Ouarzazate Hike (Morocco)

 

Ouarzazate

(Morocco)

116.3 kms

Day 1:

30.3 kms, Dec 6, 2010

Normally deserts are the least appealing regions for long distance climbing. Trudging day after day through a bleak, sun-scorched landscape is not something that particularly appeals to the Traveler. So when he reaches the eastern side of the Atlas Mountains of Morocco and the great Sahara Desert begins, he figures he'll just do a quick walkaround and say “OK I saw it...” and head right up to the mountains again.

But looking closer at the map, he discovers something fascinating. Long stretches where there is village after village after village—right through the middle of the desert. No... not just isolate oases... there is clearly a continuous finger of civilization stretching far out into the Sahara.

The Traveler looks into this. This is the Draa River, which flows east into the Sahara, creating a swath of green all along the way... what appears to be a river oasis that goes on for hundreds of kilometers.

And then... it just disappears. Apparently this river just gets swallowed up by the desert.

The Traveler wonders... could this be a perfect opportunity to enjoy a long desert hike—but with lots of villages, trees and shade along the way—and what looks like a very interesting culture? He decides to give it a try. Unaware that exploring the vast Draa River basin will be one of the most inspiring and beautiful experiences of his entire Journey. This is the Chapter dedicated to this river—as well as some other fascinating river and pockets of civilization in the East Moroccan desert.

Dawn in the Desert

The first signs of dawn are visible as the Traveler reaches the roadside village of Amerzgane… just a cluster of houses and shops along the road. There’s one little café that’s already open that beckons him—but he decides he’d rather see the sunrise out in the open desert instead. So he follows a road heading south to the dry riverbed which runs parallel to the highway. He then head down to the riverbed which he’ll follow towards Ouarzazate in complete silence, until the magical moment when day is born over the Sahara and the colourful hues of the sky blend with the colourful hues of the cliffs. He pauses to dedicate a concert to this magical moment.

The air is crisp as he continues on east to seek out more villages worth discovering. It’s going to be a beautiful day for a desert hike—although it almost feels like he's cheating—does it still count as a “desert experience” if you’re not staggering along in 40 degree heat?

He pauses to take a picture of a nice red and white striped cliff in the backdrop. This might not be the most beautiful desert scenery in the world, but this is his own discovery, thus it’s going to be a pure and beautiful experience.

A couple farmers tending to their plots are pausing for breakfast of tea and bread and they invite the Traveler over to join them. He can’t see any harm in it, so he accepts. They are rugged but soft spoken and noble fellows and they talk with the Traveler about the earth, rain and living off the land…

From there he follows a footpath up to the next village, Lamdint. Here he's greeted by beautiful earth homes blending in with the hillside, and even a few narrow alleys to explore. Children are out and about, heading to school and no one seems to even notice a lone foreigner wandering through their village.

After Lamdint he follows the highway a short ways and the take another side road that seems to lead to yet another village on the far side of the riverbed. Tadoula Aitauya is right at the base of a beautifully eroded cliff with strange horizontal stripes. At the entrance is the remains of an ancient gateway, tower and sections of a long wall. As the Traveler takes a few pictures, an old man tending to a tiny plot down by the riverbed calls out to him. He’s a friendly fellow, eager to tell the Traveler about the history of Tadoula, which in its glory days had a long wall built all around it to defend it from neighboring tribes.

“There used to be a long wall here” he explains. “it was used to defend against neighboring tribes. But life is not easy here. Each year the river eats away at a bit more of our farmland. Most have gone to the city to work. Very few live off the land any more.”

The Traveler gazes out across the rocky riverbed, maybe 400 meters wide and suddenly realizes that this was fertile farmland once upon a time. “Are there any efforts to protect the riversides from erosion?” the Traveler asks.

“The government had a project to put up a rock barrier, but that didn't go very far” he says sadly.

The Traveler doesn’t say anything but he can’t help but wonder… why would people need to wait for the government to do this? Why can’t they just build a barrier themselves?

His theory is that people here aren't lazy, but rather that it’s just so much easier to go to the big cities in look for work than to try to ek out a living off tiny plots of arable land and pray that their wells don’t dry up. This man also spent much of his life working in the city and only now, in his old age has returned to the simple life of tilling a small vegetable plot by the dry riverbed.

The Traveler continues on, exploring the quiet town where he can see the remains of the ancient wall that once surrounded the town. It looks like there might be the remains of a castle at the top, but it doesn’t look interesting enough to climb up there. At the far end of town, there’s a vast, barren plateau—a stark contrast to the green riverbed. It seems that up here not much of anything can grow. But way off in the distance he catches a glimpse of a snowy mountain far away… a refreshing and a paradoxical sight.

