to get a nice firm drawing that will not smear like paint, or crayons if exposed to water. Everything here is truly all natural
Since our total trip was roughly 300 km across 4 days, our guide made an effort to divide the trip into multiple parts. And to my surprise, the trip never truly felt long since they did a really good job at taking breaks. So roughly after a whole day’s worth of traveling, we stopped in a small “town” if you will in Tinghir. During this time, we got to meet those around us and share a little piece of friendship as we were traveling for the next few days. During this time I sat with Carol & Thomas (Singapore), Selena (Italy), Gareth (Ireland), and Pedro (Spain). Everyone was much older than me, and it was a running joke that Carol & Thomas were more than 3x my age. However, like my whole experience in Europe, it has been very rewarding to meet people and get a slice of their life. Everyone was working beside the Singaporeans and they talked about how spending money on travel was the best value a young person could get. We all shared a glass of wine and ate Tajine which is a local dish I believe comes from Muslim culture.
Day 2 & 3
Day 2 was definitely the most jammed-packed because today was the day we reached the Sahara. But before the Desert, we stopped by a small tribal town in Toudgha El Oulia, which was a city within a canyon. Though we did not go very far into the canyon, we were at least able to get a glimpse of the beautiful scenery inside the Canyon.
A funny story I have from this canyon was based on how the barter culture has continued and thrived for most of its history. It is safe to say that in Morocco, there are no set prices on almost everything. So the art of negotiation is something I got to develop in this country. However, I will admit there were some failed attempts and this is one of those stories. So in Toudgha El Oulia, I was very keen on purchasing a traditional jacket seen in the picture above. And when I walked by this local man’s stand, we began to negotiate. However, we could not come to an agreement so he told me to take it and on the way back we could continue negotiations. This is where everything sort of went wrong because when we were heading back, he just charged me straight 400 Dahmers (USD 40), and since I didn’t want to hold up the whole group’s time, he scored 400 Dahmers in a second. Therefore there was no negotiation done at all and this local man just won big from a tourist.
On the way, we stopped by a rug store as well where we met a vendor who makes all the rugs for all the neighboring “towns” across Morocco. All the rugs were handmade from a variety of sources (Camel fur, wool, etc.), and at the end, we were asked if anyone was interested in purchasing the rugs. I had already learned my lesson for the day so I politely declined but Gareth and Selena were heavily pressured to buy and were charged 780 Dahmers and 1140 Dahmers respectively for their tiny rugs. It really is hard to be a tourist in these countries… Haha.
While there was more that we did on this day, I want to speak a bit about our main trip to Merzouga which was located in the Saharan Desert. And every part of this trip lived up to the hype because Merzouga was awesome. We arrived in the late afternoon and were going to be trekking to our campsite in the Desert by camel. And although I have seen Deserts before in Arizona and California, there is a different kind of beauty in the Sahara.
Our camel ride lasted roughly 2 hours into the Sahara and to be honest it was worth every second. Though my camel was a little chaotic in the sense that I think it was pregnant, it was still quite the enjoyable and peaceful moments of my life. There is so much beauty when you are sort of just in the middle of nowhere and there is no noise to be heard from far away. Nearly 2 hours into our trip, we took a brief break to watch the sunset in Erg Chebbi which is the pathway in the Sahara. Some of the colors that were captured by the camera in the Sahara were truly unreal and the contrast of colors was able to be captured so wonderfully by my iPhone. I mean take a look at some of these magnificent photos:
Another activity that we were able to do was also sandboard, which was quite awesome. Just think about snowboarding but on the sandy slopes of the Sahara. Though there were no straps that you could attach to your board, the natural friction between the board and the soft layer of sand made the speed very manageable. And to my surprise, while we were out in the Sahara, there was no wildlife to be seen. Within the Sahara, some really nasty and dangerous creatures could kill you upon contacts like scorpions or snakes, but due to the very fluctuating climate, it wasn’t suitable for wildlife. So the desert was pretty much just us and there was no level of concern for what we did.
To conclude the night and the blog post because this was probably the main last event, I was observing the stars in the middle of nowhere. With no light pollution or anything to be seen anywhere, it was truly a magnificent sight to see. I used to think that those pictures people captured where the stars are in a milky way used to be fake and edited but when I was out there, you could really see what seemed like the universe from the desolate desert. Though it was brutally cold reaching temperatures that were nearly at freezing point, it was a moment I will never forget. Stargazing is really such an awesome activity if you are in the right place. And since I am a city lover, I will probably never get to experience what I saw unless I am really out in the rural wilderness. The sky was really so amazing that even the iPhone camera could capture it to some extent which is virtually an impossible task under any normal condition.
So this wraps up this week’s blog post. And it was an experience I will probably never forget. Everything lived up to expectations and I am so happy to have taken the opportunity to come to this beautiful country. This experience will prompt me to make future trips to Africa to experience their amazing wilderness but also just see more of the world. The world is truly our playground and it may possibly be the best way to spend your money. Thanks for reading and I will probably take a short break for the next few weeks as I wrap up my semester.