Route During Week Eleven

We leave Dades and carry on heading west. In the distance - some 20 KM away - what looks like a bright star comes into view. Our route takes us towards it and Janette remembers reading that Ouarzazate Solar Power Station is in this area.

It's the world's largest concentrated solar power plant - capable of generating up to 510 MW of power. Thousands of mirrors direct light at the tower - creating the bright 'star' effect. The electricity generated can be stored in molten salt and used at night or when the sun doesn't shine.

A further 72 MW of electricity can be generated from a massive photovoltaic system.

A low point today is getting stopped by the police and fined for speeding just outside Skoura.  We’ve been stopped a few times but have managed to sweet talk our way out of it but this time they want all our documents and all of Lionel’s and they are not to be charmed by us so we hand over the equivalent of about £23 and head on our way with our tails between our legs.

We are bound for Morocco’s answer to Hollywood - Ouarzazate - and to Ait Benhaddou, the former has film studios open to visitors and the latter is an ancient ksar (fortified village) and also a UNESCO World Heritage Site that has been used in a variety of films including Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator and Game of Thrones. 

We decide to go to Ait Benhaddou first and so we stay the night in a basic campsite there; it’s nothing special but we have all we need on Lionel and the views across to the Ksar are lovely, plus it only costs about £3.20 for the night!  This is the first time we have met any other people from the UK and there are three UK vans there plus us out of a total of seven!

We walk to the ksar the next morning; you can’t miss the various stalls selling a really interesting selection of Amazigh crafts - rugs, jewellery, pottery - as well as items from other parts of Africa that have been traded over the centuries by nomads.  We show one of the traders a photo of the Dogon Door we’ve bought, he tells us it is from the Sahara and that it would have been traded in years gone by and made its way to Morocco - fascinating.

We also stop for tea at a lovely cafe run as a co-operative by local women, some of whom are also there baking bread in the traditional way.

The ksar of Ait Benhaddou itself is really interesting.  It is touristy but not overly so; it is extensive and it’s easy to find ourselves alone to admire the beauty and take in the history of the place.  Much is made of the film set credentials but that isn’t what interests us, it’s the great age of the place (17th century) and the atmosphere it exudes. Janette buys a locally made hat of which she is very proud!

The afternoon brings a completely different experience...

We visit the Atlas Film Studios which have served as filming studios providing sets for James Bond, The Jewel of the Nile starring Michael Douglas, and Gladiator. 

Our guide was great fun; he’s picked up various photographic and filming techniques while working as a translator on set and he put them to use directing our group in film scenes and giving us tips on special photographic effects. 

We had a great time but the wind blew and the dust flew about covering everything and we feel the need to get out of town and spend the night in the countryside. Before we go we need to refuel and Nick is delighted to find diesel for £1.03 per litre!

We identify a place a short distance outside Ouarzazate - Auberge L'Escale de Ouarzazate - which is run by Pascal, a Frenchman married to a Moroccan woman.  Really nice place, peaceful and with views out to the hills. 

We have been gradually making our way towards Taroudant where we are meeting our friends from the UK, Janet and Chris.  We’ll get there tomorrow and we have one more stop before we do, we don’t have anywhere particular that we want to see on this leg of the journey so we’ll stop for the night roughly halfway. Nick takes a well-earned rest and Pip takes the wheel!

We begin the day by retracing our steps slightly as we have seen a back road we want to take rather than the main one; it looks wiggly and interesting and it proves to be superb. 

The road meanders in places and is straight as a die in others; there are also gradients which involve us in dramatic switchbacks.  

The scenery is astonishing. One minute we are faced with austere mountains then we turn a bend and there are soft rolling hills which in turn are replaced by jagged peaks covered in scree and then most amazing of all, hills where the strata looks like the grain in a piece of wood or as if it had been combed, we laugh with joy as we round a corner to be faced with yet another complete change in terrain, this route is a delight.

Throughout this trip, we have gone from highlight to highlight but there’s no opportunity to become blasé as each experience is so unique and so special.

We start to descend and come across various oases next to an immensely wide but totally dry river bed. 

The road signs indicate that the road floods but we understand that there has been no rain in this part of the country for some years and although there still appears to be access to at least some water in the oases, the situation seems dire judging from the absence or low levels of water in all rivers that we have seen. 

We feel like taking a break so we stop in Taznakht, which unbeknownst to us is a town renowned for its rug-making.  The rugs are handmade in this area, each rug is a one-off, hand-woven, and dyed using natural dyes.

There is a market today which is showcasing Amazigh crafts so we go for a look.  The main commodities are rugs and argan oil.  We invest in both! 

The argan oil is hand pressed and there is cosmetic grade and food grade oil.  We then go to take a look at the rugs and we encounter the wonderful Amazigh hospitality.