Clifftop Village

The next village, Tazgzayin, is on the north side of the riverbed, so the Traveler has to find a way down the cliff to get across there. Even from a distance, he can tell that it’s going to be a cool find—this time the village is perched on top of the cliff, with a cluster of red traditional homes surrounding a little mosque. It's a perfect backdrop for a guitar playing photo. A couple of older gentlemen are relaxing together near the top, and he's sure they’re wondering what’s going on, but no one seems to mind.

He climbs up to the top to explore this tiny clifftop cluster, and gets a beautiful shot coming out of a narrow alley with the lush oasis below, desert beyond, and the snow capped mountain way off in the distance, but unfortunately the mountain doesn’t show up in the photo. Here this river valley finally does look like a real oasis—not just a semi-dry half oasis as he's seen elsewhere. Then he follows a very narrow path along the rim of a cliff to yet another cool surprise: the ruins of an ancient mud village in the eastern slopes.

It’s a classic view… the desert, mountains, oasis, a traditional village and ruins… just perfect. But ironically, if you pass Tazgzayin on the highway all you’ll see are a scattering of ugly houses on a barren landscape—all the real treasures are hidden behind a hill. The Traveler feels like he's been generously rewarded for opting to explore this area on foot.

he continues on across another barren stretch to a village that looks completely unlike all the traditional villages he's seen so far. This one is just your typical modern row of boxy 2 story houses with mechanic shops and stores at street level. Sure enough, he finds out that Timdlin was just built a few years ago as a sort of government seat for the surrounding villages. It stretches along the highway for just a few hundred meters and is only 2 blocks deep—no charm or tradition to it, just a row of building plopped in the middle of a barren stretch of land because that’s what the some government official somewhere decided.

It’s a vivid contrast of the Old and the New Way villages came into being here in Morocco. In the Old Way, the village is just an extension of the environment, built close to water and fertile land because that’s what people depend on to live. It’s built with the same raw materials it is surrounded with, earth and straw. You see a village perched on a hillside overlooking an oasis, and you get the feeling that it just “belongs” there. In the New Way, a village is “imported” with foreign construction materials, with foreign designs, and with no consideration for the surrounding environment.

Anyways, Timdlin is a good place to have some lunch at a roadside restaurant, and chat with a couple of the locals.

Fording the Stream

After Timdlin, the Traveler's got to cross the riverbed once again to a village on the far side. But by now, the dry riverbed has merged with a real river so he's going to have to get his feet wet. That’s OK… it’s always poetic to see a stream in the desert.

On the other side he conti nues on to explore the town. Imzgawan is a traditional village with some stately family castles and winding alleys, but it’s a lot more active than the others, with a lot of kids out and about. The Traveler gets quite a few curious stares, but fortunately this time he has an explanation if people want to know what he's doing in their village: He tells them he's going to “Tikirt”, which is the charming village he discovered yesterday, and he's pretty sure he's headed in its direction. A kind old man insists on showing him the way, guiding him through the labyrinth of paths and alleys of the village to a dirt road heading east.

Villages in this area feel more alive and prosperous than the villages he visited earlier. Here, there’s more arable land, more water, and here people have built stone walls to protect the riverbanks from erosion. He passes a school bursting with kids making the whole area feel very alive.

It’s not long before I come across yet another farm village of Ait Bumahind where he stops to buy a few snacks at the country store. This is his seventh village today and he hasn't played for a single audience yet. Perhaps it’s because little villages don’t have park benches, or places suitable for playing music and socializing, so he has to opt for quiet little spots at the edge of the village. But that’s quite OK, as my music is not just about singing for people to listen, but it’s about a spiritual connection to every place that he goes. And he's definitely felt very connected to these timeless villages along this valley.

After Ait Bumahind, the Traveler opts for a change of scenery, so instead of following the oasis valley, he takes a path towards the south where he soon finds himself surrounded by nothing but a lifeless moonscape. It is nice to enjoy a “desert feel”--without having to do a miserable long “desert hike” in the heat...

This landscape is beautiful in its own way, with hills of various hues of yellow and red, and sunbeam piercing through the clouds far off on the horizon. he can’t resist taking a video clip with the arid wasteland behind, making it look kind of like he's somewhere way out in the middle of an endless wasteland, when he's actually just across the ridge from a pleasant oasis…

Darkness is setting in, and after 7 towns the Traveler knows he should call it a day, but he still feels that he's got some fire inside him, so he continues down the dirt road heading east just to see where it goes. Around a bend he sees a scattering of houses, a mosque and a tiny little fort halfway up the mountain called Mnsharra. He's really not sure if this should count as a town or not, but he decides to hike up to the fort anyways.

