So, where was I..? Oh yeah, Draa valley to Zagora... Draa valley is a nice drive. Good roads through interesting towns and villages, and palms. Thousands, maybe millions of palms... It appears to be the Date palm capital of the World. Lots of the palms have been cropped already (seemed to start early October) but there are still thick bunches of yellow/brown fruit hanging from many of them.
And dates for sale by the side of the roads everywhere... Some still attached to huge bunches and some in boxes, about £4 a kilo...
After 5 years of drought though, its obvious that some of the palm trees are not at their best, straggly and a bit brown, like Mrs Havisham's house plants...
On approaching Zagora in a landy or other overland vehicle you usually get ambushed by one or more moped-riding touts who try to get you to visit one of the garages that specialise in looking after these vehicles. There are two main ones, Garage Iriki (
http://www.garageiriki.com/) and Alli Nassir (
https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100054611731785) .
I've visited Alli before and the place has a nice vibe, although last time I was there and wanting a simple fix to a loose speaker box, Alli was out on a rescue mission and his grease monkeys took two hours, drilled the holes too big for the screws they had, and then asked me to come back next day (to fit a speaker!).
Needless to say I fixed it myself at the campsite and didnt go back, but Alli himself drives a Defender so I like him;
and he has a stack of spares (See below) and experience of prepping vehicles for desert travel.
Hes also been involved in supporting Paris Dakar and various other Rally Raid operations, so he probably knows almost as much as I do...
More ina min on Alli...
We arrived quite late so headed for the Camping Oasis Palmier;
like most of the campsites, not very busy so relatively quiet apart from the irrigation pump chugging away about 30 feet from where we stopped
but they brought us a tray of mint tea to our own little table on arrival and shut off the pump after a bit.
Made friends with the campsite cats
Nowhere to eat in the camp (they didnt open the restaurant as there wasnt enough people) so we ventured out and right next door is a nice looking hotel so we asked if they had a restaurant. Yes!
That will do very nicely thank you very much. A quick look around to see if it was up to our standard...
and we were told that the tables surrounding the pool were all booked, but that we could eat in the garden.. Oh OK then...
Lovely meal, nice bottle of wine, water, etc about £40 for two... add another zero if it was in an equivalent place in the UK...
Back to a nice quiet campsite, brew and bed... very happy.
Next day, paid a visit to Alli. I didnt need anything doing but its rude not to and I need another sticker!
A selection of vehicles (and dutch people) outside
Alli took me up a backstreet (fnar) and showed me his parts store... Bloody Aladdins cave more like (thats Alli in the pic)
Sadly we couldnt stay and pillage his parts store or venture further South, so we headed back up towards Marakesh and found another souk on the way so stopped for a look
Pair of 2nd hand skis..? anyone..?
Got any buckets mate..?
Some arrive by car, some by moped, some by donkey...
Back into the Atlas mountains
Then towards the top of one of the colls we did a quick detour to a 'view point'.
And found a big beardy Belgian guy who was chatting to three Berber people selling trinkets, fossils and jewellery etc... He likes defenders and speaks very good English so we got along fine
Nice people, so we bought a few bits from them and moved on, stopping on the way down the mountain to buy some honey from these guys
They are very happy because they have my money. I am very happy because the honey is lovely!
Coming out of the mountains, you hit Marrakesh before you realise. Its a bit of a shock to the system as the traffic, smells etc inflict all your senses at once. Dont get me wrong, its a great place and has a character all of its own that is different from anywhere else Ive been (Fes might be similar I believe, but we've only passed through).
We eventually found the Campsite, which is a literal oasis in the middle of nowhere.. If you follow the satnav, you honestly think its gone insane, but driving up narrow roads with overhanging cables that look like they go nowhere, then a track and across a wasteland eventually gets you there.
If Id not been before I probably would have given up, but eventually rolled into Le Relais at dusk
....