16 December - Tamsahelt to Ouarzazate

Lastnight we stayed at a Kasbah owned by our guides uncle in Tamsahelte ( Kasbah Hotel Riad du Sud) . It is made of mud and straw in the typical Bedouin style, with the ceilings made from palm leaves and palm trunks. Even the door is made from palm trunks. It is perched on a hill and gave lovely views of the surrounding agricultural scene and the small town. There are no shops, no Wifi, and just the noise from animals to keep us entertained. It gave us free time to play card games and enjoy our environment - an early night.

Today we have taken a off road trip through the Jbel Saghro which is a mountain range 

 South of the High Atlas Mountains and east of the Anti Atlas Mountains. It is the driest part of the mountain range and a local guide said it rains only about once a year. We have never seen so many rocks - everywhere! It has a landscape like you would expect to see on the moon or Mars - so dry and austere. You can see all the exposed rock faces and the erosion of the soil from the rains. Very dramatic.

 We stopped at an area where a guide showed us engraving made by prehistoric man - in 500BCE. That is 7000 years ago and they are still easy to see. They show animals that lived in the area when it was a savannah - antelope, bison, gazelle, giraffe, elephant and flamingo. It also shows the tools the people used - nets and slingshots. It was amazing to see.

The area looks very much like many of the photos you would see of Africa with the Cassia trees and animals and arid landscape. Except the animals you see are camel, donkey, sheep and goats - no giraffe nibbling at the branches.

We stopped at Zagora for a delicious tangine for lunch - always delicious food in Morocco. The local boys were hassling Youssef for money, and unlike other towns they did not letup. In the end he gave them some coins to send them away. The locals are very poor, and many children do not go to school if they live too far out of town. Especially if the are of a nomadic family and have no way to get to a town. Many only have a donkey, or walk. Everywhere we go we see so many people walking beside the road or out in the fields. We are yet to see a fat Moroccan. They also do not have any government assistance - if you don’t work you don’t get any money . So everyone works even if it a very simple task. There are many people who are tending their animals in the fields - there are no fences so they have to keep an eye on their animals. We have seen them just relaxing on the ground, sometimes with friends, passing the time as the animals feed. No internet. No cars. No music. No books (they can’t read). Just waiting for the animals. Very patient people.