Not really much to do when he gets there but turn around and go back, since it’s just a couple of houses. On his way down, a group of older gentlemen by the mosque waiting for the call to prayer, call him over. They ask me what he's looking for, and his response that he comes from Casablanca, and he finds hiking in this area very refreshing seems to make sense to them. Then they kindly invite him to stay the night… which is a tempting offer, but he decides to turn it down. I know people here feel it’s their duty to show hospitality, and he doesn’t want to abuse that.

Lost in the Dark

The Traveler figures it should be an easy task to follow footpaths through the farm patches back to the Ouarzazate Highway. And it would be—if it were still daylight and the fields were dry. But today the paths are nothing but muddy bogs, forcing him to gingerly walk along the ridges separating the plots to keep his feet dry—ridges which don’t necessarily take him where he wants to go.

What starts out as a kind of fun obstacle course, trying to figure his way through the dark, gradually turns into a surreal “how-could-I-have-been-so-stupid-to-try-to-do-this-in-the-dark?” feeling. After wandering around a while, he comes across the other half of the river—and this part he has to cross in pitch darkness. He struggles on a bit further, using the dim light of his cellphone to try to calculate if he’ll be able to leap across each muddy ditch… then when he feels he's almost out of the woods, suddenly a sheer cliff… He follows it until he finds a place he is barely able to climb up, only to find a wide, deep canal! Now he's trapped, as doesn’t feel he can safely climb down the cliff again! And just in case this wasn’t interesting enough, it starts to rain…

The Traveler weighs options and finally makes his decision: He's going to toss his bag and guitar to the other side. Then he’ll have no choice but to try to jump over… Which he does, giving him a whole new appreciation for the expression “a leap in the dark”!

He continues on, zigzagging back and forth, eyes always fixed on the lights of Tazantoute, but the ridges never seem to want to head in that direction… And then… ANOTHER cliff! And this one with an canal in FRONT of it! Once again, he tosses his gear up to the top, gets a running head start, jumps, and prays that he’ll find something to grab a hold of on the other side…

At some point it just stops being funny…

And then finally, he reaches the edge of civilization, and a fence made of brambles between him and it. But after all that he's been through, nothing is stopping him now, he pulls apart the bramble branches and struggles his way through. A man passing by notices him, and helps him through. The man doesn’t ask any questions, so the Traveler can only imagine what was going on in his mind!

The Traveler can finally breath a sigh of relief. He doesn’t know if he should feel lucky, proud of himself, or just annoyed for having put himself through that bizarre obstacle course…

Day 2: Second Try to Explore Oasis

9.7 kms, July 15, 2010

After spending the night in Ouarzazate, right up the road, today the Traveler is back where he left off, figuring he needs to explore this intriguing area a bit more—and not get lost this time.

Tabouraht, isn't much more than a couple of mechanic shops and roadside stores along the highway. From here, the Traveler finds a road dirt road across the oasis, back to where he was yesterday, to explore a couple more villages.

Tekirt has a very off the beaten track feel--and in this kind of heat, not very active. A guy does come around and offers to show the Traveler around, which politely declines

The Traveler is thinking, “it seems like there’s not much at all to see here” when suddenly… he steps over a ridge and there on the other side is… a view that takes you a thousand years back in time. On the side of the hill is a timeless earth colored town that could just as well be 1010 AD...

And on the other side is a picture perfect castle overlooking the endless river valley with storks nests in all four of its corner towers. The Traveler climbs up the hillside above for one of his favorite earth castle video clips...

Yes, Tikirt was definitely worth the withering hike it took to get here...

Invigorated by his new discovery and by a slight decrease in temperature, the Traveler looks for an alternative way to get back to the main highway. He soon find himself heading towards yet another village a bit off to the east.

Tazantoute has a large area of walled in mud ruins and what looks like the shrine of a “Siid” or saint. The area is surrounded by palm trees, giving it the very distinctive desert Moroccan look.

Finally the Traveler decides to call it a day. This time he heads back in daylight.

Day 3: The Asif Ounila Valley

21.3 kms, Nov 5, 2012

The Traveler reaches the main highway and heads on south. Not far down the road is Ouarzazate, one of the main cities of the east—and a popular site for filming American and European movies with a desert backdrop. But the Traveler isn't quite ready for city yet. He looks on the map for another Desert River Civilization around here. Sure enough... to the west Google Satellite shows a “green snake” following the Asif Ounila Valley... so that's where the Traveler goes.

It's ironic that, now that he's in the Sahara Desert, it seems all the Traveler wants to do is hike. Here he follows a wide shallow stream to what at he hopes will be new river civilization to discover. No majestic mountains—just some low cliffs and rolling ridges to the sides. That's fine—the Traveler is OK with a low key hike this time.

It’s not long before he reaches the quiet roadside village of Tissargate… some traditional architecture, but no old castle feel here.

