Monday 16 February 2015

Sunday morning was another bright clear day and Desert Detours Italia all left, very quietly, at 7.30am. As it was our plan to move on we were up and about early to service the vans and get away for a leisurely, fairly short trip eastwards along the course of a river to the small village of Foum Zguid.

The guidebook described the route as a monotonous run through desert scrubland with mountains to our south, and sure enough it was a straight level well-surfaced road, with the very occasional rough bit, but to our eyes anything but monotonous. The mountainsides were covered with purple flowers of some kind, which unfortunately don’t show well in the photos, and we passed herds of goats, sheep and camels being grazed on the scrub. A couple of small Berber encampments could be seen in the foothills too.

Desert - the proper stuff

Berber Tents below purple sided mountains

Oasis' dotted our route

River bed gouged out of the desert

The occasional traffic hazard!

The rainy season can be devastating - the main road washed out

Entering Foum Zguid

Our arrival at Camping Khaima Parc was initially with some trepidation as the entrance was very “rustic” and looked to be a building site. However once through the gate we found a beautiful little site, a real oasis, with pitches amongst the palm trees and all facilities which for a change, though not European modern, were scrupulously clean. We were allocated two lovely pitches next to the swimming pool (no water in it though – it’s out of season) with partially shaded sunshine all day long. Only a few vans here, a couple of Brits, some Germans and Dutch but no French who we later found out had all but stopped coming to this part of Morocco.

Our priority was getting several loads of washing done, which quickly dried in the sunshine and gentle breeze. As the sun went down the cicadas started up and at full dark there was no light pollution so the sky was awash with more stars than we've ever seen before. Stunning.

Monday we finished off the washing then wandered into the village where we had learned from the guide book a weekly souk took place. However the information turned out to be wrong so instead we enjoyed delicious chicken kebabs with frites, accompanied by mugs of orange juice squeezed in front of us. Then we wandered back, taking the opportunity to do a little shopping in the few shops that were open, and once again marveled at how cheap everything is here.

The old village

Football is enjoyed here too!

Yummy chicken kebabs enjoyed in the shade

 We later decided that a chill-out day was in order here so tomorrow we’re staying put.