I am travelling from Morocco to South Africa over land via about 25 countries. I live in a big yellow truck
bought from the British army and sleep in a tent, normally in the middle of a bush but sometimes at a camp site in "civilised"
countries like Morocco where we can get the occasional shower. We're a group of 25 people, rising to 26 in Ghana, which means
the truck is full and hence we tend to live on top of each other.
The intention is to travel through Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali, Burkina Faso, Ghana, Togo, Benin, Nigeria, Cameroon,
Chad, Sudan, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania, Malawi, Mozambique, Zimbabwe, Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.
However, the Chad-Sudan border is closed due to the situation in Darfur so instead, we will almost certainly miss Chad, Sudan and
Ethiopia and instead, head through Gabon, Congo-Brazzaville, Congo-Kinshasa and Angola into Namibia before heading up through
Zambia towards Kenya and then resuming our route down to South Africa.
That's confusing for most, I'm sure. African geography is not everyone's forté.
Just to make it more confusing, I intend to visit Senegal and The Gambia with some others before rejoining the truck in Mali.
You can see here (slanted by marketing) where exactly I am going and may be doing, although the alternative route is incorrect:
http://www.oasisoverland.co.uk/truck_expeditions/africa/trans_africa/index.html
MOROCCO
After brief stops in Gibraltar and Spain for last minute luxuries, we headed across to Ceuta, an Spanish enclave on the Moroccan
coast on the 35 minute ferry (hence not far - ripe for a rail tunnel one day). That was a fairly uninteresting place. Apparently home to a
big prison for Africans trying to get on to EU territory. Then came a chaotic border crossing and we were finally in Morocco!
We were greeted by quite an impressive welcome - as everyone stuck their heads out of the roof and windows, it felt like nearly
everyone waved at us in a genuinely friendly manner. I wasn't sure if it was because we looked so stupid in our bright yellow truck
but now I am convinced Moroccans are warm, friendly people. Everywhere we have been, we've been greeted by smiles, hellos and
people wanting to give us the time to chat (except in the most touristic of towns). On the very first night, we camped next to a
reservoir and then local army and police chiefs joined us for some drumming (and in the case of the policeman, to smoke hashish!).
Perhaps the most impressive person I have met is a guy called Faddil, in non-touristic Casablanca. We met Faddil selling fish in
the medina (old walled city) to whom we chatted (me translating as always - the only one on the truck who can speak French). He
offered to take us for a tour. This normally means that someone illegally wants to be a guide for us and demands payment at the
end but nevertheless, we were 5, he was 1, and just felt like saying yes in this case. He showed us around, which attracted
1,001 stares from the locals who are not used to seeing white people in the medina, especially white girls with flesh showing!
The sticking point was him saying that "he fears nothing and noone except God" and asking us if we feel the same thing. We
all said no to his amazement. We ended up eating lunch at his house, prepared by his Mum and talked about Islam for hours.
Stereotypically, he looked like a young tearaway but was actually a kind-hearted, deeply religious man. Perhaps more
fascinating was his innumerable failed attempts to get into Europe. He has stowed away in ships so many times, he can't
remember how many times he has tried to get out of Morocco. He's been stowing away in the engine room of ships for 11 years
and has tried to pass through Ceuta and onto a ferry to Spain on 5 occasions using fake French ID cards and passports - all
attempts failed except 3. He has once been deported from Belgium, once from France and once from Humberside in the UK. And
he proudly carries the deportation papers to prove it. Each time, he said that he arrived with nothing except water and the clothes
in which he stood, yet the people in each place were generous enough to help him when he begged - he believed that is because
God makes people give in order to look after him. On another occasion, he has been pulled out of the water by the US marines
while hiding behind their ship in a small boat while approaching another to stow away on. On yet another occasion, he jumped
into the sea to run away from the captain yielding a baseball bat. He swam for 3 hours he claims, while his 2 friends who
remained lost hearing in one ear. Without going into detail, life is pretty tough trying to be a stowaway and we really wanted to try
to understand why he wanted to get out of Morocco and enter Europe - the answer seemed fairly simple - to get a life :-S I've
no doubt that it's possible to live happily (the objective of life, after all) in Morocco but he seemed convinced otherwise.
After 5 of our 9 hours with Faddil, we asked him to take us to the entrance of the grand mosque of Casablanca at 4th prayer. He
did so willingly but was followed by the police into prayer who then grabbed him when he rejoined us outside. They suspected him
of acting as a false guide, asked for money from him and then sent him away, forbidding him to go near us white people again.
We had walked away, thinking this would help but then we saw the police van move off and no Faddil to be seen so we ran up to
the van and asked where our FRIEND was. Sent away in that direction was the answer - the police, not really believing he was
our friend, then drove after him saying he could see us again but they still wanted money from him (for their back pockets. False
guiding carries a fine of imprisonment in Morocco but they had no evidence to arrest). We walked in that direction and he pulled
up in a taxi - we went back to our camp site for dinner.