Movie Set Town

Compared to the other Desert Valley Civilizations the Traveler has followed in the High Atlas, the scenery isn’t exactly spectacular here. It’s more about wide open spaces then jagged cliffs and mountains. That’s OK—it’s actually nice to have something different. And despite the flat terrain, there’s not much being cultivated along the riverbed, signalling that this stream is probably not a very reliable water source.

But there is water in it now, and up ahead there is a small gorge that looks kind of interesting, so the Traveler heads down to check it out. There he follows a trail for a little ways until he gets tired of having to ford the stream back and forth… and heads back up to the road.

Then he goes around bend and… lo and behold, the Ait Ben Haddou Oasis, a long, wide cultivated area along the riverbed. But this isn’t the dense palm forest with a tropical forest feel like in Arfoud. Here there are just a scattering of various trees. The Traveler is thinking that perhaps the palm trees died out due to drought—but he's later told that palm trees just don’t grow well in this region for some reason.

Here the road veers to the right and the river to the left. The Traveler realizes that he's made the wrong choice by following the road, and tries to correct his mistake by cutting across the terrain, chopped up by erosion, and back to the river valley. There he finds the river is turned into a pond, which makes for a rather muddy crossing, but he manages. There’s another village on the other side that he's got to check out.

Idluwan is a picture perfect traditional village, with the ruins of the old mud castle accessible and easy to explore—you can even climb up to the upper floors of the houses. It looks like only one house in the old kasbah is still inhabited though. Wandering on through the modern and semi-modern parts of the village, the Traveler notices some unusual things about the exterior of the castle. There a long, sharp wooden poles sticking out from the walls at the higher levels. Hmmm… never seen those before in a East Moroccan village…. Could it be for defense? For hanging something on? There must be something unique about this culture here… A little later he asks somebody.

“Oh, that was a backdrop for a Hollywood movie set!”

OK... not the cultural insights he was expecting—but it is a cultural insight. He soon learns there is something unique about this area. First source of employment in this region: subsistence agriculture. Second employer: Hollywood. Yep, a large percentage of these rural folk earn a living building sets, being extras, and other miscellaneous tasks whenever Hollywood (as well as European movie producers) move into town. These simple folks have worked with the likes of Brad Pitt and Russell Crowe in movies like Gladiator, Babel, Prince of Persia, Kingdom of Heaven and endless others.

The Traveler stops to a chat with a fellow, and he says he’s a musician too, so he invites the Traveler over for tea. As they sit on the carpet in his very traditional home sipping tea he tells about his run ins with some of the big name actors that have been here with make 30 million a film. And what does he make? Well… more like twenty dollars a day—when there’s work…

The Traveler notices something else about this village. All the people are darker skinned—unlike Ouarzazate when a large percentage are fairer skinned. It gives the Traveler a chuckle when a kid calls another kid a derogatory term for black… I guess it’s like guys in the hood using the N word with each other, he figures...

The Traveler jams with his host for a little bit, then continues on my way. Still a lot of road to cover.

Moroccan Tourists in Ben Haddou

Ait Ben Haddou is one of the most recognizable old desert cities in east Morocco. At every tourism office in the 200 mile radius there will be a picture of this beautiful earth castle and a package tour that will bring you here for your ultimate “Moroccan Earth Castle Experience”.

Of course the Traveler has already visited many of these castle-villages, without the need of a guide or an air conditioned 4x4 to get him there. So he thinks this visit might be a tad artificial. But he still is looking forward to it. Especially since he is coming to it on foot, which should make for a special experience. As he spots the twin mud towers and the compact all-earth town on a hill behind it, he can't help but get excited.

He approaches the castle, and soon finds himself among a crowd of tourists. This is not a surprise at all. But what is a surprise is that... they are all Moroccan... tourists!

The Traveler has found that typically Moroccans aren’t very interested in visiting historical sites in their country. When the take a vacation in their country it’s usually just to go to the beach, not to explore the ancient Kasbahs of the desert. Go to places like Volubilis, Chellah, etc and you probably won’t see a lot of Moroccans, just foreigners.

Is this a sign that things are changing? The Traveler wonders. He notices that they are regular folks of different ages... men and women—some wearing headscarves, others not. The Traveler is actually very happy to be among tourists in this case...

The group continues through the familiar alleys. The Traveler is humored at seeing Moroccans trying to hustle Moroccans into their shops… Nah… it’s not going to work, guys… They go all the way up to a tower way at the top of the hill, where you get a good view of the whole area and sit in the shade to rest. Suddenly the Traveler hears a familiar voice.

“Phillips!” he looks over and sees a familiar face… It's one of his former students from English school! This is quite refreshing to meet someone he knows in a very unknown place.

They chat for a bit. Amine says he booked this tour on the internet which is six days visiting the main sites all along the eastern desert for 200 euros—food, lodging and transportation all included… Quite a good deal. The people on this tour are of a wide range of ages, some look more traditional some more Western, all joking and having a good time together. Quite a break from the norm—usually people only travel with their family, or young people together—not a mixed crowd like this.

