Back to Marrakech and Beyond
Before we left Sidi Ifni we wanted to check out the much lauded town with its Art Deco buildings but the ones we found weren’t in great shape and there wasn’t much else to hold our interest in town which was a shame. From the description in the guidebook we had been hoping for something a little special.
So we set off again, heading North and stopped off at a hotel (Le Nid d’Aigle) to meet up with a friend who we had last seen when we first arrived in Morocco. This is a paragliders hangout high up on the cliffs overlooking the sea and a great night stop. Not only could we use their pool but the restaurant was excellent and they served beer (a rare and very welcome find in Morocco)!
We were heading back towards Marrakech in order to make a short trip home so the next day we had a reasonably long drive and ended up at the walled city of Tarodaunt. We parked up in a walled parking lot right in the centre of town, a stone’s throw from one of the gates into the walled city. It’s amazing how many facilities there are for motorhomers in Morocco, we paid only 70 MAD (£5.50) to park and that included electricity for the night.
The parking area was very close to the city tannery so we decided to have a look. Having heard that tanneries can be quite smelly we were relieved to find that it really wasn’t that bad. We had however arrived quite late in the day when the tanning activity had ended and the only thing to see where several skins being dried.
The shops around the tannery were still open though and we couldn’t resist buying a couple of goat skins which we hope will decorate our house when we finally settle down.
In the walled city itself – the walls are huge and stretch for 8kms around the centre of the town – we wandered through the souk enjoying the sights and sounds. This was the Arab souk and according to our guidebook there was also a Berber souk which we tried to find. We failed and later found out that it had mostly burnt down fairly recently.
From Taroudant we needed to head across to Marrakech which meant crossing the High Atlas mountains. We chose to drive across the Tizi N’Test pass. This pass was badly affected by a big earthquake in 2023 and as a result a lot of the road is in a very bad state but in dry weather it is definitely doable in a two wheel drive motorhome.
The views are certainly fantastic and just after the top of the pass we found a perfect little spot well away from the road to spend the night.
Coming down the next day, the Marrakech side of the pass is definitely in worse condition than the other side and it didn’t help that we had quite a bit of rain but we made it down without any problems other than now being desperately in need of a carwash! Having safely made it down to the bottom we stopped off at the beautiful Origaune Lake for lunch.
Our next stop was the very touristy destination of Sti Fadma, which is a beautiful valley with multiple waterfalls. Despite knowing this is a tourist hotspot (as it’s within driving distance of Marrakech), we completely underestimated how busy it would be and mistakenly turned up at 2pm when it was absolutely heaving, the road was barely passable with all the traffic and without the help of a local guy we would never have made it through let alone found any parking.
We were incredibly grateful for his help but unfortunately once we were parked up he then tried to pressure us into a very expensive guided tour to the waterfalls. We politely declined and explained we would find our own way. We hadn’t really had much hassle in Morocco but the “guides” at Sti Fadma were very bad.
One of the guides was ridiculously persistent and kept following us for quite some time but the waterfalls are easy to find and a guide really isn’t necessary.
The crowds really peter out after the first three waterfalls but if you push on and climb higher up the valley the best waterfall by far is the last one and chances are there will be no one there as well.
Having experienced the nightmare of driving the road in when it’s busy, we got up early the next morning to drive back out before all the roadside stalls opened and hundreds of minibuses full of tourists start to arrive. The great thing about leaving so early was that we were rewarded by seeing a troop of Barbary Monkeys wandering down the road.
After leaving Sti Fadma we checked into Le Relais campsite on the outskirts of Marrakech to prepare for our flights the next day, when we would leave the camper in the airport carpark. All went smoothly except on our flight back to Morocco. We were flying during the holidays so the cheapest flights were via Bordeaux, France and unfortunately our flight was delayed from 9pm to 5am the next day, which meant we had a pretty uncomfortable night at the airport. On the plus side, we have received compensation for the delay which was unexpected but very welcome.
Upon finally arriving at the airport in Marrakech we were so tired that we slept in the car park for a couple of hours before heading out of the Marrakech area and continuing northwards, conscious that our ferry back to Spain was booked in just two weeks.
Our first stop was at the beautiful Ouzoud waterfalls. Morocco isn’t a country with lots of flowing water so it was quite a surprise to come across a massive waterfall like this. Of course one whole side of the gorge is built up with restaurants but even so, it doesn’t detract from the beauty of the place and there are also a lot of cheeky monkeys roaming freely around the area which is an added bonus!
I did try to go for a walk down into the gorge for a few KM’s but the path abruptly ended in the river and looked like it had been eroded away unfortunately.
Continuing North from this point leads to a stunning drive through the Western High Atlas mountains and as we passed an intriguing looking ruin we decided to pull over and have a nose around.
According to google maps this was the Bashir al-Buhali Palace, which looks like it has been long deserted. Parts of it were falling down but other bits were in better shape and some of the tiling on the walls inside was still in place. It’s so strange that you can just come across deserted ruins like these and just wander around as you please.
After that little diversion we continuing heading towards our next destination, Ifrane and the Ifrane National forest, a protected natural reserve in the Middle Atlas mountains, famous for its ancient Atlas Cedars and Oak trees and the world’s largest wild population of endangered Barbary Macaques.