Tuesday, October 8, 2024

From the Sahara to Marrakesh in 10 Hours

Trip date September 2023

It had been an incredible journey and night in the Sahara Desert but now we were on the road to Marrakesh! And it would be a very long day of driving, about 10 hours. It was so great to have our private driver for these expeditions!

Madhi had the car all packed up and we were on the road at about 8:30 am. After only 30 minutes on the road he pulled over in the middle of nowhere. When we asked what he was doing, he said that he was taking us hunting for fossils!! We got out, walked across the highway, and started searching along the base of a low ridge of hills.

This entire area of the Rocky Sahara was once a sea bed and home to many different sea creatures and invertebrates during the Devonian period, 419.2 to 358.9 million years ago. All sorts of fossils have been found in this area, such as giant catfish, crocodiles, whales, pterosaurs, trilobites, nautiloids, brachiopods, etc.

We found a few nautiloids and brachiopods which was really cool. I knew that Morocco is known for their fossils (from watching The Forgiven), but I didn't know why, and I didn't realize there is a whole business of fossil tourism! We would see many very impressive ones for sale along our route. 

The landscape remained rocky as we drove through the Draa River Valley. We passed by Tamnougalt, an old kasbah and date palm oasis, and various small towns with bustling markets along their streets. Our original itinerary suggested driving up thru the sheer rock walls of the Todra Gorges but as this was already an extremely long drive for one person to handle we skirted south of there and followed the Anti Atlas Mountains. 

From here we started climbing up a bit to Aït Saoun, which is a mountain pass in the Anti Atlas range. Madhi pulled over so we could get out and take in the gorgeous views. This 5042 foot elevation pass was once a caravan route for people traveling to the Sahara.

Just on the other side of the pass near Ouarzazate we drove by CLA Studios, a movie production house that opened in 2004 and has had parts of films such as Babel, Gladiator, and Ben Hur shot on their sets. It was closed when we were there and Madhi thought that might be a permanent thing. 

Another well-used movie location was just off the main highway a bit further. Ait Ben Haddou, an UNESCO World Heritage Site is a ksar; a fortified village built of clay.  
There have been so many movies shot here including Lawrence of Arabia, The Jewel of the Nile, Sheltering Sky, and The Mummy. 

After a quick (and really bad) lunch in the more modern part of town, we were able to walk across a dried river bed and up into the lanes of the village. Very few people still live in the ksar but there are some small shops selling antiques and fossils to tourists. The clay architecture was super cool to see.
The buildings at the very top of the ksar were closed, having sustained damage from the 2023 earthquake that happened just a week before we arrived in Morocco. Having been on the other side of the country for the last 6 days, this was the first time we were seeing physical damage.

It was 3pm and we still had over 3 hours before reaching Marrakech. This part of the drive was through the High Atlas Mountains and the views were stunning. It was also a bit nerve wracking as Madhi is very use to the twisty roads and was driving pretty fast. Steep drop offs on one side and top-heavy trucks, double-deckered with cattle were creaning past on the other side. I've never seen cows loaded on open topped, 2-story trucks before! 

We stopped at Tizi N Tinifift pass, the highest major mountain pass in North Africa at 7,234 ft (2,205 metres) above sea level. Nomadic Berbers still cross this on foot! Madhi explained that during the winter this pass closes often because of snow. Towns located inside are then cut off until the road can be opened back up. 

We stopped in a tiny town at the pass to shop from the Berber Women Argan Oil CoOp. The ingredient argan oil is slapped on just about every label in the States but most of that is very diluted with other oils. Real oil is extracted by hand from the argan tree fruit which are very small. It takes a lot of nuts to get a bit of the precious oil and this part of Morocco is said to have the best.


The small nuts are cracked open with a stone and their seed is separated from the husk. Then the seeds are ground with a small stone mill by one of the women. The shop sells cosmetic as well as food grade oils. This is where we all bought the Moroccan specialty Amlou which is a spread of honey, almonds, and argan oil. It's fabulous and you should eat it anytime you see it!

We weren't the only ones shopping! As we opened the trunk to put our purchases in, boxes and boxes of dates just about fell out! Madhi had stopped along the side of the road as we headed up the pass to buy some, but we hadn't known how much he had bought! Turns out we were his last group that he would be driving through this region so he was stocking up!

It was past 6pm when we arrived in Marrakesh, it had been a really long day on the road but also a super interesting & beautiful one! 


Fes Authentic Tours was a great company to work with, creating the exact trip we wanted. I highly recommend them. 

All photos of the High Atlas Mountains here

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