They’ve all got to go to a restaurant across the river, so the Traveler follows along, so they can chat a little more. The Traveler negotiates a tagine to a reasonable price and heads up to the roof to gaze out on the magnificent view of the front of the kasbah. Unfortunately the front is being used as a movie set right now so things are kind of sloppy and he won’t be able to get a good picture from this angle, but that’s all right… he’ll figure something else out.

He heads back downstairs where the tour group is a bit peeved… it turns out that their lunch was… eggs… No, you don’t do that in Morocco… you don’t serve people eggs for lunch… It seems Moroccan tourism catering to Moroccans still has some issues it needs to work out.

The Traveler is still cheered, hoping that this is signaling a shift in middle class Moroccan mindset: that going out and exploring their own country and spending money traveling and going to beautiful off the beaten path places is a worthy thing to do. Not that they should stop going on vacation to their villages of origin... just sometimes switch it up and discover something new about their own country.

He heads back to the Kasbah again to wanders around a bit more. He lets a fellow sucker him visiting the guy's antiques shop—and is glad he does. The fellow's got some pretty impressive artifacts—including relics of Jewish tradition. Ancient pen and ink holders… letter openers. It seems if someone is really interested in antiques—and can verify their authenticity, he could get some good buys here. But this guy says he’s only here during the heavy tourist season, the rest of the time he’s out in the desert, travelling from oasis to oasis, collecting these artifacts…

On up the Valley

It’s already late afternoon but and the Traveler has only covered 9 kilometers. He could just stay the night here in Ait Ben Haddou where lodging is plentiful. But he's still go an itching to discover more, so he's going to gamble that he’ll be able to find lodging farther up the road. He also brought a sleeping bag, so he could just camp out too.

Asfaru, the next town, still feels a bit touristy. It is a relatively large and it has an upscale riad or two—clearly out of the Traveler's price range.

On past Asfaru there’s a temporary metal bridge, suggesting that at some point this river flooded, wiping the old bridge out. Here the terrain changes from wide open valley with gentle hills around to cliffs that narrow more and more up ahead. This is no Toudra Gorge—but it does give the area a bit more of an exciting feel. Up ahead the road climbs up to avoid the cliff. It’s almost dusk, but the Traveler still decides to gamble and try to follow the riverbed to the next village rather than the road.

He switches to sandals so he can ford the wide stream, with an imposing cliff on one side. Up ahead, at the top of the cliff is a castle with an grand earthen tower… The Traveler hopes he'll be able to find a path up there… And to make things a little more interesting, it starts to rain a little bit.

It’s all but dark when he reaches Tamdakht, and picks his way along the side of a cemetery—barely recognizable with a propped up rock marking each tomb. In most cultures of the world, the Traveler has notices that folks go to great expense and effort to create a memorial for their deceased. But not in Morocco—especially not in the rural areas. Some say it's part of religion—that a lot of importance should not be given to tombs. But the Traveler has seen several Muslim countries where tombs are very large and expensive. He wonders if there's a deeper cultural meaning here.

He clambers up and down the terraces looking for a way up to the castle. Finally he finds away around it… and enters Tamdakht.

Here there are several castles. One is actually a grand kasbah-turned-hotel… The Traveler isn't sure if it was restored or built from scratch. Anyways, whoever fixed it up did an excellent job keeping the traditional look of a earth castle… although the Traveler is pretty sure it’s got concrete and rebar reinforcement in there somewhere….

Unfortunately both this hotel and the other next to it cater to folks that aren’t such pennypinchers as the Traveler. This whole are does seem to cater to tourists—but not so much the low budget kind, giving this region a very different feel from the Toundout-Amzrit region.

So the Traveler wanders around thinking through his options: A. Cough up the extra money for a nice hotel. B. camp out C. try to catch a ride back to Ait Ben Haddou. D. Continue down the road and see what else there is.

He chooses D—reluctantly. He kind of doubts there are going to be any more hotels nearby… also, he'd really like to see these tall Kasbahs in the daylight…

On down the road he stops in a little shops to get some water and asks the fellow if he knows of any cheap hotels around.

“Oh, there’s a gite right around the corner.”

Sure enough, 30 meters ahead, down a little alley is a house with “gite” painted on the wall. Looks like this is the Traveler's lucky day. He quickly negotiates a very reasonable price, which includes supper, and is lead to a traditional carpeted room, where he's served tea. In another room are a couple of middle age European women who it seems are on a guided hiking tour.

“Please don't tell them how much you're paying” his host quietly asks him.

