The past couple of months have been crazy. From the Caribbean to England, to Australia, east Antarctica, South Africa, then Mauritania. The last leg of my epic round the world 2026 journey was 12 days in Morocco. This overland trip began in Casablanca, then continued across a large portion of the country including the Atlas Mountains, Marrakech, the Cheggaga Sand Dunes in the Sahara Desert, Todra Gorge, Fes, Chefchaouen and so much more.

 

Morocco is a beautiful country with lots to see and do. I particularly enjoyed the mountains, desert, and other outdoor spaces.

A travel day from Nouakchott which was set to depart at 2:40 A.M. so it was awful. When I got to the airport at 11:00, the power kept going out. Each time it would go completely dark while in the check-in line, but only for a few seconds before coming back on. This happened about a half dozen times. I hoped the air traffic control tower had consistent power!

The flight itself was uneventful, and I slept through most of it. Upon arrival, I met with Salah, who is going to be my guide for the next 12 days. He did seem to know a surprising amount about me. He obviously did some web searches of my name beforehand.

We had a 4 hour drive from Casablanca, through Marrakech, to the Olinto Atlas Mountain Retreat… One of the finest places I've ever stayed at. Wow, just stunning. The entire property is 33 acres and is mainly an olive grove, with so many other plants, flowers and herbs. The architecture is amazing. Quite the contrast from most of my time in Mauritania.

Morocco is so much more modern and greener than I expected.

Woke up and had breakfast at the Olinto. At 9:30 we met up with our hiking guide for the day. From the hotel we walked up into the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. It was overcast and cool, perfect for a hike, but the wind was gusty, and at times it got downright ferocious!

We hiked amongst the olive trees, and red clay mounds near Ourigane, through some pretty off-trail paths. It was really nice, when the wind wasn't blowing dust into my eyes. We continued on over a sketchy little foot bridge that spanned a small creek, then into an old Jewish village that had been abandoned back in the 1970’s.

We kept going until we reached our ultimate destination, a small Berber village and the home of Mohammed and his wife, where we were to have lunch. He made us mint tea, we got dressed in some traditional local attire, and then had a nice meal of fresh bread (which his wife made after we arrived) some home grown vegetables, then 2 types of tagine (veggie and beef) it was all delicious.

Afterwards we continued our walk back to the hotel. In total, we walked somewhere in the neighborhood of 12km.

We had breakfast and took our time packing up to leave the Olinto. Salah and Adil picked us up at noon and we drove for an hour to Marrakech where we checked into the Villa des Orangers hotel, and old riad (a traditional Moroccan house with an interior courtyard). It has expanded from its original design and now is a huge, maze-like hotel complex.

After checking in, we went down to the old Marrakesh medina, specifically the Djemaa el-Fna. There were guys with performing monkeys, and snake charmers with live cobras. These guys would get irate if you tried to take photos without giving them money, so keep that in mind if you ever visit. We wandered around and saw countless vendors selling olives, mint, clothes, shoes, metalwork… You name it.

Later in the afternoon we visited the gorgeous Majorelle Gardens which was once a private garden, filled with bamboo, cactus, palm trees and much more. Then it was off to the Yves Saint Laurent Museum next door. Not my cup of tea, but I can appreciate his work.

That was all for the day. We retired to the hotel for some rest, a cocktail and a nice dinner at their restaurant.

There were plans to take a hot air balloon ride first thing in the morning tomorrow, however, it's looking like the weather is not going to be great, so we've decided to skip that tomorrow and postpone it by one day.

It was a cloudy, cold morning. No surprise that the balloon ride was postponed (fingers crossed for tomorrow).

After breakfast, Salah picked us up and we all went to Bahia Palace, that was currently featuring an exhibit of old doors. Then we continued on to the Dar el Bacha Museum of Confluences. After that we returned back through the bustling alleys of Marrakech’s old medina. There were metalworkers, shops selling baskets, leather good being made & sold, spice merchants, you name it. We saw donkeys carrying leather hides while countless cats scurried about, there was a guy carrying 2 handfuls of dead chickens and so much more. It is controlled chaos.

