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Tale
2 -40 days in Morocco! - by Malik
Marrakesh
From Chaouen, I boarded a night-bus
to reach Marrakesh about 700kms
away. I had reservation for a very friendly place, Hotel Ali
and remained there for four days paying only $20/day for a
clean air-conditioned room with half-board and free email
facilities. A buffet-style dinner was served on the rooftop.
I had dinner and, the same time, enjoyed the panoramic views
of the city. The hotel was quite near to Jemaa
el Fna, the square famous for its night-time food stalls
and traditional entertainment. With the approach of dusk,
one could see people making their way to the hot food stalls.
One after another, acetylene flames sprang into life. It was
a starry night, the moon came out to play the role it was
designed for; to be the most magical of the thousand and one
lanterns in the Jemaa el Fna Square.
Next day, I was awakened by the prayer-call from the 70 metre
high minaret of Koutoubia, the
spiritual beacon of Marrakesh. It was good time to see sunrise
and also have a long walk. I had a city map depicting worth-seeing
places. I only had to approach a passerby and put my forefinger
on a particular spot. In a long-winded Arabic language, one
would explain to me how to reach there and then point out
in a particular direction. I only cared for the direction
and move on till I was non-plus on the next crossing.
I spent one full day in locating the Majorelle
Garden, only 7 km away from Ali Hotel. It had abundance
of giant bamboo, yucca, papyrus, palm, cypress and amazing
cacti with natural colours that contrasted vividly with bright
blue façade of the villa. It was a place of rare individual
expression and mystical force.
On my last day, I visited Menara.
Set slightly out of town, Menara offered a pleasant escape
from busy Marrakech. It had a rectangular pool that looked
stunningly attractive with the towering Atlas
Mountains in the background. A walk around the pool
must be good for love as blushing couples were walking without
holding hands, and most certainly without kissing.
I returned by the evening. It was delightful to feel the gentle
caress of the light breeze on my cheeks.
Gorge Dades
On my way to Gorge Dades, about
294 km away from Marrakesh, I stayed for one day at Ourazazat
(were-za-zat). There was a studio where Lawrence of Arabia,
Star Wars and Kundan, an India film, were partially shot.
A little away was Aït Benhaddou,
a village made up of several small fortresses.
I took a bus from Ourazazat to Boumalne
where grand taxis were available for the gorge, about 35 miles
away. I joined one taxi which ran on a serpentine road passing
by picturesque villages in the Dades
Valley. The taxi ascended on the hilly road gaining
height as the valley got narrower and narrower. Finally, it
squeezed to a gorge barely 20 feet wide where river and the
road had to be separated by 1-foot wall.
Once the taxi passed the gorge, the area become quite flat.
I asked the driver to drop me at hotel Berber de la Montangne
that was hardly 30 meters beyond the 310-meter high rocks.
It was a nice place to relax and was surprisingly inexpensive:
just $20 with sumptuous breakfast and dinner. I stayed for
two days enjoying the beauty of the gorge and rocks changing
colours with movement of the sun.
Merzouga
After Dades, I returned to the main road and took a bus to
reach Rissani, about 387 km away
in the Southeast. Merzouga was
still 35km away and I decided to take a break. While I was
looking for a hotel, I ran into a guy named Abdul who was
a resident of Merzouga. He convinced me to accompany him.
I shelved my plan and went with him.
The village of Merzouga lay beside the brown sand dunes. I
felt a sense of timelessness in the still and silent desert
unchanged since ages. In the evening, Abdul took me to a tour
of the village. We watched traditional folkloric dance and
listened to Berber drum music and songs. We had dinner at
a roadside café: a bowl of soup and a loaf of bread,
too hot to hold, as it was straight from the oven.
The desert landscape around Merzouga
At night, I slept is a traditional Berber tent made of camel
hair. On the floor, there were hand-woven rugs, cotton pillows
& cushions. It was a wonderful setting evoking images
of the Arabian Nights.