Not much to do after dark, except wander down the dark road to buy some stuff at a store, then coming back, where he joins 3 Moroccan fellows for couscous: the host and 2 guides that are with the European tourists. they chat, watch TV for a bit—a nice atmosphere. Again, the Traveler enjoy this sort of “semi-hospitality”, to stay with the locals, learn a bit about life in their village, and yet not feel like he's freeloading off of them.

Day 4: A Beautiful Panoramic View

20.3 kms, November 6, 2012,

The next day the Traveler isn't quite sure what to do. He'd like to continue this hike up the valley... but he'd also like to head back downstream and continue the hike east to Ouarzazate. He finally decides to continue on up the valley... and maybe turn around later on.

But first things first: he heads back to Timdakhte to take some picture of the kasbah ruins, the view of the valley, and of the kasbah-turned-hotel. Then he continues on down the road.

The weather is pleasantly cool with overcast skies. Up around a bend he's greeted by a beautiful view: a vast, lush oasis valley of Ouaounssmite with several villages dotting its perimeter. He pauses a bit here to soak it in. He just doesn’t get tired of these panoramic views… these beautiful desert river civilizations… to be able to safely hike for miles and miles with beautiful surprises around each corner. His first thought is… How more of these Desert Valley Civilizations are there here in Morocco? I want to hike all of them!

Strumming in the Rain

After Ouanssmite, the Traveler follows a foot trail down the eroded hillside, for another closer up look at the river. There’s a village on the other side, but I decide to continue on up the road instead. Here the valley narrows into a gorge for a ways as the road works its way high up the steep slope where there’s another village, Tafsste, perched at the top. It starts raining a bit, and he takes shelter under a giant boulder for a little while before continuing on. Hey, it doesn’t rain very often here in the desert—so you’ve got to enjoy it when it does.

As he follows the road as it continues halfway up the steep hillside, he spots the European women with their guide as well as mule laden with supplies, hiking on another path below. It’s pretty rare that he spots other tourists doing long distance hiking through these river valleys—and it’s kind of cool to realize that he's enjoying for free what other people are paying a good bit of money to do.

But then on the other hand, those ladies are “contributing to the local economy” a lot more than the he is!

He takes nice shot birdseye shot of the village of Taggert, then follows a path down the hillside for a closer look. It’s a nice, compact village with narrow alleways, squeezed between the river valley and the steep hillside. Folks are quite helpful as well, pointing out the way for him… He tries not to look to smug as he ambles past the European ladies, guide-free…

The Traveler decides to do one more village before turning around, and is glad he does. Around the bend he's presented with some real eye candy: across the gorge is a flat stretch of rock, tilted at a 45 degree angle, with a little earth colored village slapped right on the side of it—a picture perfect blend of natural beauty and human presence.

And with this cool little discovery of the village of Tamakoucht, he hops in a van and heads back down the river again.

It's been a fun day and a half of hiking. No grand revelations about the culture here, but it is nice to see that despite significant tourism and the global movie industry here, it still hasn't spoiled the authenticity of the culture.

The Hike to Ouarzazate

The Traveler would like to continue on up the Assif Ounala valley, but he feels it's time to turn around and continue his journey downstream, towards the open desert. He hops on a van head down to the main highway to Ouarzazate to pick up where he left off. Here, he knows what he wants to do: Hike to the legendary city of Ouarzazate But how? Originally his plan had been to try to follow the river itself, which goes through a narrow gorge which he doesn’t know if it’s walkable or not. His idea was to give himself a full day, that way, so if he reached a dead end, he could still backtrack to where he started.

But after his misadventure of a few days ago, the Traveler is having his doubts about his own ability to blaze a trail.. So instead he decides he's going to do a long, dreary 20 km hike along the highway through the moonscape desert.

Well, actually, it’s not that bad at all. Since the skies are overcast, the walk is downright pleasant. Off to his right is a dark stormcloud where it’s clearly pouring down rain, giving a feeling of suspense and urgency to his hike—as well as another good reason not to be hiking through a narrow river gorge!

Once you’ve hiked in the desert under the merciless sun, than you really relish hiking it in cool weather. You can just soak in the vast emptiness… ponder on the meaning of life… A great chance for the Traveler to look back at all that he's experienced and accomplished over this last couple of years. And to let it sink in, that this will be the last desert river he will be following. Then it will be time to bid this beautiful country farewell

He passes a couple of projects to cultivate the desert: palm tree plantations in the middle of a completely lifeless surrounding. An inspiring thought: makes you wonder how much of the desert could actually be cultivated with careful water management. A bit farther, he veers off the road for a while, blazing his own trail across a vast rocky plain. But here also, it seems there’s a project to plant hardy desert brush, perhaps an attempt to slow erosion and sandstorms.

