Le Zat Ouarzazate

... interiorior of Morocco - in a nice new Toyota 4x4. We sped though Todra Gorge, the Dades, Valley of the Roses et al, and landed for the night at a lovely little riad overlooking the city. Had a beer (along w/ my Muslim guide!) on the rooftop terrace, dinner, and then set off for Marrakech the next morning.

Will fill in the blanks/post pics later...

... Jewel of the Nile) and Ali Benhaddou with its famous Kasbah. We also drove through the rose growing area which was quite a surprise.
Ahmed shopped for some initial provisions - so that will be the meat from the hanging sheep carcasses then, plus fruit and vegetables. The snow looms on the mountain tops and a local shop is delighted that we want 36 bottles of water between the 4 of us.
A jolly first evening as we manage some sort of interaction ...

... with our guide who wants to charge double for this unwanted service. In another valley there are roses growing. They make rose water from the roses which are grown around the edge of other crops. There are lots of old kasbahs in the area, many in ruins and we wander through one of them. Its dark and cool inside as the clay walls are very thick and the windows small.

... We also managed to smuggle in 3 bottles of wine. So after most were in bed we hiked out into the desert night, set up a blanket and started pouring some drinks. Our guide, Yousef, then came out to join us. Following the wine was a few hours of Yousef singing Berber songs and us dancing to it under the clearest sky you can imagine. Today was less adventurous with just a lot of driving back to Ouarzazate ...

... to Ouarzazate. I wondered why Helen looked so blank when I mentioned the bus ticket last night. We had forms to fill in at the passoport control and long queues. We got our bags fine and went through. We found our driver and got money changed as the others came though. Neil from the Isleof Man and David from Ipswitch, he's climbed Everest, not quite to the top. Not sure what the other guy was called. He sat in the front and took ...

... rental agency, we met a woman whose husband ran an agency in the desert where we were heading and we spoke to him on her cell phone. Although the rain had stopped, we drove though a lot of big puddles and mini lakes on our way. We had heard that there were some blocked roads but didn't think they'd be big obstacles until we saw what everyone was talking about. About 3 hours into the trip, we came to a huge river of ...

... of people were waiting for taxis to fill up to six cramped passengers and leave. Plus sometimes animals like lambs and chickens get in too. We told the guy that we wanted to go to Er-Rachidia and all of a sudden there was a whole bunch of the waiting men ready to get in with us. We did a 30Dirham deal with him and the packs were allowed to ride on the roofracks. Four stinky men got in with us and we were set for a good drive to the next town. The drive was scenic and ...

... Next morning: storm has stopped buses from leaving Zagora so we were bundled into a car with some locals and began our journey to Todra just as my (Steve) body began a not-so-well-timed series of evacuations. If I'd held onto a post with one hand I'da spun like a Catherine wheel! Meh....what can ya do but use every stop as if it's your last. 12hrs, 2 small taxis and 2 grand taxis later we were in the Todra Gorge, 15km north of Tinerhir ...

... tired people who then climbed into the 4x4 for our trip back to Rissani. Also after Rashid's ultra cautious driving, the speedy 4x4 driver was not appreciated. We were relieved to get back in the Hyundai, and also the luxury of a much needed Air-con. The next leg of the drive took us through another amazing Oasis, to Todra Gorge. A huge gorge, with rock walls climbing as high as 300m. It was also the biggest tourist attraction we had visited ...

... every 5 minutes and battling for breath was even harder. Sleeping next to Maria was fun with her whispering 'is anyone awake' at 2.45am and being convinced that the sun was rising at this time. In fact it was the moon coming up. We could only wish that morning was coming. The sleeping arrangement was tough tonight with sleeping under the stars in a very windy desert. We left at around 7am ...