Morocco & Camel Trekking
Immediately after Ibiza, we hopped on our plane booked for Marrakesh, Morocco. Given all that was happening in the Middle East with their civil revolution and rioting, going to North Africa — an extension of the Middle East — took some guts. Arrival was smooth though, and finding a taxi to our hostel wasn’t a problem (in fact other taxi drivers were yelling at the one we selected for taking their potential business). The streets entering the city of Marrakesh were beautiful and the architecture was very distinct, although much of the residences were walled off which was somewhat concerning.
The closer we approached the core of the city, the worse the surroundings became. The streets became extremely crowded with people and the structures were worn down. Most buildings were no more than three stories tall and seemed to be made out of nothing more than clay, brick, plaster and dirt. Whatever they used was obviously sturdy enough to live in but you could see the sides of many buildings eroding and crumbling with time.
Looking like the tourists that we were, a man approached us and offered to lead us to the hostel. Truly lost, we hesitantly agreed to follow him to our destination. Within a few minutes, we were in the midst of twisting, dark alleyways where warning signals were going off in everyone’s head. The apparent “right way” to the hostel looked anything but; it felt like we were being set-up for a mugging. Very cautiously we pressed on until we reached a giant steel door at the end of a tunnel, as seen below.
Opening the door, we were warmly greeted by a receptionist in the hostel lobby. We made it! We thanked the man and proceeded to check in. Something was odd though; the man that guided us wasn’t leaving. He kept staring at us… and staring… and didn’t go. It was apparent then that he hadn’t led us to this location out of the goodness of his heart; he wanted to be paid for his service. Not having any small denominations of the local currency, it was very difficult finding a way to tip him without overpaying and he was growing impatient. After much effort, we gave him what would be equivalent to €5 and he left immediately — barely cracking a smile. Jeez! As you could imagine, my perception of the city was not the best at this point so I wasn’t expecting much of the hostel either, but was pleasantly surprised by the interior. As a reminder, this is a low budget hostel, not a hotel.
We still had the entire afternoon available to us so we did as any tourist would do… explore the city! As soon as we made our way out of those dark alleyways, the amount of small shops we came across was profound; booths and store fronts are set up along any route with good foot traffic. Any vacant space is an area to sell and the locals will, at the very least, pitch a blanket wherever there’s room. Most stands I saw essentially sold the same groups of items with slight differences in colour, fabric and price. Clothes, jewellery, watches, phones, headphones, pottery, and handbags were among the most common categories of merchandise found at these shops. And food? Tons of it. From snacks to full course meals, Morocco definitely has a lot of restaurants and snack shops to choose from. The problem I had with the city was how forceful the sellers were. They were constantly asking me to “check out their shop” or “just look around”. Some even went as far putting their hands on my shoulder to lure me into their stores. When walking, the slightest pause near a shop may give vendors the idea that you are interested in their merchandise and once you step foot in one of their shops, it’s very hard to get out without being pressured to purchase something. You really have to say “no” about 10 times before they understand that you won’t buy from him or her.
Just how expensive is Morocco? The answer is cheap — very cheap. One Euro works itself out to be just above 10 Moroccan Dirham and most meals we had (drink, appetizer, main course & dessert) were between 60–120 Dirham. For the amount of food we got, it’s a phenomenal deal and made eating out far more efficient than preparing food ourselves. Freshly squeezed orange juice (which was absolutely delicious by the way) was only 4 Dirham… that’s 40 cents!!
Everything outside of food is pricier but for good reason; the Moroccans expect you to barter with them. I figured bartering with Moroccans would be easier than it actually was (especially since my dad is so good at it), but they’re a persistent bunch and knowledgeable in sales tactics, too. I typically offered half of what they were asking and worked from there. If I was still unhappy with the price, walking away would usually yield their best offer. To the exception of meals, I never paid full price for anything I purchased in Morocco and neither should you — items are overpriced for a reason. I’ll warn you now that the quality of many items will not be as good as the seller claims either. Many of the articles of clothing I bought had defects in them after wearing them for a couple days (i.e. smudging colours, buttons coming loose) and it’s not uncommon to get food poisoning either. This is not to say that Moroccan quality is terrible since many of the handmade items are really excellent pieces; it’s just that there’s no quality control here making items from one vendor to the other unpredictable in their workmanship. So when I say it’s cheap to live in Morocco, I mean to say that the food is cheap, living is cheap and the prices you barter down for goods will become reasonably cheap assuming what you purchase isn’t a dud.
As a group visiting Morocco, the main reason we were here was to see the countryside and go to the desert. From our hostel, you can book excursions and trips. For only €95 a person, we received a 3-day package that included a bus ride to the desert, a camel ride, two breakfasts and two dinners, as well as accommodations in a hotel for the first night and tents in the desert for the second. This package was a no-brainer and by 7 a.m. the next morning, we were off!
