A Family Adventure in Morocco

The front cover of Barnaby Rogerson’s (now out of print) Cadogan Guide to Morocco carries the statement, ‘From the moment you land, adventure assails you….’, presumptive perhaps, but that really was my own (and my two friend’s) first experience of Morocco in 1976 and I was certain it would be the same for my family’s first visit this Easter.

In 1976 we drove in our own Citroen 2CV, we carried our own camping gear and we arrived on the overnight ferry from Almeria to Melilla as almost the only civilian passengers accompanying the Spanish Army and their military vehicles – adventure beckoned before we had landed! This time though, we flew to Casablanca, transferred on by air to Fez and were met by our mini-busses which took us to our hotel, although we would be staying in a mix of accommodation, including auberges, gites and an overnight camp in the desert and had to bring sleeping bags with us. Our earliest intimation of adventure this time was, more prosaically, the failure of Royal Air Maroc to deliver us to Fez with most of our baggage. Still, we were staying three nights in the city so at least there was little prospect of our bags having to chase after us on an adventure of their own!

Fez was the first stop on our 1976 trip, followed by a drive over the mountains and down to Erfoud and Merzouga, on to Ouarzazate, across the mountains to Marrakech then Rabat, Tangier and home. By chance, this year’s trip followed a similar route, as far as Marrakech at any rate although we spent more time around Fez (Meknes and Volubilis), took a camel ride into the desert and spent the night in a desert camp near Merzouga, stayed in Todra Gorge, stayed and trekked in the Mgoun Valley and the Valley of the Roses, spent an overnight opposite Ait Benhaddou before passing through Ouarzazate, on to Marrakech, Essaouira, then back to Marrakech and home. This time we were 8 adults and 9 children (4 families, 3 British and one from California), last time we were just three 26 year old school friends. However, the most memorable aspects for us in 1976 were Fez, the desert at Merzouga and the drive from there along the desert fringe to Ouarzazate and it was no surprise to find that Fez and the camel trek/overnight desert camp were the highlights of our family adventure.

The labyrinthine medieval alleyscape of Fez with its heady accompaniment of sights, sounds and smells of a bustling, jostling, working town is imprinted in my mind and it was wonderful to recapture that memory as well as see the excitement and enjoyment amongst all the first time visitors in our party, until of course we reached the tanneries! The powerful and distinctive smells of this district were not immediately apparent, perhaps because of the direction of our approach and our passage through corridors and narrow staircases which led higher and higher before, and just after the unexpected gift of a sprig of mint, we broke through onto an open sided leather bags and baggage gallery which overlooked the multicoloured honeycomb of vats and their scantily clad attendants. The view is irresistible, the scene is timeless, the scent is nauseous and the mint is addictive, Fez in microcosm. Yet in 1976, our access and experience of the vats was at ground level, almost dodging the tanners themselves and without the mint relief, truly unforgettable.

We travelled back in time to Roman Volubilis and experienced the antithesis of Fes-el-Bali, a streetscape largely made up of roads and foundations (and many impressive floor mosaics), rolling across an elevated site leading onto an open green plain turned lush by winter and spring rains. Romans this far south in North Africa, and settling on this scale was impressive and a surprise to everyone as much as were the storks nesting contentedly, if messily, upon several of the erect Roman columns.