Tag Archives: Africa

Zanzibar, Tanzania

On the east coast of Tanzania is the city of Dar Es Salaam, Arabic for “a haven of peace”. It is the economic centre of Tanzania and used to be the capital city until 1974 when it was moved to Dodoma.
Dar Es Salaam remains a bustling city, but its biggest draw card for me is that it provided a gateway to the Zanzibar Archipelago.

The group enjoying beach time

Zanzibar Archipelago

The Zanzibar Archipelago is in the Indian Ocean, 1.5 hours by ferry from Dar Es Salaam. Amongst twenty or so islands, there are two main islands Zanzibar and Pemba. Despite it being part of Tanzania it has its own entry requirements and passport checks.

The streets of Stone TownThe Zanzibar Archipelago is home to 1.3million people, 99% of whom are Muslim. Quite extreme Muslim, and if you plan to visit as a female you must ensure appropriate clothing. Cover your arms to the elbows and legs past the knees. Even as recently as a couple of years ago women have been stoned for inappropriate dress.

Stone town, built in the 1830s by the sultan of Oman, is the capital of Zanzibar. Between 1804 and 1964 Zanzibar was ruled by twelve sultans until the Zanzibar revolution when they demanded independence from the Arabs and chose to join the Tanzanian Republic.

Stone Town

Stone Town earned its name by the construction of the buildings. The coral stone from the ocean was used as a building material. Based on the towns unique construction and its history, it was declared a UNESCO World Heritage listed site in 2001.

Sculpture representing the slave market in Stone TownOne of the most notable historic aspects of Stone Town was its slave trade. Africa had a large slave trade, slaves from the West were traded to America and slaves from the East were traded through the spice markets in Stone Town to Asia. The slave trade was officially stopped in 1873, but was continued in secret until 1907. Two million slaves were traded over 400 years, and many more would have died or been killed before making it to the slave markets. A very sad history.

Spice Tour

Eating a fresh coconutPart way between Stone Town and Nungwi, we stopped by a spice farm for a tour. We learned a little bit about some of the spices grown on the island and the purposes they had in both cooking and medicine. We also had the opportunity to watch a coconut tree climbing demonstration, as well as enjoy some fresh young coconuts to drink and eat.

As a group we didn’t think the spice tour was run in a particularly professional manner and didn’t particularly enjoy it, and we were also unhappy that every person on site asked us for a tip though they did little to nothing to earn one.

Nungwi

Our boat for the snorkelling tripOn the northern coast of Zanzibar is the quiet little beach town of Nungwi. When you head to Zanzibar for your beach getaway, this is the place to be. Crisp white sand, crystal clear blue waters and bright, hot sunshine.

It is a great place to relax on the beach or by the pool. The more adventurous can book snorkelling or scuba diving excursions.

A fish swimming in the reefWith a group of eleven of us we booked places on a traditional sailing boat for a full day snorkelling trip to the island of Mnemba. We enjoyed the sun and views for the trip out and back. Dropping anchor just off the coast of the island we leapt into the clean, cool water. The snorkelling there was lovely, with live coral and a large variety of colourful fish in all shapes and sizes.
Before heading back to Nungwi we stopped at a beach for some lunch with freshly cooked fish, rice and a local tomato/vegetable sauce.
The full day snorkelling trip included drinking water, lunch and snorkelling equipment at a cost of USD$25.

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Serengeti National Park & Ngorongoro Crater, Tanzania

I flew into Nairobi, Kenya to join a 3 week overlanding tour of East Africa with the tour operator Nomad Tours South Africa, booked through Peri Peri Reizen. The guides Nika, TK and Evans introduced themselves and set a friendly and fun tone for the tour. They made introductions and then bundled us into our overland truck (the truck is named Morrison) and set off for Arusha in Tanzania. Arusha is the gateway to Serengeti National Park, Ngorongoro  Crater & Mount Kilimanjaro. We spent two nights in Arusha, one before and one after our jeep  safari.

