Initial Impressions of Morocco

Initial Impressions of Morocco

First time in Morocco for me (Francine was here in the early  90’s) and it has not disappointed.  Aside from the reasonably priced fuel (75p/litre for diesel, compared to 135p/litre in the UK), food costs are not at a huge discount to Europe, and there is certainly nowhere near the choice compared to a Spanish hypermarket.  Although Francine thinks there is something inherently wrong with being able to buy lychees in a country which is many miles away from Asia, so perhaps it’s not such a bad thing.

Camping costs are reasonable, typically €8 EUR including electricity, €6 without.  The facilities compare poorly though!

The roads are not up to European standards and the motorways are very ‘undulating’ (Francine says downright bumpy!) in places, upsetting Big Bertha and her innards. But we have only used the motorway once and are sticking to the minor roads.

The North of Morocco is greener than I expected and very rural. I was surprised to see so many donkeys ridden or being used to haul a plough across the fields.  This is definitely Africa.  And there are so many people! Most of the women seem to be indoors or working and most of the men seem to be drinking coffee in the numerous roadside cafes. 

There seems to be a ‘did you just see that?’ moment in our cab around every turn.  One is never bored driving in Morocco!!  Our route from the Tanger Med port took us first to Asilah, a seaside town with a very nice walled Medina.  We spent three days there acclimatizing before setting off towards Fes, staying at a couple of locations en route, including a nice night at a lake.

It seems most motorhomers want to spend the evenings in campsites.  We will too where possible, but we are also wild camping, mostly by ourselves.  One night we were ‘invited’ by the police in no uncertain terms to follow them to their gendarmarie, where we could park for the night under their protection.  

Fes was brilliant.  We parked right outside the Medina and spent the day wandering around the maze that is Fes Medina.  But we had been told not to visit at night and we met a young German lad that had a nasty experience there after dark.

We are now making our way South East towards Figuig using the back roads.  We have not seen any other tourists / camper vans for several days now.  We have camped at remote villages, asking permission (in sign language!) to park up for the night.  They have been very welcoming.

It would seem very few UK campers venture down here – tourists are mainly French and German. 

So my initial impressions? I’m lovin it!!

PS: Today we stopped at a remote village and asked, in sign language, if we could park the night there. Shortly afterwards the village chief arrived and welcomed us.  We bought some wonderful honey as a thank you.