Kasbah Itran Ouarzazate

... we were just about the only people there and the place was almost deserted. I think in the Bible there was something about building houses out of stone, they don't seem to have heard about that round here. There's ruined mud houses all over the place, still if you a builder you've got a job for life! <br><br>By 9.00 am we were breakfasted and en-route to the big dunes of Erg Chebbi and the Sahara !! <br><br><br>

Just quick entry to set the map pin. Suffice I lucked out and nabbed a guide in Merzouga who just happened to be headed to Marrakech to pick up 3 Spanish clients to guide them on a 10 day tour of Morocco.<br><br> Thus, instead of struggling w/ mind-boggling taxi negotiations to navigate to Quarzazate (about 8 hrs. from Merzouga), I ...

... contests - goat herding involves lots of stone throwing.<br>Some firewood gathering is involved &amp; the Berbers are into bread making each evening. There are other nomads on the move (some with tourists) and we get the invite to tea at a random cave complete with smoky fire; pretty soon if it's not dusty it smells of smoke.<br>Quite a lot of the trek is on dry river beds &amp; that is not the easiest - it's much more interesting on the ...

Ait Ben Haddou is one of the oldest Kasbahs in Morocco. Onthe way to the hotel we saw goats on the side of a maountain. And from the roof of the hotel I took pictures of the kasbah and the neighbors garden. We met 2 German girls the next morning and gave them a ride to Casablanca. They were lots of fun.

... around for hours. I visited the Taoutirt Kasbah, which has been in tons of movies including Star Wars. I think it was supposed to be Tatooine. I accidentally snuck in without paying, the fault of me not speaking French. I was the called out on it by a guard who realized I was linguistically retarded and just let me go. I spent 18 hours of the past 24 with nothing to eat and only 4 hours of sleep. I still haven't gotten used to the time ...

... flow of desert curious tourists tends to follow thecsame route, a similar approaching drought occurs with their tourist droughts. Tourists are snatched up by eager businessman in Marrakech before thryvarrive in Zagora or M'hamd, fast talking and fearmongering presuring travelers into scripted package deals before they get to meet the locals who truly understand the desert. Its a rude system where city folk sell ...

... was so kind to help me get out of the city, by taking his car and driving in front of me until reaching the highway so that I wouldn't get lost, and taught me a few tricks of the trade, like that you should give some coins to the guy putting petrol in your car.<br><br>Then I was on my own. Driving up to 2.100 m altitude in the Atlas Mountains was a piece of cake for my little Fiat, even though some hills were quite steep, but it was a reasonably powerful car.<br ...

... lot of films. They were all made of polystyrene and wood and some were falling to bits, but it was very odd to see Egyptian and Tibetan sets in the middle of Morocco. In the afternoon we went to the Kasbah, which is a fortress used by the rulers put in place by the French in the 1930s. That's about all we know as there was no information whatsoever, but it was nice to wander round it. It looked like a big termites nest or a ...

The beauty of this trip is the great diversity we are experiencing in terms of landscape. I was very glad to pack up quickly and get out of the desert... can't see myself doing this again apart from the trekking trip in the Andes next month. It was rough and definitely memorable. Rates up there with my night on top of Mt Sinai back in 2000. That was hard but having sand blown into your ...