Zaghro Hotel 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...

So here we are in the Dades Valley, attached to a Nomadic Berber (extended) family with their 230+ goats & sheep, 3 Mules, 10 Camels, 4 Dogs, 3 Donkeys, & 2 Chickens. Family runs from Grandma down to the 2 year old & from here for 7 days it's trek, camp & cook with them.
We have our guide (Lassan) & cook (Ahmed) so we can communicate & eat if not easily wash etc.
On the way up we drove through Ouarzazate (think film sets ...

The drive from Taroudannt gets more and more barren and the road deterioates to a single lane of bitumen and becomes more mountainous. Taxis and trucks play chicken with Terry so we spend a fair it of time in the dust. Fortunately there is not much traffic. We are staying out of the town again in a kasbah, which is a large house with four towers built around a courtyard ...

Wednesday the 25th. I got the train to Helen's in Woking. She had to work. I was lucky to have started annual leave already although had had to do 4 extra shifts over the weekend due to us being so short staffed and sickness. She took me straight out to her cobblers to sew my gaiters on. I hoped the glue would be enough but the added stitches wouldn't hurt. We had pizza for tea at my request and then watched old episodes of the MDS as ...

... wanted to do similar things so we could split costs. The next day we started cruising all the car rental agencies looking for like minded travellers. As judgemental and picky as Elise and I are, this was not an easy task. We were lucky enough though to find two French guys who were trying to rent a car that was over their budget. After a few formalities, and discovering we all wanted to go into the desert, we were off. At ...

... completely, rolled up our pants and waded across, which turned out to be the best way as Sharon and English Mike ended up falling in and got their shoes wet. Some of the local kids were doing a good business helping tourists get across. The Kasbah is the most exotic and best preserved in the Atlas region and it was a nice walk. We climbed up the hill at the back to the ruins of the fort for an amazing view (and of course photos and another ...

... required to live. Camel herders touch the sides of the hump to assess whether a camel is ready for a long journey. 5. Camels are called "vessels of the desert" by the people of the Sahara. 6. Camel caravans always started out two hours before sunset, to avoid the heat of the day and to navigate by the stars. 7. All parts of a camel are used. Camels are used first for transportation. In the desert, they are more reliable than a 4x4 ...

... home to just a small number of local inhabitants. There are the token busloads of tourists that come in daily, but these all clear out by sundown. But alot has happened up to this point (it's hard to believe we've only been on the road for a couple of weeks so far!)... We finally managed to get to Tafraoute after being told anything from 10am, 2pm & 4pm for when the once a day bus left, we found ourselves laving Tiznit at 3pm. We were the only westerners on the bus that ...

... a while and a "I'll never do it again" promise I pay 100dh. Phew, they sure know how to earn on tourists. By the way, they like long segments of 60kmh, usually when there is no need for this sign;). Because of all the stopping and really heavily winding roads, the crossing of the mountains took as nearly all the day and it's nearly evening now. But still, we want to visit the famous kasbah Ait Ben Haddou. We turn to a minor road and after cutting local stone ...

... was great we went in there, the Hammam consisted of 4 rooms, the first was like where you get changed and had benches around the outside, the second was an all tile room(lowest heat), the third was hotter, and the last room was like a sauna. We went straight into the last room. Achmud(berber guy) told us to sit on the floor, he filled up buckets with water and brought them near us. He then proceeded to pour these buckets over our heads. This water was ...