A very early morning, up at 5:00 to meet the driver for the hot air balloon ride. It was drizzling in Marrakech, so there seemed to be little chance of it actually happening, and I didn't have my hopes up. We continued to drive northeast of the city in the dark and surprisingly the rain stopped. We waited at their facility for a while, had some tea, and was told that because of the wind direction, we'd have to launch the balloon from elsewhere. OK. We waited around for a while as they got things prepared, meanwhile it was getting brighter out. The sky was still overcast, but that didn't seem to be a big deal. We loaded up in their vehicles and drove for about 10 minutes to a field where the team started to inflate the balloon.

Other balloons were already in the air, with even more starting to be inflated. Our yellow canopy rose into the sky as they blasted the propane jet. We climbed into the basket and before we knew it, we were airborne, the 2 pilots discussed the flight plan as we enjoyed the view. It was chilly, but every time they hit the burner, a welcome wave of heat would wash over us. There were about 50 or so other balloons flying today, which must be quite the spectacle every morning.

The weather improved as we glided through patchy clouds, over fields and highways. Lots of photos were snapped. This was my second ever balloon flight, the first one being in Turkey a few years ago. We flew over an abandoned old house, a flock of sheep, and a group of about a half dozen dogs walking down a trail.

The flight was meant to be about 45 minutes, but we ran into a problem. The pilots were aiming to land right at the breakfast spot where we were planning eating. Normally, they would land in a field, and then drive the passengers there for breakfast, but we were within striking range of a perfect landing site. The problem was that, only a hundred meters or so away from our destination… the wind completely stopped. Dead still. Nothing. We hovered in place, above some private property where were not authorized to land. The pilots lifted the balloon higher and we barely inched forward. Eventually we caught a little breeze, just enough to carry us to our landing site where the ground crew was waiting for us. We touched down a short walk from the breakfast buffet. You couldn't have asked for a better landing spot.

Because of the delay we were running late, so we grabbed just a quick bite to eat, then got the driver to take us back to the hotel in Marrakech.

We had quite a drive ahead of us to get from Marrakech to the Zagora area. On the way we passed through the mountains, often giving us some amazing views of the snow capped peaks. We stopped briefly at Casbah Ait Benhaddou, a remarkable ancient fortified village, or ksar, located in the foothills of the High Atlas Mountains. Recognized as a UNESCO World Heritage site, this traditional mud brick city is famous for its stunning architecture, with high walls, corner towers and narrow winding streets. It has been used by Hollywood for numerous projects (Lawrence Of Arabia, Game Of Thrones, The Mummy, Gladiator and more).

We drove from Dar Hnini to Mhamid, a town literally at the end of the road, not far from the Algerian border. There were left Salah and Adil behind and hopped into a Landcruiser to take us out to the Cheggaga Dunes camp. The driver took us on an hour and a half off-road journey through the desert across rocky landscapes and sand dunes to the camp. It was larger that I expected with numerous sleeping tents, a lounge tent, a dining tent, electricity, running water and a fire pit. It was really well put together.

We ate lunch when we arrived, then after some confusion it was determined that we would do a camel ride in the evening (for some reason there was a discrepancy with evening vs. tomorrow morning). Regardless, we took some time in the afternoon to explore the vast dunes surrounding us. They seemed to stretch on forever, my shoes frequently filling with sand along the way. My sandals had self-destructed back in Mauritania.

Just before sunset, our camel wrangler arrived, and we got ready to ride. It was sunny, but a strong wind was blowing which sent a lot of sand flying into my face, irritating my eyes. I did my best to use my scarf to protect myself, with marginal success. The ride was good. Similar to my recent camel ride in Mauritania. They are slow, plodding animals with confident footing and an occasional temper tantrum.