Elephant CrossingRun by local operator Tanzania Experiences, we headed off to the Serengeti National Park and Ngorongoro Crater for a four day/three night jeep safari. The jeep safari was an additional excursion on top of the tour and cost approximately USD$560.

The safari was spent almost entirely in the jeep for two reasons, firstly the distances are huge so there is a great deal of time spent in transit between locations, secondly the parks are full of amazing, but very dangerous animals, so seeing them is done in the form of a game drive.

We did three game drives in the Serengeti National Park and one in the Ngorongoro Crater.

Serengeti National Park

The name ‘Serengeti’ means Endless Plain and accurately reflects the size, 14762 square kilometres, and appearance of the park. It is the second largest national park in Tanzania. Despite is being called a plain, the landscape is broken up with rivers, lakes, hills, rocky outcropping a and trees. This can make it challenging for spotting animals, but does provide them a varied environment with many shady areas under which they can escape the heat of the day.

Lioness taking a restOur driver Rashid was absolutely brilliant on spotting wildlife and communicating with other drivers on where to find certain animals. He was very knowledgeable on breeds, facts, and statistics about the animals and shared the information with us in a fun and informative manner, sometimes pop quiz style.

We were incredibly lucky to see four of “The Big Five” numerous times in the park: Leopards, Elephants, Lions and Buffalo. The fifth animal in the big five is the Rhinoceros, which we saw in the Ngorongoro Crater.

Giraffe EatingWe also saw a Cheetah, Giraffes, Zebra, Topis, Impalas, Thomson Gazelles, Grant’s Gazelles, Wildebeest, Hippopotamus’, Black-backed Jackals, Hyraxes, Hartebeest, Warthogs, Hyena, Baboons, Ostriches and loads of different types of birds.

The best times to see the animals are in the cooler parts of the day, early morning and late afternoon. Even then many, such as the large cats, are usually found hiding in shady places in tree branches or under trees.

A cheetah looking for preyAs you can appreciate with any experience involving wildlife spotting, it is all about luck. I think we were incredibly lucky to have seen all of the animals that we did. Our biggest stroke of luck was in seeing a cheetah, the most solitary and reclusive of all the big cats. The cheetah was hanging out in the shade under a tree. We sat and watched it for some time, it got up and moved to another shady spot and then another. While we didn’t get to see a chase, we were thoroughly grateful to see the cat both sitting, standing and walking. An interesting piece of information about the cheetah – it differs from all the other big cats as it doesn’t climb trees due to the fact that it does by have retractable claws. If it were to climb a tree and get a claw stuck and damaged it would limit its ability to hunt effectively and most likely result in death.

Accommodation

Our tour guides put up tents for us in a campsite, Seronera Campsite.

The facilities provided were minimal but sufficient and there was no electricity.  I was a little surprised at the lack of protection against the wild here, but I guess that’s part of the thrill of being in a national park in Africa. After dark it was up to you to be vigilant and scan the darkness for eyes with your head torch.

The first night we heard Hyenas, Lions and a Leopard. The second night, even before going to bed, the camp was surrounded by Hyenas – animals which are thankfully scavengers. The first morning we had baboons rummaging through the trash can in the middle of the camp and the second morning buffalo were hanging around the outer edges of the site. These experiences were equal parts terrifying and exciting!

Sunset at our Serengeti Campsite

 

Ngorongoro Crater

Yawning HippopotamusThe Ngorongoro Crater is a UNESCO World Heritage listed site, that is a famous natural wonder. The rim to the crater floor varies in height from 400-610metres and is quite a deep descent. The crater floor is 19km wide and covers an area of 264 square kilometres.

ZebrasA pre-dawn wake up call had us descending into the crater as the sun was rising. The landscape was much flatter, greener and had fewer (almost no) trees, this made animal spotting a little bit easier.

