Water of Life
We awoke at 7 am or thereabouts, in time for the 8 am meeting where we were given our instructions and destinations for the day.
( Before Erfoud, left to Tinjdad, N702, T junction, left to N 10 Tinjdad. Continue to Tinerhir, down a slight hill with a right hand curve you will see the Kasbah on a hill directly ahead. Cross flat wadi bridge and turn immediately right, R703 towards Gorges du Todra.)
The sky was as grey as our feelings to be saying goodbye to the Erg Chebbie Dunes as we drove away from the desert on the road back to Rissani and then Erfoud.
At 11 am we stopped at some ancient Khettaras near Erfoud, tunnel connected wells some 75 metres deep. Qanats.
We were given a demonstration whereby a Moroccan climbed down a rope, made his way along to the next well then climbed up again.
We needed a push start to get going again.
11.50 am saw us driving through Tinjdad without stopping.
Outside of Tinjdad in the
open desert is an incredible museum owned by a famous caligraphy artist.
The artifacts were all collected by the owner during the time spent on
the coast where he lived with his family.
After the children grew up, he managed to acquire the land rights to
this particular piece of the desert where there was a disused spring that had
been completely filled with rubbish over the years. He has restored it into a thing of
beauty. A spectacular oasis in the
middle of nowhere.
A quote on a tile as you enter the museum, from
the book, The Little Prince. "What makes the desert beautiful, is that
somewhere it hides a well."
The largest of the 5 Springs
Measuring Time. There is a small hole in the base of the bowl which is sitting in a dish of water. It takes 20 minutes for the bowl to fill and sink to the botom of the dish.
On we went, on and on past flat areas, palm trees, cultivated areas, heading westish towards the mountains, eventually reaching the spectacular Todra Gorge.
300 metres high
The cliffs rise vertically up to 300 metres leaving a narrow pass for the icy river and a track to walk through the chasm. Trekking through the canyon in the morning you can follow the local Berber women taking their goat herds to higher ground for grazing. Following them to the Abdelali viewpoint will give you spectacular vistas down into the gorge and across to the Jebel Sahro mountain range and the Dades Valley keeping an eye out for the rare Bonelli’s Eagle that nests in the cliffs.
The guide book said we would stop at 'Camping Soleil' , as did some of our tour who weren't properly listening at the morning meeting when Ray told us we were not going to stop there but continue up to 'Camping Baddou' at Tamtattouchte.
A very small site. We were parked up near the entrance to await the mechanics who very efficiently, even after dark, fixed our starter cable back where it should have been and assured us it would never come undone again. 1200 dirhams but so good to now be independent.