The end point for our ride was at the base of the highest sand dune in the area. Apparently, it is the go-to spot here to watch the sunset. We climbed to the top and took some great photos of the camels departing amongst the long evening shadows of the dunes. Shortly we were joined by other travellers staying at the camp. We all shared some wine, swapped travel stories, and enjoyed the sunset from our sandy perch. Once the sun had dipped below the horizon, we all worked our way back to camp for dinner.

The temperature had predictably dropped, and the cold desert night was a stark contrast to the hot, harsh midday sun. There was a campfire with some musicians performing around it, but I didn't stick around for long. I wanted to search for scorpions, so I got out my ultraviolet flashlight and started hunting around in the rocks, and at the edges of the tents. Scorpions fluoresce under UV light, so they are easy to spot. Unfortunately, I didn't see any.

Back at the tent, the wind had picked up even more as I turned in for the night.

I woke up early with the intent of catching a nice sunrise. The sky was clear as I wandered the dunes, each moment getting a little brighter. The morning desert light was magnificent.

With the sun higher in the sky, it was time to go to the dining tent for breakfast. That's where we learned that Marrakesh had had a freak April snowstorm apparently there was up to 20+cm of snow in parts of the city!

We then took the Land Cruiser back along the bumpy desert route to the town of Mhamid, the closest civilization. We met up with our regular guide and much of the day was spent driving, about 6 hours or so towards Dadès and the Eden Boutique Hotel (Gorgeous, like a palace, but lots of stairs).

I did a 2 hour hike with a local guide named Lahcen. We trekked through part of the Monkey Fingers Gorge... So named due to the way the countless sandstone boulders resemble finger bones, as if many giant skeletal hands are reaching out of the Earth itself. It was amazing. The weather was perfect with clear and cool conditions. On the hike we walked through an old abandoned village, saw the sandstone features up close, hiked through a narrow slot canyon with huge boulders wedged in overhead. It was a serious hike, with lots of scrambling. The golden evening light was perfect. One thing of note is that there were many balanced rocks along the 5km route we took. Very dramatic geology. There were also so many amazing layers with folded, vertical sections of rock. Clear evidence of the ancient geological activity that has taken place here over millions and millions of years. It reminded me of some of the stunning national parks in Arizona and Utah.

After checkout, we drove for about an hour to the Tinghir area where we met with our local hiking guide, Nouri. It is a beautiful place with sandstone mountains and a deep, lush green valley. We hiked down into the farmland at the bottom of the valley and there we came across so many small farmer’s fields, filled with beans, olives, herbs, dates, figs, alfalfa, and much more. We also came across another old abandoned village that was in disrepair. I'm surprised by the number of old, abandoned villages there are here in Morocco.

The trail took us across streams, over irrigation systems, through the trees and along the lower slopes of the valley. The steep mountains showing themselves from time to time. It was incredibly fertile, a testament to how water brings life. There was a lot of bird life here too, with many white cattle egrets, foraging in the fields.

As we continued along, Nouri looked up at one of the steep cliffs and spotted 3 Barbary sheep, aka aoudad. It was amazing to see how agile they were on the impossibly steep cliff sides with their large backwards-curved horns and long fringes of hair on their neck. We watched them climb up and down the cliff faces for a while, then continued on. After about 8km or so, we called the car to pick us up and bring us to the entrance to Todra Gorge.

It was a busy place with plenty of locals and tourists alike. There was a paved road through it, and some locals had even set up tents in the riverbed. Two groups of rock climbers were high up the cliff side, slowly working their way up the sheer rock. It is a gorgeous place, but I wasn't expecting the crowds. It's hard to understand the scale of the place. I would like to return here again in the future to explore more of it.

