We had lovely lamb chops and braaibroodjes for dinner last night. The two cats of the camp ground sneeked around while beging for food. After the washing up we sat for a while telling Southern African travel and bush stories, before everyone retreated to their tents.
The night was calm, until wind came up around 4:30 and all the palm leaves started to rustle. That woke several of us up.
After a slightly chilly night, having a warm shower feels great in the morning. The shower units are nice and clean. And freshly shaven, we start on breakfast. The cars were quickly packed and off we went. First stop was a petrol station to pump up our tyres. The first station, the compressor didn’t work, the second one didn’t have an air hose, so we moved on to the next one down the high street. There the air worked, however, the hose wasn’t long enough to reach around the vehicle. You make do. Trevor turned the vehicle and was able to reach the back wheels. I did the same.

Finally done, we drove through the Draa Valley northbound. It was good to be back in this valley again, after so many years. So much had changed in the meantime. It was heartbreaking to also see that so many old Kasbahs and old village centres had fallen into disrepair or had vanished completely. This route had at some point earned the name “Route of the Kasbahs”, but nowadays there are hardly any left to see or even to visit. About twenty years ago when I came to Morocco for the first time, we stayed at a nice old Kasbah overnight. It was a remarkable experience. The villages were at the time mainly built in the old traditional style, large rocks with mud as mortar and wooden roofs. Nowadays these houses have been abandoned and become ruins. New houses, made from cement bricks and concrete, have risen next to the old village centres. A number of them are painted in nice unnatural colours.
Personally, I fear that the originality of the region is partially lost and with it also part of their cultural heritage. Tourists often come to this region especially for this original type of houses and kasbahs and are disappointed by what they are finding. In the long run it might even have negative impact on tourism in this region. With sad feelings, I left the valley and crossed over the Tizi n’Tiniffift to Ouazarzate.

First stop in town was the Carrefour Supermarket to stock up on some essentials. Next stop was the bank for some cash and last stop was one of the film studios situated here for a tour. We arrived at the gate and were already astonished that it was deserted. Once we had driven in, a soldier came and told us that the studios were a temporary military establishment. How should we know without any signs. He explained that the studio’s warehouses were rented by the Moroccan military for earthquake disaster relief materials at the moment. We apologised and left for the second film studio in town: Atlas Studios.

There we booked a guided tour that took us around various film sets and film props. Films and TV series that have used the studio include: The Jewel of the Nile, James Bond’s The Living Daylights, Aladdin (2019 film), The Mummy, Gladiator, Kingdom of Heaven, The Mummy, Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra, Game of Thrones, The Grand Tour, Vikings, Prison Break, Kundun, and many others. Unfortunately, we couldn’t see everything, partially because there was just a film shooting happening and because it would have taken too long on the 650 hectares big terrain. You again see that sets are just made from wood, plaster and paint and lots of it. Nothing is real. The various Egyptian sets are ‘inspired by’ the real Egyptian temple of Karnak or tombs as the studio/film makers do not want get into copyright infringement issues. After an hour, we were out and drove to our campsite for the night where we had agreed to meet up with Mark, the organiser of Pizzas on the Piste and offroad tour operator.
At the campsite quickly the cars were parked and the chairs and tables came out. In the afternoon sun we had a snack while chatting to Mark about everything overlanding and offroading. He was telling us about his experiences here in Morocco during the pandemic. I used the time to trace the fault why my cooler box was not working. For that I had to unpack half the interior to be able to open the various boxes in Eeyore. Eventually, I traced the fault to a connection that had gotten loose. It was fortunately an easy fix and from tomorrow the cooler box can be used again. Next on the list of things to fix was why the walkie-talkies didn’t communicate with each other any longer. After a few tries, the culprit was found in the battery adapter of one of the walkies. Replaced the adapter with a real battery and problem solved for now.

Charlotte had prepared a lovely dinner, Chicken wraps. Mark was invited. After dinner we sat together for some time and shared more overlanding stories. At a certain point it became quite chilly, a harbinger of tonight’s temperature, and we retreated to our tents or car.