Finally, the first signs that he's nearing Ouarzazate: a desert movie studio/museum. He's never visited any of these studios, and figures it would be a nice sidetrip for his hike, but unfortunately it’s closed to visitors for the day. Apparently a movie’s being shot right now, as there’s a row of catering trucks heading in.

And then, just as he reaches the shelter of a gas station/café, the storm that has been looming next to him sweeps in, blowing chairs over. Hmmm… maybe this would be a good time to just chill for a bit, sit in a classy café and enjoy seeing the desert's fury—without having to actually feel it...

The storm quickly passes, and the Traveler is treated to a magnificent double rainbow over Ouarzazate, so huge he can’t get it in a single shot… A delicious ending to his open desert hike.

Day 5: Exploring Ouarzazate

22.2 kms, March 24, 2012

The streets are still quiet as the Traveler heads out to discover the city. Most of Ouarzazate is quite new, but it still keeps a distinctive style with its pinkish brown paint, narrow columns and little decorative “horns’ at the top corners of the buildings. However, if you come expecting the postcard look of an ancient desert city, you might be disappointed. Aside from the Kasbah and very small old medina, there’s not much that’s particularly ancient or romantic about the city.

But the Traveler hasn’t come with big expectations, so he can appreciate the little things--a quiet, clean little plaza where he strum a few songs before the sun gets too high… a ridge that gives a nice panoramic view of the city… the intricate decorations on a mosque… overall, a clean, well maintained feel to the city, which makes him wonder, where does the money come from? What is the basis of the Ouarzazate economy?

He seems to be having some trouble finding the “heart” of Ouarzazate. There are shops and government buildings, but he can’t find a real commercial hub. And you’d think that people would be out and about more, taking advantage of the morning hours before the oven temperatures set it.

Anyways, he makes his way to the Kasbah-- the old castle, which is quite beautiful and well maintained. But after the truly authentic castles he explored elsewhere, this one does feel a little bit Disneyfied and fixed up as a tourist site. But it does make as a good backdrop for a couple of video clips, and he figures it’s worth the 10 Dirhams to go inside and explore it.

The narrow stairways, intricate and colorful wooden ceilings, and the view of the surrounding old city and oasis does give you a taste of what life must have been like in this castle in centuries past—unlike the many other kasbahs he's explored that were in ruins.

At the entrance, the guides asked the Traveler to play some music for them. They seem to be a cheerful bunch so he figures he could chill out with them for a bit. They fill him in on the history and the economy of the city--plus tell about the recent filming of Prince of Persia, some of which actually took place at this very castle.

There’s only a trickle of tourist at this time of year-- which isn’t surprising. But nobody seems frustrated about that. People here it seems just accept whatever life dishes out to them-- The Traveler feels like he's worlds away from the hustle and bustle of life across the mountains. There’s something both beautiful and slightly depressing about life out here in the dry Eastlands.

He continues on into the old city. Soon he has company. But instead of feeling threatened as he would in, say, the old medina of Fez or Tanger, he just kind of feel sorry for the guy who might wait all day for one tourist to show up in his neighborhood. Besides, Ouarzazate folks have a reputation for not being money hungry, so he figures he’ll let the guy give him a “tour” and then just give him a little something…

The guide takes him to what he says is an ancient synagogue which feels more like a cave, with a gnarly, leathery skinned fellow who shows him around, the walls covered with ancient instruments, tools and folklore. It’s obviously a tourist trap, but that doesn’t bother the Traveler… he gives this guy a little “tip” as well and continues on his way. Unlike folks in the more greedy west, the man doesn’t even check to see how much he was given--he just accepts it and bids the Traveler farewell.

Across from the Kasbah is a Movie museum with sets from various movies filmed here. But it’s 30 Dirhams, and the Traveler is not really in the mood for more phony stuff. He wants to discover something authentic here.

So he continues on east, hoping to make it to a lake that he had spotted from the Kasbah. But as the city starts to thin out, he loses interest in continuing on through the sun scorched landscape. He veers back in towards the city, determined to explore it a bit more thoroughly before either checking into a hotel and getting some rest or, perhaps just moving on to another town.

After an hour or so of zigzagging around the city, always on the lookout for shady streets to walk down, He finally spots a pedestrian street and lined with decorative lamps, and a market shaded with carrizo stalks. He's found the “heart” of Ouarzazate.

At the end of the walking street is a large plaza. Obviously not much going on at this time of day, but he's satisfied with his discovery, and figures maybe he's ready to move on.

A Familiar Face

Walking along a military base back towards the bus station is clearly a bad idea--just a long, boring wall with no shade. Then suddenly he hears someone call his name. He looks back and… it’s Anas, another of his students from English school!

It’s a weird feeling again, to be way off in an isolated region where he doesn’t know a soul-- and running into someone he knows. Anas is here with his father, who seems to be a cheerful fellow who promptly invites the Traveler for lunch.