From there, we went to the home of a local Berber family where we had lunch... The patriarch and his wife, and one of their adult daughters with her toddler. We had salad, chicken tagine, fresh fruit and of course, tea. We managed to communicate using a combination of English, French, and some Arabic translation from our guide Salah. The father only spoke the Berber dialect but it was nice to spend some time with these friendly people.

From there it was a 2 hour drive to Erfoud where the hotel was. The Chateau de Sable is a more modern styled place than most of the other hotels we've been staying at.

Today was a travel day with about 7 hours of driving. We loaded up at 9:30 and hit the road. Our first stop was at the Reservoir du Barrage Al Hassan Addakhil, a man-made lake made by damming the river. The water was beautiful blue green colour, and apparently, they use it for generating hydro-electricity as well as for drinking water.

As we continued north, we witnessed many great views of the snow-capped High Atlas mountains. We even got up to about 2000 meters altitude at one point, and had small patches of snow around us. There were pine trees everywhere… It did not feel like Morocco to me.

We stopped for lunch at a place that was very busy, mostly with a large group of foreign students and a bus load of people from a National Geographic tour. Morocco has become quite the tourist hotspot. Almost everywhere we went, we encountered other travellers from around the world. The economy here depends on it.

After lunch, I noticed a good solar halo. We pulled over and the high-altitude clouds made it look like it had a dent or a flat spot on it. I've never seen a halo look like that before.

We made another stop at a place called Monkey Forrest, where there were… You guessed it. Monkeys. Barbary Monkeys. These tail-less monkeys were very used to humans, and it was easy to get pretty close. I didn't feed them though. Some were lounging around, some were grooming each other. A few were in trees, and some young ones were chasing each other, playing with a plastic bag. I got a bunch of photos, but it was really quite cold out at this altitude, so we didn't linger for too long.

Our next stop was in Ifrane, a town that looks a lot like France or Switzerland. It definitely had a European feel to it with high sloped roofs and coniferous trees. We briefly stopped at the large statue of a lion there as well.

As we approached Fes, the traffic picked up, telling us that we were getting closer to a big city. The hotel (Riad Fes) was stunningly gorgeous, with a high ceiling in the lobby with columns and intricate tile work. It was hidden away in a long, winding alley that eventually opened up into this amazing space. The rooftop bar was nice with a view of Fes, but it was too cold, so we ate inside at the restaurant. The food was amazing, and for once, the portions were not absurdly large.

After breakfast we met up with Salah and went for a walk into Fes' medina. Next up was a brief stop at the royal palace where we saw the 7 main doors, which is the only part that is accessible to the public. The intricate tile work and the fine details in the brass metalwork were truly impressive We then drove up the hill on the south end of town up to an old military lookout point, Borj Sud, where we had some amazing views of the entire old city of Fes.

Next up was Art Naji, the pottery/tile making place where we saw artisans making pottery and doing intricate tile work. The workers making the individual tile pieces were amazing. They use large hammers with sharp tips to chip away at the small pieces of tile to get them just right. They are then arranged upside down (without being able to see the pattern!), then grouted and sealed with fiberglass. It is remarkable.

We returned to the medina and walked the narrow alleyways, past all kinds of shops. Butcher shops, perfume shops, places with baskets of live snails, There was a place with a few camel heads hanging in the storefront.

Afterwards, we went to the local tannery briefly to see what they do to prepare hides to make leather. Here in Morocco, they use cow, sheep, goat, and camel hides to make leather goods. We went up to a balcony area to look down on the workers who were standing in pools of different colours, working the hides and pouring liquids from one pool to another. The smell was bad, but not quite as unpleasant as I'd anticipated.

We briefly swung past the University of Al Quaraouiyine, founded in 859 AD by Fatima al-Fihri, is recognized by UNESCO and the Guinness World Records as the oldest continuously operating, degree-granting university in the world. It also serves as a mosque.

