A SPECTACULAR AND MOST SUCCESSFUL TRIP TO MOROCCO AND THE ATLAS MOUNTAINS!!
Here is the story of the trip written as a diary by Seye, Bart, Stephanie, Imran and Thomas.
Day 1
We met at school at 2.00am, and boarded the coach to Luton airport
When we arrived at Luton, we had a long wait before boarding the plane which Keli used to catch up on important rest
After we reached Marrakech we changed our money and met our tour guides.
From the airport we had a 5hour mini bus journey. A lot of us were impressed with the amazing mountain scenery
Despite the early start, enduring in queues and a cramped journey everyone was really excited. Form the airport we took the terrifying mountain roads with cliffs to one side and nutty Moroccan drivers to the other.
Thought the day the sun shone and it was warm. At the hotel however as it was in the desert the wind picked up and by the evening it was hard to go outside (Bart’s glasses blew off ).
When we got to the hotel we were all looking forward to a nice dip in the pool. What we weren't counting on was the fact that it was almost sub zero. A few of us still went for a swim. It did wake you up in the morning.
Day 2
Refreshed from a good night sleep, everyone was eager to absorb all the fascinating facts about morocco. The goal of the day was to explore the famous “Kasbah” which has been around for 100’s of years. However when we arrived near the Kasbah we were halted by a river, which could only be crossed by riding a donkey. The men with donkeys asked for too much money. We then decided to head back and relax by the pool. The rest of the day was taken up by the coach journey to the next hotel.
Day 3
After leaving our second hotel we went for a tour around the villages farms (or palmeries). Our guide explained how the system worked and all the local customs. Villagers are allowed to take food form the other villagers plots and our guide climbed a palm tree to get us some dates which we all enjoyed.
After this little adventure we went a few miles to the very edge of the desert where we chose and mounted our trusty camels (mine was Gary). We rode our camels over the desert dunes to a camp where we saw the sunset and sunrise over the dunes. There was better reception in the dunes than in the school buildings.
Day 4
After a night in our traditional Bedouin tents we woke up early (6:15) to watch the sunrise form the top of the dunes. After this we had breakfast we started back on the camels the trek was fun but painful and we ended up back by about 9:30am only to get into a coach for about 6 hours to get to our hotel for the night. The hotel was amazing. The rooms were comfy and the showers were nice. The pool however was freezing and only the toughest of us braved it.
Day 5
On Tuesday we visited a local school and met some of the students. We met at the school at about 10 and went into a room with some of their students. After the introductions we were allowed to walk around asking the students questions we asked about their school day and their lifestyles. Many of us swapped emails with the students and we hope to stay in touch. After this we were back in the coach (again) for a 5 hour journey into the mountains to a place called ouirgaine.
Day 6
The aim of today was to explore and gain important information on the Atlas Mountains. For many it was an enduring process, however the support from others spurred everyone on to complete the task. Information such as: V-shaped valleys caused by water eroding the surface, “forming mountains”, soil in some parts were damaged and clearly could not be used to grow crops; this is due to tourists walking on the soil and deforestation(trees being cut down).
Coming to the end of the exhausting hiking journey we were able to conclude that the horse and donkey bred "mule” was the most important for importing goods, crops and for getting around.
Overall the (WHAT) mainly depended on the fresh water supply from the mountain, and the agriculture of farming( cows, chickens, goats and sheep; dates, oil and carrots and most of these items are transported by the mule. Compare to London (WHAT) was much more undeveloped. On the other hand the scenery was superlative, and what we would consider a poor person might not feel so poor, because everyone in the village is not considerably more rich.
Day 7
For the second trek, we left the hotel at around 9:30 and split into two groups, one doing the harder route and the other an easier route. We trekked up to a village in the mountains where we ate lunch and had some traditional mint tea. We then trekked back to the hotel and went for a swim to cool off and relax after the trek.
We then had a lovely dinner with chicken and couscous served by our amazing host Mustapha who had entertained us throughout our stay at the hotel. To conclude our last evening at the Chez Momo, we gathered in the dining room to watch a film.
Day 8
Today we left the hotel at around 10am and drove straight into Marrakech. Once in Marrakech we got off the busses and walked through the alleys and souks to our hostel.
The souks line the sides of some alleys selling everything from carpets to ‘ray bans’ to herbal medicine. The stalls are usually full of goods hanging off the walls many of which are brightly coloured. The shop keepers are very willing to haggle and go down on their prices if you do it right. However you have to be careful what you are buying as there is allot of rubbish that the shop keepers will sell you at any chance.
In the evening we went into the jamal al fna for dinner. It was amazing there were people everywhere and stalls packed the square mostly selling food. We were given 30 dh for dinner and our guide showed us some nice stalls. Most of the group went to one stall but a few of us found another stall close by that was cheaper but just as nice.
Once back at the hostel we went into our huge room to watch another film.
Day 9
With an early start we set off for breakfast at 8:00am, then left for the Tannery to the east of the Medina. Our first part of transportation was a kalesh (horse and kart) usually used for tourist purposes. On arrival of the Tannery, the group was welcomed by a man handing out bunches of mint leaves. This was to be held under the nose to block the smell of the products used to treat the leather. Some of these products include a traditional blend of guano (pigeon faeces) and human excrement, said to make the leather soft. Berbers often tend the leather from large animals and the Arabs handle the smaller animals. Once we had completed the tour we left and got back onto the kalesh’s to go and see the French are of the city (the more wealthy part). We saw the differences between the slums all the hotels and apartments. From there we walked back to our hotel. On the way back some people stopped at a MacDonald’s. This is a very good example of globalisation.
