Category: Africa (Page 3 of 3)

2016-09-28

Leaving Fes I head towards Errachidia which involves going through the Middle Atlas Mountain Range which is beautiful.

Afterwards I go through Ziz gorge where if the I had the camera setup properly you would see wonderful shots of the gorge and palm trees, but instead you can see the out of focus photos taken from the bike when I get back.

Ziz Gorge

Once in Errachidia I find a hotel and the owner brings me to a local restaurant for chicken.

2016-09-29

In the morning I have to use a squatty potty for the first time. I manage to successfully use it but I still prefer western toilets.

Today it is raining, leave it to the guy from Vancouver to bring rain to the desert. I am not 1 km down the road when I reach a washout in the highway. Truck traffic is still passing but scooters and motorcycles seem to be turning back. I ask the police if there is an alternative route around. They decide it is easier for one of them to escort me through town rather than explaining it so a police car escorts me through town. Once I am on the other side the police have now stopped all traffic.

Hoping the water is subsiding I carry on south towards Zagora. About 30 km out of town I come to a large section of highway that now has a river running over it. I watch a few cars go through and it isn’t that deep but it looks fast. As I am sitting there debating whether to cross or not a guy on a scooter shows up. We discuss what I have observed and he hops off his scooter, turns it off and proceeds to walk his scooter through in his keds and jeans.

After observing this I decide I look like an idiot and ride through as the water isn’t that fast.

We proceed to the next wash which isn’t very far down the road. After crossing that one I see he is shivering vigorously. He is wearing soaking wet jeans, canvas shoes, a thin jacket and a helmet. I am dry in my suit and so I ask him where he is going, the next town, and offer him my insulated jacket and spare gloves. He asks if I have any rain pants or boots but I unfortunately don’t have spares of those. Together we head off and battle our way through the rain and rivers toward Goulmina. Shortly before we arrive he turns off the road, I assume he lives on this turnoff but there doesn’t appear to be anything out here. A couple hundred metres down the road I can see why he has brought me here. We are at the top of the plateau that drops off to the city.

My Rain Friend

Goat Herd

We chat about my motorcycle and where I am going. Then we head in to the city and grab a coffee. When it stops raining I decide to head out again. Within twenty minutes it is pouring rain again. When I reach Tinghir the police tell me the road to Zagora is closed. I change paths and head towards Ourzazate. By the time I reach Kelaat M’gouna I am cold and tired and find a hotel for the night.

2016-09-30

I wake up and my gear is still wet. The rain has stopped though so I head out and the gear will air dry on me. I ride to the top of a table mountain and decide to stop and take a photo as there is a shoulder on the road here. I pull off the road and the shoulder gives way causing a low speed fall over. A scooter is thirty seconds behind and he helps me right the bike. The mirror and the handguard have been knocked loose in the accident and will need to be tightened. The right pannier has also received some bruising in this fall over.Ten kilometres down the road I stop at a gas station and tighten the mirror and replace the handguard bolt. Shortly after Ourzazate a man with a broken down car flags me down for a ride to the next town. The road is being widened and is in bad shape, I don’t think we would get away with the unsafe conditions seen here in Canada. We cross a mountain range and arrive in Agdz where I have a tea with the man.

Mountain Pass on the way to Agdz

I arrive in Zagora later and setup my travel to the Sahara the next day.

2016-10-01

Before I head to the Sahara I take in some sights around town such as the Date Palm plantations and Jewish Kasbah.

Date Palm Plantation

Zagora Synagogue

2016-09-26

I leave Chefchaouen on my way to Fes. Shortly after I leave town road construction begins the road has already be paved but they are chip sealing the surface so I get to ride on loose gravel which is always “fun.” Fortunately the road work only lasts about 15 km.

Along the way I am flagged down by a cyclist. He is from Khenifra, Morocco and is bicycling all of Morocco, Mauritania, and Senegal. He asks where I am going and where I have been. We wish each other good travels and I am back on the road.

Lake on the Way to Fes

Once I get in to Fes I realize my hotel is in the Medina so I cannot bring my motorcycle to the hotel despite my best efforts people stop me and make me find parking.

Once checked in I book an official tour guide for the Medina for the next day.

2016-09-27

Abdul, my guide, meets me in the morning. He shows me the Blue Gate near my hotel which is the main entrance to the Medina. Afterwards we visit the place where Maimonides lived and where the water clock he designed is located.

Blue Gate

Maimonides Water Clock Building

Our next stop is the Madrasa, a school built in the twelfth century. It contains architectural elements from the time and is largely original. While at the Madras, Abdul and I have a discussion on the current state of education in Morocco which is very interesting and informative.

Minaret at the Madrasa

We then proceed to the carpet makers, tannery, and weavers. These all include ultra aggressive high pressure salesmen and are thoroughly unenjoyable for a guy who orders everything from Amazon so he does not have to deal with sales people.