We then took a break for a bit and rested up for a couple of hours before heading out to the Fes cooking school. We donned aprons and red Fes hats and were guided through making 3 dishes:

Zaalouk – A cooked salad made with eggplant, tomato, garlic & olive oil.

Chicken Tagine – The classic Moroccan dish of chicken cooked in a clay pot with onions and spices.

Jawhara - A desert made from stacked layers of thickened sweetened cream, thin fried pasty (like filo) and fruits. Piled up like a lasagna, topped with icing sugar and cinnamon.

Our dishes were served to us in the restaurant, and they were as good as some of the food we've had in nice very fancy restaurants here.

Problems at the Fes hotel this morning. No water at all for the whole building, so I snacked on what I had and skipped a shower and breakfast. It eventually came back on before departing, thankfully.

Our first stop was in the city of Meknes, known as the Moroccan Versailles and a UNESCO World Heritage site, is famous for its 25 mile long walls. Moulay Ismail made Meknes the capital city of Morocco during his reign around 1700. We visited his Mausoleum and the giant doors that lead to the royal palace.

Next up was Volubilis, the World Heritage site that is home to the largest and best-preserved Roman ruins in Morocco, and particularly noted for its superb mosaic floors. We didn't have much time to explore the site, but our local guide escorted us through efficiently. The sunshine and numerous types of flowers made for some nice photos of the Roman ruins.

About 10 minutes away, we had lunch at Scorpion House, a place that doubles as a restaurant and a private home to a British ex-pat named Mike. We had a private spot outside in the shade with a great view of the nearby hillside town. Lunch was a picnic-like variety of numerous dishes: Salads, meat, fried fish, beans, a smoothie, and other delicacies. It was wonderful, & he and his dog were very friendly. Getting there was not easy. You have to walk up a narrow, winding alleyway with no signs at all. An escort had to come get us to lead us up to the restaurant and back down afterwards.

After that it was a 3 hour drive to the “Blue City” of Chefchaouen. As we got closer to the city we stopped at an overlook viewpoint where we could see the vast number of blue-painted house and businesses.

We decided to check into our hotel right away then take a walk around the city. The old city has no car traffic, so getting to the hotel with all our luggage was a task. There are so many narrow alleys, stairs and pathways, it is an absolute maze. After checking in and dropping off our luggage, we met back up with Salah and went for a tour of the city. We saw the old laundry district where water from the river would be used to wash clothes, the two town squares, and wandered around amongst the endless shops and met many more stray cats.

Back at the hotel, we decided to not bother with dinner because lunch was so huge, so we watched the sunset from the rooftop patio instead. It got eerie when the evening call to prayer was broadcast, with different ones being sounded all overlapping each other, creating a haunting dissonance.

Today was the last full day of the grand adventure. Breakfast was at the hotel in Chefchaouen, then we drove northeast to Akchour in the Rif Mountains. It's incredibly lush and green there, with plenty of trees, farms and crop land. The limestone mountains are impressive, with towering peaks that we watched from winding switch backs on our hour-long drive. Once there, we met up with our local hiking guide, Zachariah. He took us for a 2 hour hike along the river, through beautiful terrain with countless small waterfalls and just as many small cafés and picnic spots. The water was incredibly clear and it was sunny and warm, good for hiking. We stopped numerous times to take pictures and admire the karst landscapes that surrounded us.

When we got back from the hike, we sat on the patio of one of the local restaurants and had lunch (chicken pizza and chicken “tacos” (More like a chicken and French fry panini, but it was still good). We met up with Adil, and he drove us back to the hotel where we got organized and ready for tomorrow's flight back home.

Today ends my time in Morocco, and the end of this entire grand adventure that has taken me around the world. Since Jan 20th, I've only spent 3 nights at home. What a wild ride it has been. I'm so fortunate to have seen so much, and to go to so many places that very few people ever get to experience.

It was a 5 hour drive from Chefchaouen to the airport in Casablanca and from there it was a single direct flight back to Toronto.