// Trip Reports  

Report name	Ladies College Morocco 2007
Date submitted	Aug-07

Day 1. 18.00 local time. We leave the now deserted airport, round a corner and plunge headlong in to a maelstrom of traffic seemingly intent on colliding with each other. Fairground dodgems gone full-scale. Welcome to Marrakech, Morocco !

We soon find the Hotel Oudaya ; its air-conditioned interior is a welcome relief from the heat of the streets. (a high of 52 degrees today) We opt for a local meal and a reasonably early night.

As we are a small group we leave for the Ourika Valley in a pair of large 4x4s. A break sees us in the small town of Ourika, sampling our first of many mint teas. The major change in scenery and culture has most of us asking if we have been dropped in to a film set.

Oukaimeden – we meet our trek team and set up camp for the night . After lunch a short acclimatisation ascent allows us an opportunity to take in the stunning mountain scenery through which we will be trekking.

After an early breakfast we leave for the Tizi-n-Eddi pass at 2,960 m before dropping down to our Gite in Tachedirt. The next couple of days are spent learning something of the lives of the Berber mountain people. There was an opportunity to learn at first hand how to prepare traditional couscous, and a long session with the school children running activities and competitions. The following day saw the group mirroring the daily life of a Berber farming family and gave a fascinating insight in to a culture so far removed from our own.

Up at 04.00, and away by 05.00 for our first big day in the mountains. Camp at Azib Likemmt sees rain sweeping in. The following morning starts fair but only moments after setting off a powerful thunderstorm has us dashing back to cross the river before we are cut off. The rain is now torrential, but fortunately a shepherdess has seen our plight and clears out one of her stone shelters and allows us to hole-up there for the rest of the stormy day and night. We wake to the return of sun and clear skies, then get up to survey the damage wreaked by the storm: riverside crops have been washed away: mud roofs have caved in and the mountainsides glisten with cascades of water. The expedition continues ……

Sadly, our last day in the mountains. A short walk takes us from Aremd to Imlil, where transport waits to take us to Essaouira, the start of our coastal camel trek.

After a welcome night in the Hotel Al Jasira, we walk to the beach to find our camel team. After initial nervousness the group find riding these serene creatures a rather pleasant experience. Our camp is in the trees behind the sand dunes, and as the sun goes down we eat fresh mackerel and sardines grilled over the embers of a dying fire. We drift off in to dream filled sleep below a skyscape teeming with stars and shooting stars.

04.15; the call to prayer drifts through the trees on the lightest of breeze, now distant waves seemingly wash away the inky darkness of the star pricked night. Ishwa …. Shukran It was wonderful ….. thank you to all.

Paul Cammack - Expedition Leader.