We felt a little sad to leave Fes, as we both enjoyed its maze-like streets and mud dwelling houses, diversity of the little shops and stalls, the singing of mullahs 5 times a day and so on. However, we still had more than half of our journey in front of us and today we needed to drive almost 500km to Merzouga - a small desert town near Algerian boarder. According to our GPS we would be on the road for 6 hours.
The road ahead was gong to be an interesting one, as we were about to drive through multiple ecosystems in one day: plains, grassland, cedar forests, shrub-steppe and finally arriving to the beginning of the Sahara desert. Also, from now on we would be driving through a much less populated areas than in the west parts of the country.
About an hour further we arrived to Ifran. The contrast that this small town had with Fes is enormous. At once we felt like we were somewhere in Switzerland, surrounded by cedar trees and very much European looking shale's and houses.
After Ifran we were driving up the mountains of the Middle Atlas, close to an altitude of about 1500m above sea level.
When reading about Morocco, I found some information that the Cedar Forests in this region are widely populated with monkeys and we wanted to make a stop to see them. Azrou was recommended as a good place to view the macaques, with three spots that are normally more or less guaranteed to provide a sighting. The GPS coordinates of the one we visited are: 33°25′36.46″N 5°9′20.06″W.
Even before we arrived to the spot, we saw some wild monkeys along the road, making faces at us or hiding in the trees.
We had to go off the normal road on the unpaved path and regretted a bit that our car wasn't a 4x4. Here, Dima got concerned again of puncturing the car tires. Not that we did, but he kept worrying and had real doubts on whether we should drive further.
After about 7-8 km we saw some people on horses and some huts, so we knew that we were at the right place. There were plenty of monkeys around, large and small, and they were lurking for treats. A couple of locals were selling bags with some seeds and fruits to feed the monkeys, while the other owns were trying to sell the horseback ride through the forest.
We politely declined, and just walked around a bit taking photos.
With still 400km in front of us, we didn't stay long. When getting back to the main road we took a different path which had a bit better paving.
Still not ideal but more drivable with a regular car. Apparently, this road is just before the one we took when driving from Azrou.
The scenery was changing quite fast as we drove on.
The mountains slowly changed into plateaus and then into the shrub-steppe.
With an exception of some small villages every now and then we were mostly driving through the endless step and hills.
We stopped at one of the larger villages to get some food. It even had a choice between two cafes situated exactly opposite of each other (healthy competition, I guess). One was called TITANIC :-)
We chose the other one...
After lunch the scenery was slowly changing from the hilly step...
into the red rocky mountain like terrain.
With very few cars on the road Dima had a blast overtaking them whenever possible :-)
After about four hours being on the road, we were passing through yet another small settlement when what we were warned many times before - finally happened.
The speed limit in the populated areas of Morocco is 60 and we were neatly following the rules. Almost all the way through the village, we already could see the sign of the village boarder in the distance, behind a small hill. Dima started to accelerate and just as we were driving over the top of that very hill, we saw THEM. The local police with radar was hiding just behind it, measuring the speed of all vehicles driving out of the village. Dima hit the breaks, but it was too late. The policeman motioned that we need to pull over.
We got out of the car and prepared the whole speech on how we had no idea we were driving fast and that we are absolutely sorry and that they needed to let us go. All in English, of course. But it wasn't our lucky day, as one of the policemen spoke English and managed to explain that we exceed the speed limit by 9km (!) and that because the radar made a picture of us speeding, he now had no choice but to fine us. We made another couple of attempts to change his mind, but they only helped a bit. At some point, the guy felt a bit sorry, and said that although the fine is inevitable, but he will write us the smallest one in the book (choice from 30, 60 or 90 euros). We paid 30, asked for receipt and left.
Town of Errachidia is the last larger settlement before entering the desert region of Morocco. Despite the palm trees along the road...
... you could already feel the closeness of the Sahara.
We joked that the this guy was taking all his wifes on a road trip :-)
Further down the road, as we were getting closer to the desert the landscape became really empty, the roads almost deserted and stretching for tens of kilometers all the way to the horizon.
A smaller side road led from the highway to the Hassilabied settlement, near Merzouga that is just on the boarder of the Sahara desert. We could already see sand dunes towering at a distance.
We booked a stay at the tents camp in the desert. A nomad tribe that lives now in Hassilabied (they lived in the desert before through out the year) was arranging all the details. The owner, Mohammed, was waiting for us at his house. We could park the car there, and start our desert adventure.
Next: the nomads, the camels and the Sahara
The road ahead was gong to be an interesting one, as we were about to drive through multiple ecosystems in one day: plains, grassland, cedar forests, shrub-steppe and finally arriving to the beginning of the Sahara desert. Also, from now on we would be driving through a much less populated areas than in the west parts of the country.
Even before we arrived to the spot, we saw some wild monkeys along the road, making faces at us or hiding in the trees.
After about 7-8 km we saw some people on horses and some huts, so we knew that we were at the right place. There were plenty of monkeys around, large and small, and they were lurking for treats. A couple of locals were selling bags with some seeds and fruits to feed the monkeys, while the other owns were trying to sell the horseback ride through the forest.
We politely declined, and just walked around a bit taking photos.
The scenery was changing quite fast as we drove on.
We got out of the car and prepared the whole speech on how we had no idea we were driving fast and that we are absolutely sorry and that they needed to let us go. All in English, of course. But it wasn't our lucky day, as one of the policemen spoke English and managed to explain that we exceed the speed limit by 9km (!) and that because the radar made a picture of us speeding, he now had no choice but to fine us. We made another couple of attempts to change his mind, but they only helped a bit. At some point, the guy felt a bit sorry, and said that although the fine is inevitable, but he will write us the smallest one in the book (choice from 30, 60 or 90 euros). We paid 30, asked for receipt and left.
Town of Errachidia is the last larger settlement before entering the desert region of Morocco. Despite the palm trees along the road...
Next: the nomads, the camels and the Sahara
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