Restored Door

Carpet Maker

Tanneries in Fes

2016-09-22 to 2016-09-24

Continuing on from the last post. I cross from Tarifa, Spain to Tangier, Morocco. I ride up to the ferry line, buy my ticket, pass through security and board the ferry. The ferry is of the “fast cat” type which will probably only make sense to my friends who are from BC. It is an aluminum catamaran ferry capable of carrying passengers and vehicles that travels much quicker than traditional ferries. On board I fill out my entry declaration for Moroccan passport control on the boat. Waiting in the line in front of me are four Canadians travelling to Morocco, they are from Toronto and have travelled from Madrid by car roughly taking the route I will when I return. The crossing takes about 35 minutes but all in about an hour as the crew won’t allow people on the car deck until the boat has landed.

Once off the ferry I head to customs to fill out my D16 Ter form which will allow me to temporarily import my motorcycle into Morocco. It is slightly confusing and I am sent upstairs with the instructions “a la droite, room with computers, hand them your passport and they know what to do.” I must look lost to an employee so he brings me to the room with the computers. No one is in there so he tells me to wait a couple minutes and leaves me. Twenty minutes later the police officer on security for the ferry passengers takes pity on me and brings me to a police officer elsewhere to register my passport as it is my first visit to Morocco so it can be associated with my motorcycle. I head back down to the bike and speak to the customs officer who can now stamp my forms and let me go.

I am staying at a nice resort on the beach in Tangier as a treat to myself. Even though there is underground parking the staff has me park at the front door so they can keep an eye on it from the front desk. That afternoon I stock up on critical supplies like drinking water, Pringles, and Orange Fanta (which I have become addicted to this trip.)

The next day I walk to the Medina and wander around trying to avoid the numerous con-artists.

Tangier Port

Camels on the Beach in Tangier

Tangier Medina

Tangier Beach

The day after I ride the bike out to the Caves of Hercules. The roads in and around Tangier are very good and not too confusing or crowded. The caves are located west of town so I ride the bike there and park out front. The cave existed naturally but the Phoenicians carved  an entrance from the sea in the shape of Africa. The caves were later expanded to make grain mills which I believe (there were no tour guides or information available) is the reason for the circular patterns carved into the wall in the cave.

Once I am done exploring the cave I head back. The man cleaning the street at the cave is very interested in the bike and keeps fawning over it and my jacket in Arabic. Hoping he can understand some French (as this conversation is well beyond my means in Arabic) I tell him I am traveling around Morocco on the bike. He shakes my hand and says “God Bless” and carries on with his day.

Africa Entrance to the Cave Carved by Phoenicians

View from Above the Cave

Hercules Cave

2016-09-25

I head out of Tangiers towards Mzoura Stone Circle which is a megalith dating from 3000 BC. From the research I have done it could be a tomb or used as a part of spiritual rituals.

I miss the initial turn off and carry on to the next intersection. There I end up in a town where some guy offers to guide me there as it is “very difficile.” I have the coordinates programmed in the GPS and think I can make it there on my own so I refuse his “help.”

I leave town and drive ~10 km and come to a sand road where the GPS tells me to go. I turn off the road and begin driving down a sand road. All of a sudden three guys are shouting at me to stop. Fortunately one of them speaks French and he tells me that the route has changed and shows me a picture on his phone of the pointer stone to confirm that is where I want to go. He lets me know I can drive on the main road for 4 more km and don’t have to take the sand road the whole way in. I thank them for their help and leave them to tend to there work. For every scammer you run into thankfully there are nice guys like this who are genuinely helpful and kind.

At Mzoura the guardian opens the gate and lets me walk around. In no time I have a young boy following me around the site who poses for a picture of the “Pointer.”

Mzoura Stone Circle and follower

After Mzoura I head west towards Chefchaouen. The area around Mzoura is gently rolling farmlands where they are growing hay, watermelons, and lumpy orange melons. As you head farther west the terrain becomes more mountainous and the land is being used as pasture. As I am driving down the road an elderly goat herder flags me down on the road. I stop and figure out his water bottle has run out. It is quite warm in the valley (over 30 C) so it isn’t surprising. He doesn’t speak French so we have a conversation of gestures. I fill up his water bottle from my water bladder. Given the small number of vehicles traveling on the road and the fact that it doesn’t appear anyone else has stopped he is very appreciative and numerous blessings are said. Once he is topped up, he thanks’ me and heads off to his goats.

I continue my ride through the mountains to Chefchaouen and find a hotel room for the night. Chefchaouen is painted blue and looks quite beautiful. The hotel has a couple Turkeys in the compound that make noisy neighbours along with the numerous barking dogs that keep me up most of the night.

Chefchaouen

Noisy Neighbour in Chefchaouen