We are whisked into a room where people are gathered for lunch; we are sat at the table and given tea and a sort of curd-based dessert onto which we pour milk; it’s delicious even though we aren’t sure what it is! 

We’ve since shown the photo we took of the dish to a couple of Moroccans but both told us it was something different so we're none the wiser!  

We’d like to buy a rug and the main man Abdul Rahman is very happy to show us the different styles but puts absolutely no pressure on us to buy.  He tells us that the rugs are hand-woven using wool from Siroua sheep and some from camels.  Three different techniques are used in the making of the rugs, knotting, flat weaving, and embroidery.  The wool is dyed using natural dyes including saffron, indigo, and henna and those are the predominant colours - yellow,  blue, and red - as well as the natural colours of the wool - black and white.

These rugs are gorgeous, we would like to buy several but we confine ourselves to one for our elder daughter for her new home.  We agree on a price which we think is fair and it feels better to buy directly from the producers who then get all the proceeds rather than buying from an intermediary at one of the tourist shops and stalls in every town.  

We drive on to Taliouine, the most famous place for saffron production in Morocco and a major producer on the world stage. It is possible to visit a saffron farm and one of the cooperatives that produce and sell it but sadly we won’t have time for that on this trip.

The next day we set out for Taroudant. The scenery is different again, sandy, rolling hills dotted with trees, it’s very reminiscent of the bush which covers much of sub-Saharan Africa and if a herd of zebra had wandered by we don’t think we’d have batted an eyelid.  

We're meeting up with our friends Janet and Chris who have flown out to spend a few days with us. 

Janet, Chris, Nick... and a local photo bomber!

We decided to book into the same hotel as our friends for a couple of days r&r. Taroudant is known as Little Marrakech, it’s medina is walled and the hotel is located right up against the walls, it’s really lovely, a true sanctuary.  The staff at the hotel are very relaxed about us parking Lionel in the street outside - what this means in practise is parking him a little way down the street in a dusty parking area, we decided to take the risk - but all was well.

Janet and Chris have kindly brought with them emergency supplies of gin as we have run out so we get started on that by the pool, very civilised.

We venture out into the medina and what we see is ok but we are encouraged to visit various shops and stalls a bit more persistently than we’ve been used to.

We enjoy our visit to Taroudant but don’t really feel we explored the town as thoroughly as we’d have liked, perhaps we'll give it another go on our next trip (by this stage of our adventure, we feel sure there will be a next trip).  We do however make the very most of the hotel. Nick has a massage and Janette has a pedicure.

Our next destination is Tiznit. This area is known within the motorhome fraternity as a place for getting all sorts of work done for very cheap prices - whether it be re-upholstering, mechanical or bodywork repairs. The motorhome next to us was having a full re-spray.

All three town centre campsites are full, so we have to stay in a campsite slightly out of town and take taxis to the centre which cost about 50p! 

Janet and Chris are joining us here and they are staying in a riad in the town centre, a real gem hidden behind an unassuming door in an ancient wall... we're not jealous at all!

Tiznit turns out to be a fab little place, not particularly scenic but full of character and very laid back, we love it. 

Tiznit is known for its Amazigh silversmiths and we are all powerless to resist! 

We also find a wonderful souk selling everyday items, fruit and veg, hardware, spices and most notably, meat which involves goat's heads still covered in hair and live chickens waiting in cages for the inevitable.

We stop for a snack and meet Moulay, a local artisan and shopkeeper whose shop Janet and Chris have already visited.  He’s a really interesting chap who taught himself English from a book during quiet times in his shop - he’s fluent!

A local restaurant has been recommended to us for this evening so off we set.  We step off the street into a narrow alleyway which gets narrower and darker the further in we go, can this really be right? 

We then spot the green arrows painted at intervals on the wall, we follow them into the labyrinth until we come to a low door, and we duck through it into a courtyard dominated by a huge fig tree.

The food is delicious and the welcome is very friendly.

We would never have found this place on our own and we wonder how many other places there are like this hidden away.  

We catch a taxi back to the campsite and the driver decides on a shortcut across bumpy waste ground, whilst watching the Morocco vs Zambia match on his phone balanced on the dashboard!

There is a wedding reception taking place in the function hall, decorated horses await the newlyweds at the gates and the guests look beautiful.  Festivities go on till morning.

The next evening we eat in another riad. This feels like a real insight into Moroccan life, it is run by a lovely couple whom the fashion for boutique, minimalist hotels has entirely passed by, this is old fashioned in a homely way, like visiting your granny—another tasty dinner.

Janet and Chris are returning to Agadir for a couple of days but we plan to head south; before we do however we are meeting up with Natascha and Bernd once more before they head north.

The weather is lovely and we sit to eat and chat outside till late; we laugh and laugh. It's a special evening.