The trip to the Sahara desert is not a close distance. Despite the fact we had paid for a 3-day trip, we only arrived in the desert on day two; the entire first and majority of the second day were just driving. This isn’t as bad as it sounds though because getting to the desert was amazing in of itself; a ride I would have paid €95 for alone. Let me explain.
When going from Marrakech to the Sahara, you are traversing on anything but flat land. The majority of the trip was driving on mountain ridges hundreds of feet up that had next to nothing in safety rails. You can trust the driver all you want, but it doesn’t prevent your heartbeat from spiking every time you look out your window and observe the potential for a massive plunge!
The view though, is spectacular. Never in my life had I witnessed this type of geography with my own eyes. Once every hour on our drive we would either stop for a photo opportunity, a landmark, a restaurant or bathroom break (which really explained why it took us so long to get to the desert). I fully embraced these stops as it allowed me the opportunity to steady my DSLR camera and be able to take some gorgeous shots of the landscape.
We passed by a kasbah, where five families still live to this day. Its main purpose now is to film movies like Indiana Jones, Gladiator, Babel, etc.
This next photo is the Todra Gorge where it takes 5–6 hours to rock climb one of these cliffs and the water is clean enough to drink since it sources from a natural spring.
Arriving at the desert by 6 p.m. the next day, it was finally time to get to the main attraction. I specifically bought a blue thobe and headscarf — a traditional Arabic garment — to ride my camel authentically. I should clarify here that the animals we actually ended up riding were dromedaries, which are a type of camel with one hump opposed to the classic two, but they are of the camel class nonetheless!
Our tour guide mounted us on the camels from the back of the line to the front. Being the newfound photographer that I am, I took the longest to get ready (since I was taking pictures) so I had the benefit of riding the first camel of the pack since I was the last to mount! Within the first few minutes we left what was even partial vegetation to a breathtaking view of nothing but orange sand and blue sky. I instantly knew that the next 2 hours on these camels were going to be some of the most memorable experiences I’d ever have. Every turn was a new landscape for me.
The camel rides only depart at sunset and sunrise to avoid extreme heat and to enjoy viewing the setting and rising of the sun. Our tour guide situated us in an area halfway through our journey that allowed for a picture-perfect Moroccan sunset.
The final 40 minutes of the trip were in darkness, which really added another dimension to the whole trip. It was particularly exciting once I spotted out the tents of our campsite that were literally in the middle of the desert. Once we dismounted, our group ate the traditional chicken tajine dish (which is the name of the style when cooking from an earthenware pot) and later went on to singing and making music with bongos and spoons. The amount of laughter that went on as this ensued was something I’ll never forget — it was just awesome singing Arabic songs. We then had the brilliant idea of climbing a sand dune, which is a LOT harder than it looks. Climbing a sand dune is not part of the excursion but it was something that looked like it had to be done once we were there. A couple steps up the dune and I instantly regretted even mentioning the idea as my feet sunk back to where they originally were with every step, making climbing up substantially more difficult. This was the most effort I had exerted in a looooonnng time and I felt my body had completely drained itself of all energy to conquer this thing.
Within an hour we finally reached the top but with little reward as the wind at that altitude was so strong that sand blew into our eyes, ears, mouth and other regions I do not wish to disclose. Not to mention it was dark so you couldn’t appreciate the stature of what we had just tackled. To make up for this let down, I rolled down the dune in the dark like an aimless barrel for a sizable portion of the way down — highly entertaining. By the time we had reached the bottom it was somewhere near midnight and time to go to sleep.
But when you’re in the Sahara desert, you don’t want to sleep in a tent, especially not when the overnight temperature is in the mid twenties (Celsius). So what did we do? We pulled the mattresses out from under the tents and brought them out on the sand. As I lay down and look up at the sky, all I could see were thousands of stars scattered from one end to the other. The sky was so clear that I even managed to spot four shooting stars! This is undoubtedly one of the most amazing camping stories I’ll ever have.
We left at 5:00 in the morning and managed to watch the sun rise on the return. Then we headed back on the bus and zipped back to Marrakech in 10 hours, with fewer stops this time. The remainder of our stay there was going back to the marketplace and eating in the illuminated pop-up restaurants in centre square at dawn.
So what is my overall impression of Morocco? The cities are worth a visit just to appreciate the lifestyle so many people live every day, but I wouldn’t stay more than a day or two. If you really want to explore Morocco, you have to get far away from the main cities and explore the countryside where you’ll experience some of the most awe-inspiring regions of this magnificent planet.
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This blog entry is part of the publication Robert Cekan Travels & was originally written on October 2, 2012
Robert Cekan is a young entrepreneur and proud Hamiltonian. He is the founder of the Hamilton discovery website True Resident, as well as Cekan Group, a property management group. He is also a Hamilton REALTOR® with Ambitious Realty Advisors Inc., Brokerage and an active blogger.
For all of Robert’s projects, please visit robertcekan.com