It’s a very pleasant visit with Anas’s family. He's not quite sure what the protocol is, so he discreetly grabs some chbakia at a shop on the way so he doesn’t show up emptyhanded. There’s a jolly, homey atmosphere in the house with relatives coming in and out. Anas and his parents are here to visit the grandparents and although they’re reasonably well off, they seem like really down to earth folks.

While dinner is cooking, Anas, his dad, and a cousin cousin and the Traveler head off to visit Ait Ben Haddou. It's fun to experience this amazing castle again in the company of Moroccans. As they wander up through the old city, a fellow invites them in and offers to show them the cave that was used as the prison cell in Gladiator, with photos on display of him with several big stars.

The Traveler has some great discussions with Anas’s father who tells about his friendship with a German family and what it was like going to visit them.

“What was most difficult for you about the German culture?” the Traveler asks.

“When I went to visit him, I reached his city and called him from the train station. He then instructed me to buy a map to find the way to his house! Normally for a Moroccan this would be an unthinkable way to treat a guest… but I was already familiar with German take-care-of yourself culture and took it with a grain of salt”.

They also talk about Moroccans living abroad and the obsession with building a big house and “looking rich” when they come to visit their homeland. It’s refreshing to chat with a Moroccan who seems to have a lot of insights both into his own culture and other cultures.

Across the River

The Traveler heads out to explore the area a little bit more He did notice a large town right across the river that he figures he should explore. So he heads across town and onto the bridge across the nearly 1 kilometer wide riverbed. Not a hike you’d want to do in the middle of the summer.

Tarmigt has it’s own little soul with a busy main street lined with shops—and even an upscale hotel. At the far end the Traveler finds a rugged hill topped with some huge boulders that he figures he should climb. It looks like a popular place to hang out—and use as a latrine—which is quite a climb just to take a dump!

From the top you get a great view: on the left, the Ouarzazate Oasis and reservoir (although the half-built cinderblock neighborhoods in the foreground are a bit ugly). Then on the right are the barren rugged mountains and the skinny little road winding its way off to the middle of nowhere it seems… However, the Traveler knows that the great Draa Valley Civilization lies some 60 kilometers beyond… It’s still a great spot here that marks the line between Civilized, Hospitable Desert and Inhospitable Desert.

A Village of Disturbing Contrasts

Back down the rugged hilltop, the Traveler figures he'll follow a road that heads towards the reservoir, with farmland on one side and dry hills on the other—although he suspects he's going to end up at a dead end before long. There seems to be a good bit of foot traffic this way—particularly students. It’s not too long and he goes around a bend and there’s a village with a mud castle perched on a little plateau overlooking the oasis. He wanders inside, through the gate to an open area with a partially ruined buildings around. He asks a cheerful old lady, pulling a donkey laden with firewood the name of the town

“Tlamesna” she tells him, then says, wanting to be helpful “the hotel is right around the corner.”

Sure enough, there’s an upscale Riad hotel in the middle of the poverty and ruins of Tlamesna. In front of it is an ugly makeshift tent and a banner reading “the former workers of this hotel are staging a legal protest. The hotel is still open for business, however.” It seems strange… although protests are common in Morocco, he's never seen one in the tourism sector—as it’s so easy for hotels just to fire people and hire new ones. It’s kind of a disturbing scene here in this very poor looking village.

The Traveler continues on down the road, just looking for a spot to do his official Tlamesna concert, finally setting for a shady little walled in jnan or farm plot. Up ahead he sees yet another scruffy little town, so he figures he’ll continue on just to see if it deserves exploration. Not much to see there, but he decide to count Telet anyways, then he follows a path into the fields hoping to find a way to cross to Ouarzazate which is just a stones throw away.

Unfortunately, crossing on foot looks impossible. Here the dry riverbed has turned into a wide, muddy lake, the beginning of the reservoir. In fact just walking around this area is getting more and more tricky, as the path turns into a muddy bog. Finally he zigzags his way back to the road to Tarmigt, and catches a taxi back to Ouarzazate…

And so another 100+ kilometer hike in the Sahara Desert comes to an end.

The Traveler heads back to town, to just chill out for the evening. A fellow selling sandals asks the Traveler to play a song for him. At first the Traveler figures it’s just a trick to get him to buy something, but then the sandal vendor starts telling his life story, how he went to the US and worked there illegally for a number of years before finally coming back to Morocco.

“So did you make a lot of money while you were there?” the Traveler asks.

“No, I was young and reckless and I spent all the money that I made.”

He asks to borrow the Traveler's guitar and plays a mournful blues song (his own composition) that seemed to tell the tale of a life of irony and regret.

The Traveler wil never forget his encounter with the sandals vendor of Ouarzazate. Just one more meaningful encounter in a very, very meaningful trip.