Morocco, October 12 - 26, 2019

In Fall 2019 we took a 13-day, small group tour called Morocco Explorer which was operated by Peregrine, a subsidiary of the Intrepid Group. It started in Casablanca and ended in Marrakech. Along the way we saw a number of Moroccon cities, travelled through the Atlas Mountains and even stayed one night at the edge of the Sahara Desert where we rode camels.

The high points of the trip were our fellow travelers and the incredible sights, both natural and man-made. I've organized the pictures to follow the chronology of the trip, pretty much the same way that Peregrine presents the itinerary.

Casablanca
Rabat, Meknes & Volubilis
Fes & Midelt
The Sahara
Todra Gorge & Dades Valley
Heading back to Marrakech

We really enjoyed the trip, but it was not without its challenges. Most of our group were sick at some point, although for different reasons. I came down with a heavy cold after the first week and then got food poisoning a few days later, so the second week of the trip was not much fun. Others suffered the runs, had asthma, were weak and hotel-bound, etc. This sounds consistent with what others have reported after being on the tour.

Fellow travelers - The people we were with made the trip the success it was. Six of us knew each other from our former Sears Canada employment (John & Sharon Pullam, George & Nina Pipka, Dayalan Pillay & Irene Chua). The other six travelers were all from Australia (Derek & Helen Halliday, Ross & Margie Johnston, Bruce Johnston & Margaret Unwin). We all got along really well and had a lot of fun together. Our tour guide was Brahim Elbahraoui who was from the Atlas Mountains in central Morocco and was really great; our driver was Hamid and he was very safe and helpful throughout the entire trip.

Accomodations - The hotels in Casablanca and Marrakech were good. I would rate them 4 out of 5. But the rest of the places we were in were riads (typical Moroccon small hotels with rooms surrounding a central courtyard) and were more deserving of 2s or 3s out of 5. Lots of things didn't work (e.g., heating, shower), there were no hair dryers, poor lighting, and we found them pretty cramped and uncomfortable. Peregrine state that they use local accomodations to help the economy, but we would have preferred better places.

Food - Sharon's food restrictions didn't help and kudos to Brahim for being sensitive to her needs (he even arranged a gluten-free birthday cake on her birthday). I found the food rather bland and repetitive, and had chicken or beef tagines most of the time. We would have liked to try different things, but the constant fear of food poisoning due to improperly prepared dishes made us especially conservative. We spent a lot of energy just making sure that we had a decent supply of bottled water wherever we went. Fortunately Brahim provided it when on the bus.