A Black Rhinoceros in the distanceIn addition to the animals we saw in the Serengeti, we also saw Black Rhinoceros’, Bat-Eared Foxes, Golden Jackals and Elands on the crater floor.

The animal that we considered to be the specialty of Ngorongoro was the Black Rhinoceros. It is an animal close to extinction, with a current population estimated at around 400. Of the total population, approximately 15 are resident in the crater, and despite only being able to see them from a huge distance, we were lucky enough to see six of them.

Accommodation

Ngorongoro Crater CampsiteThe campsite at Ngorongoro Crater, Simba Campsite, was on the crater rim and had a reasonable view put towards the crater floor. This was a larger campsite than the Serengeti and had better facilities, including electricity, hot showers and armed security patrolling the site.

Maasai Village

Maasai Village WelcomeIn transit between the Serengeti National Park and the Ngorongoro Crater, we stopped to visit a Maasai Village, for USD$10 per person.

The Maasai of the village welcomed us outside their gates with a traditional welcome ceremony of chanting and dancing/jumping.

Once we were then invited in to the village where the men and women separated and showed us a little more of their traditional dancing/jumping, also inviting us to join in. It was actually really quite fun.

We were then given a tour of the village, including the livestock pen, the school and a home.

School children in a Maasai VillageThe life of the Maasai centers around their livestock and their village construction reflects this. In the center of the village is a circular pen where livestock are kept overnight. During the day the livestock are herded around the countryside. The houses are all built in a circle around the livestock pen and facing it, but with a four to five meter gap between. The houses are constructed from Acacia trees, cow dung and urine. It’s not the most watertight construction, so when it rains they pull a plastic tarpaulin over each home. The men of the village may have multiple wives, and for each family there is one home (so one man might have a few homes).

Interestingly, the school building we visited was outside of both of these circles. On questioning I was told that it is because the school is only used for an hour or two during the day for children who aren’t yet old enough to go to proper school, and that day time is safe.

Buying handmade jewellery from the MaasaiTo end the tour we were asked to visit the marketplace of each of the families. Around the circle between the livestock pen and the houses were small ‘shops’ from each family to sell their beaded jewellery and handcrafts. Their prices were exorbitant, but by spending inside their community it is nice to choose products that are handmade by their creator with the knowledge that the money goes directly to the community without a store taking commission. It is a very touristic setup, but nonetheless fascinating. On my way back to the bus a lovely gentleman advised me, with eager eyes, that he had one black wife, but would also like to have a white wife…

Toilets

Toilets in East Africa, particularly an overlanding trip, deserve a special mention. You will find three kinds of toilet in East Africa: a normal western toilet, a squat toilet and a bush toilet. Firstly you can’t assume for any of these that there will be toilet paper, so always carry a roll in your backpack.

The Western Toilet

Often, but not always, when you find a western toilet it’s in a tourist destination that’s maybe a bit more up-scale. They often have a toilet seat and are often quite clean.

The Squat Toilet

The squat toilet is pretty common around East Africa. Unfortunately they are often quite dirty and smelly, mostly just because westerners are unfamiliar with how to use them, and finding one that is dirty and smelly is not conducive to wanting to give something new a try. Thought they are much more hygienic than a standard western toilet since you actually don’t touch anything.

The Bush Toilet

The bush toilet can be found literally anywhere and it’s more hygienic than the western or squat toilet. You simply squat behind a bush, tree or even a car. It’s actually rather hilarious when the truck pulls over, everyone gets out and all you can see are girls heads peeking out over the tall grasses on the roadside as everyone squats (you will need to put your modesty aside for this excursion). 

The rule of thumb is that any paper you use should be put in the trash can, not thrown on the ground and poop should be buried (personally I’m happy to do a bush wee, but I would personally wait for the nearest western convenience for any pooping)

Medical Advice

First and foremost, consult a travel GP before heading to East Africa. Two things I know as a fact – you must have your Yellow Fever vaccination and take Malaria prevention tablets (and use really good bug spray with a high percentage of DEET). My vaccination record was checked for Yellow Fever at the border when I transited from Kenya to Tanzania.

