Day 26: Driving into the mountains

A beautiful sunny morning again - and today Mart's not working, hurrah! We're going to drive off into the mountains and head towards the local ski resort of Oukaimeden, then meander our way back down through the Ourika valley - that's our plan anyway! We set off at about 11.00am after a leisurely breakfast and head off in the opposite direction to Marrakech towards the snow-capped mountains.

Heading towards the snow-capped mountains

We go past Outghal, the village we first looked at as a possible place to stay for our time in Morocco, and from here we have views across to Terre D'Amanar which is an outdoor activity centre with the longest zip wire in Africa. This region is beautiful, with ravines and gulleys in red clay adding to the dramatic nature of the scene. A little too remote for us to actually live, but beautiful to visit none-the-less.

Canyon near Terre d'Amanar

Outghal

No words can really describe the scenery through which we pass...we are driving up and up, along narrow mountain roads with sheer drops (on my side of course!), past hamlets which cling to the rocky mountainsides, dense forests, people on donkeys, women carrying heavy loads on their backs or heads, men trying to sell us trinkets just when we think there cannot possibly be another person for miles around. We wonder aloud...how can people live in such remote places? What is their daily life like? Suddenly, two young boys who cannot be more than about eight years of age stand right in front of the car as we turn a tight bend in the road; as Mart slows down they come to the window and run along beside the car asking for money...I ask them in French why they are not at school...they run away grinning. In essence, children are just the same all over the world!

A typical village, clinging to the mountain side

We can see for miles...

Interesting cloud formation over the mountain

Views at every turn

We stop the car at every turn...just one more photograph...the views are stunning, and every time we negotiate another bend in the mountain road we see a new view which simply begs for yet another photo. We cannot capture the scene in the way we would like to - cameras do no justice to what lies in front of our eyes, so we stare and try to absorb what we see for future memories.



At last we see a sign for Oukaimeden, but now we're hungry - it has taken us two and a half hours to reach this point when we should've been able to get here in an hour...but we do have hundreds of lovely photos between us and a mind full of memories to show for it!

Winding mountain roads with sheer drops!

So we decide to leave the ski resort for another day and head instead down to the Ourika valley for some lunch by the river. As we do so, we encounter an army of small school children in the road...they wave at us, it is a rare treat to see foreigners in their village, and we wave back.  They begin to move aside to let the car go past, but then a few decide to run alongside the car - and the rest join in. Before we know it, we are surrounded by around twenty children aged about six or seven, all smiling, laughing, chatting excitedly as they run to keep up with the car. I'm worried that they may get hurt, but there's nothing we can do except continue driving until the last one is shaken off. At last we are free again to continue our journey.

Running alongside the car

What's that in the road ahead? It's a goat...oh, and another...as we drive nearer the animals they calmly move over the side of the road onto the steep mountain side. I get out of the car to take a photo of one of them stretching between a rock and a tree to eat the leaves, but as I do so, I become aware out of the corner of my eye that I'm being watched....I turn slowly, and sure enough a billy goat gruff is staring at me menacingly as if to say 'Get outta here!' I edge towards the car, willing it not to run at me, and collapse nervously into my seat - much to Mart's bewilderment as he has not seen anything that has just happened. I am glad to be back in the safety of the car!

Get outta here!

A colourful village

As we approach Ourika, we can see that it's Market Day here, and from our vantage point above we see what has become a common sight to us now in Morocco, many men are all sitting/standing on the back of a lorry, squashed in together, preparing for their journey home to their villages dotted in the mountains. You won't find one person in a car here - there will always be as many people as possible piled in - it's a communal way of living which has long since disappeared in most of Britain. 

Market Day in the Ourika Valley

How many men can fit in the back of a lorry?

After a lovely lunch at a Restaurant called Le Marquis which overlooks the river we head home. We've only been out about 5 hours in total, but it feels much longer...and we determine to return sometime in the next few weeks...we might even reach Oukaimeden next time!