Marrakech,highlight of the trip.

[Emmamandic]

I flew direct from London to Marrakech on a new British Airways route designed to ferry the pasty white British public to the heart of sunny Morocco.Stepping off the air conditioned plane into the 42degree heat of Marrakech's summer was only slightly,less of a shock than stepping out of the stuffy and formal American culture into the warm and effusive Arabic culture of Morocco. The Arabs, renowned for their hospitality the world over are truly the most amicable of peoples. They will greet you on the street,for the most part,cordially invite you into their homes or shops to share some mint tea and talk. The souk in the Djemma El Fna in Marrakech does make a fabulous sight though.After a time the pace of life in Marrakech palls you can leave the city and head out into the 'country'side.This is exactly what we chose to do on our second night in Marrakech. Aided by a very helpful gentelman from Desert,we strongly recommend you to book your tour with them,watch their website:http://www.whitecamel.com. From the Hotel Chahrazad where we were staying we organised a four day tour into the wilds of Morocco.The first night of our excursion took us south across the High Atlas to the desert near Zagora.After the mountains you drop down into a barren and stony plane which extends pretty much to the Algerien border interrupted only briefly by the Anti-Atlas a few hundred kilometres to the south.At Zagora we left the 4x4 and we took the 8x8 for of evil smelling and cantankerous camels and headed out into the desert.That night we camped with our Berber guides, dined with them and slept under the stars.The Berbers are enthusiastic musicians and strict Muslims,the whole experience was rather magical.

Upon reaching our Hotel we clambered aboard the four wheels drive,we drove West along the border towards a little town called Merzouga,dramatic landscapes and the dunes are the most spectacular.From Merzouga we turned west into the Todra and Dades gorges. The Todra was first, a tight, narrow gorge with sheer sides about 300m tall..the Dades is larger, We spent the night in a Hotel located in the heart of the gorges.Next back to Marrakech.That's one of my adventures and next to South Africa.