The last time I checked you also require up to date vaccinations for Typhoid, Hepatitis A, Hepatitis B and Tetanus.

Photo Albums

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Three day Merzouga Desert Trek, Morocco

While my North Morocco Adventure covered most of what I wanted to see in Morocco, there were a few things I still wanted to see/do – namely visit the famous kasbah Ait Ben Haddou and ride a camel in the Sahara Desert so I booked a three day Merzouga Desert Trek departing from Marrakech.

The tour was primarily spent sitting in a minivan because the distances out to these places are huge. For this reason if you are considering this kind of trip, make sure you do a 3 or 4 day, not just 1 or 2 because you simply won’t get to see anything.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAOnce you have driven over the Atlas mountains, the first main stop on the adventure is the kasbah, Aït Ben Haddou. It is quite a famous kasbah situated alongside a river along the former caravan route between Marrakech and the Sahara.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThe kasbah is a UNESCO world heritage listed site. Strangely though, only the exterior is UNESCO protected according to our local guide. The exterior looks very well maintained and is a stunning site to behold. The interior, I found stunning too but in a more rugged way. I believe four families still live within the walls of the kasbah, but most people live in the village across the small river.

The Aït Ben Haddou site has been used in scenes of several movies over the years, including Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator, The Mummy and more recently in the popular tv series Game of Thrones. While the Aït Ben Haddou site is often used in films, many of the sets are off site in a nearby town called Ouarzazate at the Atlas Studios. We stopped outside the gates for a photo on our way through to the Dades Valley.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWe spent the night in a hotel in the Dades Valley, before having a local tour of the area in the morning. Walking through a small village to learn about their culture and way of life. We also met a Berber woman who demonstrated how she makes carpets to sell. After our short visit to the Dades Valley, we made a brief stop at Todre Gorge. I was astounded at how crystal clear the water was!

Then we continued on, in a mad rush, to Merzouga. This is where we saddled up on our camels and went for a two hour ride into the Sahara Desert. While the ride was hampered by cold weather, high winds and some rains; it was still a phenomenal experience. There was a break in the rains as the sun set and it was absolutely gorgeous to see!OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERA

After two hours on a camel, the sun having set, we arrived at a Berber campsite in the dunes of the Sahara. We were assigned a tent, and then welcomed to spend time in the communal tent where we shared a traditional moroccan meal and played some games. I thought it was quite amusing, although a little annoying, we were each given a fork and between us there was a bowl of bread, one big dish of rice and one tajine of vegetable and chicken to share. Sitting around the table, we each used a piece of bread as a plate! What a mess we made!

Photo by Jutiphan Mongkolsuthree
Photo by Jutiphan Mongkolsuthree

With our bellies full and our hearts full of good cheer, we all made a circle outside around a fire pit. We clapped, sang and danced as people played on bongo drums. Ending the night flat on our backs staring at the stars in the sky. We were all amazed at how clear the skies were and just how many stars could be seen. We even saw a few shooting stars, though not all of us were quick enough to think of a wish to make.

After some time we each wandered off to our tents, rugged ourselves up in blankets and slept until the 6am wake up call from our Berber guides. We grabbed our things, saddled up and rode our camels 2 hours back to Merzouga. We were much quieter than on the way in the previous day – perhaps it was due to the cold morning, the lack of sleep, the endless agony that comes with riding a camel for so many hours or simply being so awestruck at having such a phenomenal experience. I have to say that for me it was all of the above, but mostly being able to ride a camel in the Sahara Desert watching the golden sun rise and light up the dunes was an experience I will treasure forever.

The tour ended with breakfast in Merzouga and a 10 hour minivan ride back to Marrakech. I spent one last night in the Red City having dinner with my fellow tour mates, before flying back to The Netherlands.

