Todra Gorge

Beautiful Kasbah
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We left the Erg Chebbie dunes with only one of our group needing a tow through the off road ‘piste’ and headed for Todra Gorge. On the way the wind really picked up and we drove through a dust storm. All windows shut and vents closed to keep the dust out was a bit uncomfortable – would be awful in summer when its baking hot!

We were taken to a carpet shop near Todra Gorge and looked at some beautiful rugs – although the sales guys weren’t too keen to tell us the price. After 15 minutes of telling us how fabulous the rugs were he finally told us they were 36000 Dirhams – about 3,500 Euros!

Staying at the bottom will save money, time and keep your heart rate down!

Girl in the river
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When we told him there was no way we could afford that he asked what we wanted to spend – when we told him 100’s not 1000’s of Euros he didn’t seem to understand. This is a typical Moroccan trait – they either don’t understand or don’t want to understand that Europeans/Westerners don’t have an endless supply of money. While being in Morocco makes you feel very lucky and spoiled – that attitude wears pretty thin pretty quickly.

After the carpet shop we went on to our campsite Le Soleil – the best so far in Morocco! Don’t get carried away though – best means trickling warm water in the showers and electricity that went off 2 or 3 times in the night… its all relative! Dinner of couscous in the restaurant was very good (and very cheap)!

Dodgy road
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Next day we took a tour to the gorge, which was spectacular, and onward via a VERY dodgy road to a small town up in the mountains. The road used to be reasonable but was washed away after heavy rain. Now it is on the verge of collapse with the edge of the road undercut – although Moroccan ‘health and safety’ had ensured that rocks where placed on the really dangerous bits so you didn’t actually disappear. Inevitably our drivers treated this road as a challenge, particularly on the way down.

Almond blossoms
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The main touristy part of the gorge is easily accessible and the town at the top is not worth the effort of getting too. Staying at the bottom will save money, time and keep your heart rate down!

Dave