jennifers411

What a beautiful spot. If you want to go somewhere without a lot of people and a bunch of resorts, this is it. It’s lovely, unspoiled and has a population of about 80-90 locals. It’s 3 square miles and you have to take a tiny plane to get here from Provodenciales. But if you want Club Med, this ain’t it.

Take your own provisions in a cooler and bring an extra book. Prepare to catch up on your sleep. It’s hard to even find a telephone. The upside is that the scuba diving is fantastic and the beautiful, beautiful beaches are empty – literally – most of the time. You can also swim with the humpback whales when they are here during their migration in late winter/early spring.

I visited Marrakech for 5 days. It was great. The food was excellent and the city is cool. All wandering in the medina (old city) either leads to the Djmaa El ‘Fna or to someone’s uncle’s carpet shop. Which one depends on whether and who you allow to “guide” you. Beware of the guides in Morocco and take a map and compass. They won’t hurt you, generally, but you could find yourself in a tricky situation in a carpet or leather shop where half of what you spend goes to your guide for bringing you there. I had a great time shopping in the medina without any guides. I had to do a lot of bargaining in French, not my native language, so that was an adventure. Also, I found it very helpful to wear long sleeves, long skirts and a head scarf (I am a woman). One might think this is repressive, but when I dressed that way, suddenly to the Moroccans I was a person instead of a target. It was well worth it and allowed me to actually get to know people a little instead of being instantly dismissed. I had less trouble with unwanted “guides” after that as well.

The square, which I believe translates to “place of the dead” is pretty cool and still has a lot of Moroccan, and specifically, Berber traditions. That includes water sellers, snake charmers (I saw hooded cobras not 2 meters from me), henna painting, and food vendors (including fresh brains in several sizes if you like that sort of thing). The food there is very good (I didn’t order the brains or the locusts, thank you). The food is recommended by many guide books because you can see it being prepared and you know it is fresh and safe. It’s also a nice place to meet other travellers. Automatic bank teller machines are not far off from here either, and that’s convenient.

A short walk from here is the Sultan’s ancient palace (about 1000 years old). It is now a bit of a ruin. You can see big storks nesting on the towers. I understand there is a museum there that is quite good too, but I was culturally lazy and did not attend.

I went to Merzouga in November 2004 by car, which is at the edge of the Sahara, and took a camel from there out into the Sahara to the Erg Chebbi. I would definitely go again. It took about 2 hours of camel riding, just me and my camel guide, after sunset, to get to the great Erg. The night sky in the Sahara was one of the most beautiful things I have ever seen. You could see a million stars, the Southern Cross, the Milky Way and the Clouds of Magellan. Wow.

It was darned cold at night, as you might expect. I camped overnight and watched the sunrise over the desert. Afterwards, I had a great breakfast with the few Bedouins who run the campsite. The food out there (dinner & breakfast) was just amazing, and I don’t know how they did it. Some of the best food I had in Morocco, actually. Fresh bread, excellent chicken & vegetable tagine, dates to die for, unpasteurized butter and fresh milk…Ummm!

The desert is very strangely quiet, especially at night, and the sand is beautiful copper color at times, dun color at others. The Erg is hundreds of feet high (and 40 KM long!) and the big dunes go on seemingly forever. Climbing up the sand ridge to watch the sunrise was not easy, but it was do-able. Bring water, camp clothes and a hat & sunglasses. And a camera is a must. If I could do it again, I’d try to find a way to photograph the multitude of stars I saw.

Camel riding can be is unpleasant, especially when the camel rises up from a sitting position with you on him (hold on tight then). My camel driver recommended a sort of side-saddle position with one leg tucked up on top of the camel and a sitting stance slightly turned to one side, as though looking off into the distance in a 10 o’clock or 2 o’clock direction. This helped a lot.