I’ll be seeing you again soon Africa….

Check out all my Merzouga Desert Trek photos on Flickr



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Tangier & Marrakech, Morocco

By the time I got to Tangier and the Marrakech, I was starting to feel like most Moroccan towns were the same. They have their Kasbah and Medina, pretty mosques, interesting markets and so on. Despite this feeling I did best to keep my eyes open to interesting experiences..

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Tangier

Tangier is on the north coast of Morocco. From certain points you can see where the Atlantic Ocean meets the Mediterranean Sea, and you can see the Strait of Gibraltar. While these are three separate ‘bodies’ of water, I honestly think if you get to the top of Morocco, you have seen all three!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIf you make it to the kasbah and then ignore the wharf developments,  you get a decent view across the water to Spain. Many people travel from Spain to Morocco or vice versa via the ferries which operate reasonably frequently. I was surprised by how small the distance is between Spain and Morocco! So it is certainly an option I would recommend taking!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWithin the kasbah walls is a super cute cafe called Salon Bleu, being several stories high and having rooftop sofas, it is a brilliant spot to stop for a cuppa and slice of cake and just take in the view of the city and the water.

Our visit to Tangier was only a short one, as we only went there in order to catch an overnight train to Marrakech. So after a half day wandering the streets we were off again to the final destination of the North Morocco Adventure.

Check out all my photos on Tangier on Flickr

Marrakech

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAWhile the town of Chefchaouen is predominantly blue, the city of Marrakech is all red, well red-brown. Supposedly it has earned the nickname the “red city”. The reason for the colour, according to our tour guide, is that the people who settled in the area and built it up as a city came from the desert, the Berbers. As a desert people they created Marrakech to be the colour of the desert so it wouldn’t hurt their eyes. My guess is that it would have been more about what resources they had access to, but everyone likes to hear random stories right?

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAMarrakech is a very busy and very popular city and was  a bit like all the other cities on steroids. More noise, more colour, more smells and more aggressive touts. The thing that I saw more of, that thoroughly appalled me, was more animal cruelty. Walking through the main square Jemaa El-Fna were many horse and carts, snake charmers and monkeys with metal collars being pulled around by chains who were clearly terrified, hurt and angered by being yanked around by men. This was painful to see, so honestly I walked straight through the square quickly so I didn’t have to witness the cruelty going on. During the day the square isn’t overly exciting, but I heard that I really comes to life at night time and is a great place to eat. With only one day in Marrakech, this wasn’t something I personally experienced.

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I can’t say I saw a great deal of Marrakech, but I generally enjoyed what I saw. I wandered through the medina and souks. Checked out all the colourful things for sale. Some friends tried their hand at bargaining for jewellery. Navigating the narrow alleyways remains fun, you never know what interesting things, sights, smells or street art you will see in your adventures. The Marrakech Museum was worth a visit, the building itself is gorgeous and a rabbit warren of fascinating rooms. Also while it is on the pricey side, the Majorelle Gardens were quite spectacular. I would have liked to visit the palace and the mosque but as I said I had very limited time in Marrakech.

Our tour ended with a visit to a dinner and belly dancing show in some random street in the medina. Which was a fabulous way to end the tour and to say “goodbye and thanks for the fun times” to all the members of the group.

Check out all my Marrakech photos on Flickr

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Chefchaouen, Morocco

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAChefchaouen is by far my favourite place in Morocco. It is in the Rif Mountains in the north of Morocco. Our guide told us it was built in 1511 by Berbers, Arabs and Jews. I was told by a random on a bus that the town name means “look at the two peaks”, though I am not confident of this. The name does however relate to the two peaks which some say are shaped like two horns; and I do believe the peaks behind the town are important in the town’s history. In the event of invasion, fires were lit atop mountain peaks to provide signals to nearby towns as a warning.

