the Sahara

so we left the snow and the monkeys behind and headed south- and down from the mountains... and the landscape got drier and more stark, broken by the occasional oasis- where date palms flourished and there would be a chunk of green in the right in the middle of the brown rocky landscape...

if the water source was good there would be crops as well as the date palms...

we arrived in Erfoud and transferred to a four wheel drive vehicle and said good bye to Mustafa until the next morning- as he stays with the van. We then head out into the Sahara -  where we first stop at a wellhead where we see how the water system works for the locals- our driver demos the well with the large plastic bucket that is permanently tied to the well ...

we continue on - the dunes are in the distance and "grow" as we approach them-

these are the Erg Chebbi dunes near Merzouga - our hotel is located out in this area right on the border of the dunes.  When I was here in 2001 there were only camp sites - now there are several hotels that skirt the dunes - all of them can be accessed by a semi-improved road if needed but most guests arrive as we did via four wheel drive vehicles -

the hotel is called the Tombouctou- a reference to what in English we refer to as Timbuktu- LOL... which is 52 days by camel from a nearby town- the well known poster was shown in many places throughout Morocco including in Rick's Cafe in Casablanca...

LOL- as I post these two pictures I see there is actually more than one version of the 52 day camel journey to Tombouctou from Zagora...

our hotel is built in traditional desert style - the rooms are extremely spacious but the lighting is dim--- not that I was planning on spending the night reading - and the Internet did not work in the rooms - only in the bar.. but hey - we are in the middle of effing nowhere so getting any Internet at all was a miracle!

the window to my room lit up - the tower was my spacious bathroom...

so ever onward- the next post will be a few photos of GA and I on camels (actually a torturous ride for me but GA laughed the whole way) -  then we are off to the date market and begin heading back west and north...

Snow Monkeys!

OK - anyone who knows me pretty well knows I HATE clowns... other people find them funny and I find them creepy- John Wayne Gacy like creepy... and honestly I am not too keen on monkeys... Sure, I like gorillas a lot and I suppose there are a few other varieties that are appealing but generally I find them creepy too...

so let me digress a bit to the past- we visited a monkey preserve when we were in South Africa a couple of years ago and we did see a few cute monkeys but here is a sign from the reception/shop of the preserve-

clearly they have no manners- LOL- I could forgive them for that- LOL but they are still creepy to me- so when Aziz asked GA and I if we wanted to see monkeys as we left Fes that morning I said I would see them if GA was interested in them but that I was not a fan of monkeys and could skip that "attraction" on the way south...LOL

so off we went up up up into the mountains south of Fes and after a bit we saw snow... outside the window of our van (I may not have mentioned it yet but our driver, Mustafa was an excellent driver) - the shot below was taken through the window of the van as we were driving along-

we had moved from fertile rolling green hills into a more alpine type landscape...

we arrived in Erfoud- a "technical stop" as Aziz called them- and found not only snow but students out having a snowball fight in the village square-

the spring snow was thick and heavy and wet so it made for a beautiful tree decoration-

another shot from the van as we left town now it is really beginning to look like Christmas (LOL)-

so even though GA said she wasn't too fond of monkeys either - it turned out they were right along side the road and Aziz spotted the first on on the left as we approached the location where they have their "home"-

as you can see from this photo below they had a whole colony (or pod - or gaggle - or whatever multi monkey units are called- LOL)

there were easily two dozen monkeys congregating (waiting for tourists to give them snacks- really bad idea)

Mustafa pulled over and we opened the van door to catch a couple of photos - these are actually supposed to be apes not monkeys - and related to the ones at Gibraltar (which would make perfect sense) called Barbary apes... as in Berbers perhaps...

anyway they were actually quite cute - mostly I think because they were so fuzzy- clearly they had adapted well to the climate...

this guy could have had a starring role in Planet of the Apes movies- he was really magnificent-  he was clearly the alpha - and came much closer to the vehicle than the smaller ones did... But once he ventured too close, Aziz told Mustafa to close the door because they are not nice cuddly little guys but wild animals!

so we moved on- heading ever southward up and down through the mountain passes... on to the Sahara- the land of the date palm oases...