Next day was reserved for a night safari. In the evening Abdul
brought a camel. He ordered the camel to sit-down. I jumped
on its saddle. Without warning, I lurched forward toward the
ground, then rose several feet into the air as my camel stood
up and started walking. Initially, I felt awkward but soon
adjusted to the slow rhythm. After about 3 hours, we arrived
at a camp-site in the middle of towering sand dunes about
120-meter high. We slept on sand in the open sky beneath the
flickering stars in the clear desert sky and returned in the
early morning.
Imilchil
From Merzouga, I dashed to Tinerhir,
a picturesque oasis town with a lovely place to stay, Hotel
Al Houda. While checking-in, the receptionist said, “You
are a little early. If it were mid-September, there is no
place on the earth like Imilchil.”
I had heard the name before. It was a marriage-market where
the women do the choosing.
The name "Imilchil" got engraved in my mind. But
it was 110 km away, up in the high mountain with no public
transport. I enquired around and found a van, with 21 passengers,
going to the last village, Ait Hani,
about 45 km away. I talked with the driver and he agreed to
take me solo to Imilchil for $75 after dropping off passengers
at their destinations. On the way, the van passed by Todra,
a steep, narrow gorge with a swift river running through it.
Two cliff walls, 300-meters high, rose out of rocky river
bed just 10-meters apart. This was a gateway to High Atlas
Mountain and the road to Imilchil was constantly rising, occasionally
giving a glimpse of far-away sand dunes of Sahara.
About 10 km before Imilchil town, the van passed by a deserted
village which only becomes alive at the time of the Marriage
Festival. I envisioned aspiring young ladies with purple scarves
approaching me with sweet voices like, "You have captured
my liver”, (in Berber culture it's the liver, not the
heart which is considered to be the location of true love).
The Imilchil Town was pleasantly cool being at an altitude
of 2,600 meters. There were few hotels. I got a room with
clean woollen blankets for only $7. A free breakfast in the
morning was a windfall. The town itself consisted of window-less
red-mud houses matching with colour of the surrounding hills.
I wish I could stay until Mid-September to try my luck in
the marriage market but it was simply impossible. I left with
a heavy heart next morning for Beni
Melal.
Cascades Ouzoud
Sharing a taxi with a Belgium couple, I reached Ouzoud
in about three hours. I stayed in a hotel near enough to hear
the pleasant sound of falling water. After some rest, I went
to the source hardly 50 meters away. It presented a spectacular
view of water falling from a height of 100 meters. The falls
were flanked by red-rock cliffs and bright green shrubs. Reaching
the bottom had been made easy by staircases and paths. Down
below, the falling torrent had formed a pool where one could
swim or row a little boat. I sat at the edge of water sipping
tea and watching desert monkeys begging for handouts. The
view from the bottom was awesome. As water struck protruding
rocks, spray bounced upwards creating a big rain-bow.
The Ouzoud Cascades
Essaouira
From Ouzoud, I continued downward to reach Essaouira,
about 470 km away. Essaouira was a beautiful port known for
strong winds. It had a fortified harbour with fishing nets
laid out on the quayside, boats unloading their catches and
stalls serving seafood sizzling on grills. The strong winds
blowing from the Atlantic Ocean had made it a surfers' paradise.
I stayed at a hotel near the sea. One fine morning, I went
out and was surprised to find out that I was all alone except
some seagulls and cats. I watched the strong waves beating
the fortress walls and fishing boats returning with a trail
of scavenging birds. It was a wonderful sight indeed.
The
fortress walls at Essaouira
Back to Casablanca
On the 40th day, when it was 4th August 2004, I returned to
Casablanca having covered about
3500 miles and blowing away around $2000 USD. As my flight
was the next day, I covered one left-over item in my program.
It was a hammam, a public bath.
During my previous stay in the same city, I had marked one,
Hammam Ziani, and went straight
for it. For a small amount ($5), I was soaped, scrubbed, messaged
and rinsed by an attendant. I felt fresh when the sand of
the desert and dirt of the towns had been washed away but
the memories left intact!
Hafeez ur Rahman Malik, Karachi-Pakistan.
Submitted: 18 September 2004
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