Chefchaouen is also sometimes referred to as Happy Valley, as there is a large amount of Marijuana grown in the area. I have heard that it is also fairly readily available in town, and is more commonly referred to as kif. For this reason, it is apparently quite a popular place for backpackers to visit, though I must say this certainly wasn’t on my list of things to do.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERADespite other reasons for it being known t the travelling community, Chefchaouen is primarily known for being the blue city (in case you are wondering, no I do not know why everything is painted blue). A huge number of the buildings in the city are painted/whitewashed in various shades of blue, and sometimes purple. Often the tops of building here left as orange, but the walls, doorways and window frames were often beautiful combinations of different shades of blue. Despite my day of arrival being grey, glum and rainy, I throughly enjoyed exploring the narrow alleyways of the city. The following day and explored the same narrow alleyways and more and enjoyed it just as much the second time around. It is a gorgeous place to explore!!

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIn stark contrast to all various shades of blue, the Kasbah in the town center is completely orange. It costs very little to go in and see, but it is also not overly worth it. Nevertheless I found it interesting.

Things to see and do in Chefchaouen include exploring at random, visiting the kasbah, exploring beyond the city wall or enjoying the view from the city wall, and hiking in the mountains (I didn’t go hiking myself).

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAA word of warning, as with any place in Morocco and in fact many other countries. You will be hassled on the streets to look in stores, to buy products and to eat at specific restaurants. I found this a standard annoyance throughout Morocco, so Chefchaouen was no better or worse. What did bother me however, was the children. They would come up to you and essentially demand money. In one case we were asked by a girl if we had a pen, we produced a pen and she took off with it, we had thought she wanted to write something to show us. There was another case where someone on the tour had an ice cream taken from her hand by a child. Also it was here that boys yelled racist comments and threw stones at a member of our group.

So I love the city of Chefchaouen, it remains my favourite, but please be wary of the children.

View all my Chefchaouen photos on Fickr

 

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Meknes and Fes, Morocco

Meknes

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAThe tour made a short stop in Meknes, where we had a local guide tour us around for a few hours. We visited the Heri Es Souani granary which was built in 700 AC. It is built partially underground, and the smart use of high vaults and water flow systems were fantastic in keeping the grain cool. The granary sounding like something that would be boring to visit, but it was actually quite fascinating, not to mention beautiful.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAfter our visit to the granary we walked around the palace I think (we weren’t allowed to go in or take photos, so I am not sure what the walled and guarded area was that we walked past). We continues on to the medina where we ate camel burgers for lunch. For someone who is a chicken when it comes to food, I did eat one and it was surprisingly delicious!

After lunch we had a short wander of the local markets before it was time to continue on to Fes.

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Check out all my Meknes photos on Flickr.

Fes

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIn Fes we once again hired a local guide to show us around, starting with a visit to the Royal Palace. Well, the front gates of it, which are absolutely stunning! The Royal Palace is found in the newer part of town, from the 14th century. The palace gates were restored in 1968 and are yet another display of intricate and colourful muslim design work. There were so many beautiful colours and patterns. I loved it. There are many palaces around Morocco where the King and his Queen may reside, as the Queen is originally from Fes they often visit this palace. I was also very interested to learn that the Queen of Morocco is a computer engineer!
(If you didn’t already know, I am an IT teacher with a focus on getting more women interested and involved in Computer Science – I am always excited about women in IT especially someone in an influential role such as a position of royalty, it’s a great example to provide girls!)

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAAfter visiting the palace gates and having some car trouble we headed up a hill for a view of the city and the medina. We made a short stop at a ceramics factory learning about the ceramics that are made and how the mosaics are created, before heading into the rabbit warren that is the medina. So many winding alleyways all filled with little stalls selling candies, bread, meats, olives, clothing, jewellery and more. It is a real feast for the senses!! (I might add that this isn’t always a good thing!)

