Gorges and Deserts

Hello all,

The brilliant part about Morocco which makes it despite all the man hassles one of the best countries I have travelled in is that people live everywhere.... and i mean everywhere. Plus they have few cars so its public transport all the way. Never has a country been so accessible!

After one long overnight bus trip and the worst lying b**tard tout ever I finally arrived in Merzouga and was shown to a kasbah (thought these were castles but actually they are just a building surrounded by a big wall) by a man with good english called Hassan (or Mohammed - everyone is called hassan or mohammed). The kasbah was run by a berber family and right on the base of the dunes. The Berbers (traditional nomads of the desert) look quite dramatic strutting around in their sky blue tunics and headscarves - very jewel of the nile. One of them with his charcoal black shaped eyebrows and beards looked so striking I could barely keep my eyes off him. Ironically enough also the only Moroccan man not to make a pass at me.

The first night I went by camel (actually dromedary) with 2 germans and a guide into the dunes to watch the sun go down and sleep. Amazing shapes in the sand; will put my photos on when I can. It is so silent in the desert at night. Unbelievable. Slept under the stars before another butt crunching ride back to the kasbah and a great breakfast with coffee. I spent the rest of the hot and dusty day waiting for it to cool and watching many moroccans who had come to take sand showers.At midday they sit in a hole in the sand (up to their head) for as long as they can stand. It takes off the top dead layer of skin. I felt I should give it a go but was told my skin was too soft. I didnt press the issue ; ) I messed around with some of the maroccan kids and talked in my wicked french with the adults. They love to play jokes on each other.

I also had to try and hide from a BUM (big ugly male) who had decided I was pretty and wanted me to go travelling with him in his car. He followed me from room to room in the kasbah (unfortunately i was sleeping on roof so no room to escape to) and even followed me out to the sand dune (biggest in the erg) that i wanted to climb. Luckily I had not taken direct route and hid behind another dune before taking another much longer and harder way. By the time he knew where I was it was too late. He never made it to the top but I did. it was a might fine slog but I was the first of several sunset viewers and the view across these dramatic red windswept dunes, algeria and the sahara was so amazing it brought tears to my eyes. I didnt bring enough water so ended up jogging with a few others to a handy well to pull up water and quench my thirst. On my return one of the brothers told me he had never been up and was impressed with my strenght.

A great day I wanted to eat my dinner, watch the stars and sleep. This was not to be as I was only alone for a couple of minutes before the next man would come along. it was an ardouous and never ending task pretendig to be married and having to expalin again and again etc; when Hassan (3rd man) refused to stop touching me (just on the arm) i burst into tears and ran into the darkened sitting room. He eventually worked out where I was and was quite sweet but couldnt understand why I was crying - i think it was mostly because of the incident in fez but also because you cant be friends with a moroccan male. In the end he thought I was crying because of the BUM. He helped make up my bed on the roof, said good night but returned soon after to sleep on the roof but away from me - my protection. He left when the tempreture dropped at 2am ish.

I saw 5 shooting stars before I fell asleep and despite my teqrs they still made me smile.

The next morning I had breakfast (bread, jam and sweet tea)with the family which was cool and headed off to the gorges. The Family kept on saying to me its cold in the gorges, my reply was always "great!".

In Todra gorge i slept in a campsite in the palmerie - palm tree area with a river running through it, raised level plots for crops with ingenious irrigations systems. Beautiful and cool. Great to sit on a palm tree bridge with my feet in the icy cold water. Next day I walked for a few hours through the palmerie to reach the gorge which i think is about 200/300m at highest point with moroccans everywhere having picnics, swimming, chilling out. etc. Walking further into the gorge where less people go I found a tent bar for a coke and he told me about a waterfall for washing in. I found it - only about 1m high but no-one else around so I wrapped myself up in my berber headscarf and went for a dip. Great fun. Stayed here for 3 nights; saw the sacred fish??! and relxed after dunes.

Then Dades Gorge which is fantastic for walking in. Theres twisty road up the top of the gorge and then I found an old goat sheep path and took that to go much higher - stunning views. Was quite impressed with my dexterity until I saw 2 men bringing in goats on a vertical face approx. 150/200m above ground. Next day I walked through palneries and by rock formations to get to the Hills of the Human Bodies; so called because the rocks look like Human Bodies. All day venture I was nackered by my return but once again fantastic to be able to climb over everything and explore freely without a guide. Theres a limit to how lost you can get in a valley!

Despite the great trekking opportunities; I headed on to Ait Bennadou for an old kasbah city on the side of a hill set in a wide valley. Brilliant Johnny Depp pirate look alike with cloth/bells in the hair sitting on the ramparts; I hadnt realised until recently that the pirates barbarossa etc were based on the Berbers. A berber who thought his luck was in showed me around a berber museum with wooden keys, fridges and cheese makers; as well as photos of some of the films made here including Gladiator; Kingdom of Heaven and Four Feathers (the second cr*p one) Unfortunately Heath Ledger was not around.... : ( The valley floor made up of astonishing green and pink rocks - kid you not. Great sunset colours.

Then it was time to abandon countryside for Marrakesh. At this point I hadnt spoken english much for about a week so was thrilled that 2 german guys were also ssleeping on the roof that night although I didnt meet them till breakfast, at which point I talked moreorless non stop till we parted at the crossroads 9km down the road. Sure they understood!

Hope all is well with you,
lots of love
kx

P.S. There was a suicide bomber in meknes in the square I always hung out in, a couple of days after I left - front page of arabic newspaper. I got someone else to explain, only managed to get himself though. Not clear what he wanted.