No less friendly are other people I have met but just that little bit less crazy! In general, Moroccans have a terrible image. In
France, Moroccan immigrants are subject to horrendous racism and have been effectively called "scum" recently by Sarkozy,
the French interior minister(?) in response to the riots in Paris. In the Netherlands too, the image of Moroccan immigrants is at
rock bottom due to a Dutchman of Moroccan decent murdered a celebrity 12 months ago in an Amsterdam street in response to
his very outspoken views on Islam. British and German tourists generally claim that Moroccans hassle people too much when on
holiday in Morocco. Having been around much of Morocco, I understand this judgement but find to be the exception rather than
the norm. While we are avoiding the beach town of Agadir, we spent 2 days in the touristic city of Marrakesh where hassle is a
big problem where tourists congregate and at the start of the soukh (market) but once deep into the soukh and when walking
streets that are tourist-free, the overall image of people is totally different - instead of the full-on expert sales technique trying to
make us buy things we never did want, you only find smiles, people shouting welcome and wanting to chat. People have been the
most friendly in places where tourists are rare. Moroccans believe tourists are a gift from Allah. I can only guess that in large
numbers of tourists habitually visiting a
So where I have I been?
Chefchaouen - the 1st place we visited. A small town in a wide valley so offering attractive views. The blue and white houses add a
lot to the place, which consists almost entirely of narrow streets. Sweet and charming with few tourists.
Volubilis - Roman ruins complete with brothel and you can imagine what symbol the Romans may have chosen to leave in stone
there.
Casablanca - city of 5 million people and the business capital of fast-developing Morocco. Pretty chaotic place though. As
everywhere in Morocco, you have to give way to people coming on to roundabouts, which creates loads of gridlock with cars stuck
on roundabouts. It is fairly ininteresting for tourists but one of the highlights of the trip so far for me, mainly for the reasons I have
written about already. It boasts the 3rd largest religious monument in the world - the grand Hassan II mosque. It can hold 20,000
inside if I remember correctly.
Rabat - the capital city. Has a French flavour to it given that it was built as the administrative centre by French colonisers. Has
an Arabic tinge though to make it distinct. Here, I met a guy called Ghassan who showed me around the modern parts of
town and the royal palace and boy, that is grand! The King, Mohammed VI is in his 30s and owns a trendy surf club on the coast.
Of the many portraits of him, some show him on a jetski and the like. He is powerful - can change government decisions if he likes.
On the 50th anniversary of independence a week ago (18 November), he released hundreds of prisoners in celebration.
Fes - the cultural heart of Morocco. The amazing medina sticks out in my mind. It has 9500 narrow, short streets making it
nearly impossible to get out once you've gone in. Of the medina, the leather tanneries were incredibly cool. Loads of big
pots full of dye that people fit in and dip the leather. Hard to describe but it smells rough!
Here, I met up with 2 guys from Congo-Kinshasa (DR Congo), Yannick and Teddy who cooked us a Congolese meal. They
apologised for the lack of Congolese speciality though because they couldn't find crocodile or monkey.
Todra Gorge in the Atlas mountains - a gorge! Trekked for 40km in total over the day, which didn't take its toll as much as
expected. Was incredibly cool place that just grew on me. Perhaps the most impressive thing was the total silence. Deafening
silence is not common. Being in a place where so grand with high-sided walls makes the isolation and silence all the more
marked. 2 others of my group who walked together had tea in a nomad's tent. The only people you did come across, by and
large, were the odd normad walking with their goats.
Away from the gorge, the mountains were quite stunning. A lot of scenery that is just too difficult to catch on camera looks as if
it should be part of a film set.
Marrakesh - the "beating heart" of Morocco with a huge main square where the tourists congregate. There are snake charmers
and street performers all day long and a huge area of mini restaurant stalls at night with cheap impressive food. My tent partner,
Chris, shared a sheep's head with the German of our truck, Andreas - tongue, eyes, ears and all!
The atmosphere
is special and takes a place in my memory. The hassle that one can receive though is a pain but a polite, firm "no thanks" in a language
that you have not been addressed in tends to do the trick while walking on.
Now I am in Essaouira, a coastal town that is small but as with any Moroccan town; is buzzing with people and the streets are
alive rather than dead like 99% of British streets that seem to be "traffic only". There are a small number of tourists but not enough
to let take more than a fraction of the beach. Most impressive is the fishing port. I'll be going to the fish auction once I've finished
with this email.
Tomorrow I will head for the Western Sahara, part of Morocco since 1975 when the Franco regime of Spain fell apart and this colony
was taken by Morocco. It is slightly larger than the UK in terms of area and has just 250,000 people. It is a disputed territory
as Algeria would like access to the Atlantic Ocean and some of the people living there would like to rule themselves but
regardless, there is no fighting, just a stand-off near the Algerian border. After that comes Mauritania.
Hope that hit the right note for some people - let me know if a different style is needed.
Love
Chris