Through the medina and out the back we headed to the leather tanneries, much to my disappointment they were undergoing renovation and we weren’t able to see the huge vats of dye’s used to colour the leather hides. We spent the remainder of our time in Fes relaxing and drinking Nos Nos. (The local brew of coffee is crazy strong, but they have a variation of it which is half coffee half milk, called Nos Nos.)

Check out all my Fes photos on Flickr.

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Rabat, Moulay Idriss & Volubilis, Morocco

The North Morocco Adventure tour is actually pretty full on, particularly for the first few days. On our first full day we visited travelled from Casablanca to Rabat, spent a few hours in Rabat then travelled on to Moulay Idriss where we toured the city and spent the night. The following morning out first destination was Volubilis.

Rabat

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERARabat is the capital city of Morocco, despite it not being the most well-known for tourism. In our two hours in Rabat, we were given a map marking out a loop of the city to hit three major sites: The Medina, Kasbah and Mosque. While two hours was not actually enough time to make the loop and we had to rush back without really seeing the mosque. The sites were definitely interesting to see.

Check out all my Rabat photos on Flickr.

Moulay Idriss

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAMoulay Idriss is a super cute hilltop town overlooking the ancient city of Volubilis. We had a local guide tour us around and tell us about the history of the town as well as some things about the Moroccan culture. The town had so many wonderful narrow, winding alley ways. I wouldn’t have had a hope of finding my own way around the place! After an hour or so walking we found ourselves on the hill opposite the majority of the city, to see the most amazing sunset. It was a such a stunning sight and fantastic way to end a busy day.

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAIn regards to homes and doors there are two interesting things to mention. Firstly, it is important that from the outside of ones home you cannot determine the home owners wealth or social status. Secondly, the door to ones home is actually two nested doors. A smaller door within a larger door. Both doors have separate door knockers which make different sounds. The inner, smaller, door is for the family. The outer door is for guests. So if a woman is home alone and hears someone use the door knocker for the larger door, she will not answer. But she may peer through the vent above the door to check who it is. Obviously if someone knocks on the smaller door then she is welcome to invite her family in. I cannot verify if this is truth, but I have been told that the concepts of not displaying wealth and being able to see out but not in, also apply to the way the women dress, with their head and face coverings.

A culture quirk I heard about is in regards to the Hammam. A hammam is a public bath house. Women and men bathe separately. Typically the bath house is open for men from 8am to midday and from midday to 8pm for women. The quirk is that women typically pay 15-20% more to use the hammam than the men. As a woman in favour of gender equality I was surprised and keen to know why. The justification is that women spend longer in the hammam than men because their hair is longer and takes more time to wash, it is also the place where they go to chat and catch up on gossip. This is also the place where a woman’s potential future mother-in-law will check if a woman is suitable for her son.
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Check out all my Moulay Idriss photos on Flickr.

Volubilis

OLYMPUS DIGITAL CAMERAVolubilis is a 3rd century Roman city on a small hill opposite Moulay Idriss. The site is partly excavated and provides a good insight into the lives of people of the time. It also provides a fantastic showcase of mosaic tile work within the buildings. Considering the good condition they are in, I wonder if they are really the original ones restored; or if the Moroccans view restoration differently to me (I have been to some places in the past where recreating something in the same design as the original is considered to be restoration). Either way, the site is quite small but certainly charming to visit, particularly if you are already in the area.

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Check out all my Volubilis photos on Flickr.

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North Morocco Adventure

Sunset over Moulay Idriss
Sunset over Moulay Idriss

Morocco (in North Africa) is a muslim country, one that has a bit of a reputation for a negative attitude towards women and some general harassment. The majority of people I have spoken to about Morocco thought it was beautiful, but cut their trip short because they were sick of being hassled.

Not one to be scared off visiting beautiful sights and in the hope that I can report more positive things about the people, I booked myself a place on another Intrepid Tour: North Morocco Adventure. So for 9 days, I will be exploring Northern Morocco with a great group of likeminded travellers and a knowledgeable guide.

Stay tuned for stories and pictures of the amazing country!!

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