Travel guides
Lonely Planet I had the LP (5th edition 3/2001) with me and as usual it gave very good info. it reads easily and in a few hours you get a good idea of what to see. it also pointed out Hotel Ali in Ali which is the center of budget tourism in Marrakesh. There is a good trekking section with trekkings in Toubkal and El Gouna region. however, some minor negative points are that the descriptions of the trekkings are not good enough to do it on your own, especially distances and timing can be incorrect. Also there's almost no info on the region north of El Gouna. I read about it in a French guide, and the region there is absolutely great.
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Footprint
I also had a Footprint guide, but unfortunately I lost it the first days. Still it's an excellent guide, although it reads more difficult the the LP.
Hotels
- You can find hotels in all price ranges, and they tend to be good value for money.
-A good budget hotel will cost around 150 DH for a double room including a bathroom with hot shower.
- 5-star places like The Meridien will cost around 1500 DH. There are also places in between with swimming pool for 500 DH a double (12/2001).
Safety
- It's fair to say that Morocco is a safe country. I think theft is not a big problem, and at least I had no problems.
- The main problem however is the hassling by touts. this is especially true in Tangier and Fes, less so in Marrakesh. These guys can be very persistent, so whenever someone approaches you to offer services, never presume they will do this for free. I always said "I don't want to pay or buy anything", and usually I repeated this 2 times. At least in Marrakesh this was pretty effective, but I heard other stories from people. 2 Australians told me they were followed by a guy to their hotel, and he demanded money for his "guidance". They refused, but the same nights this guy was there with several friend blocking the door of their room and demanding money. Others will first try to befriend you before trying to rip you off.
Sightseeing
At the moment, sightseeing is still very cheap. A popular place like the Ait Ben Haddou Kasbah f.i. is still free. Other places are cheap by western standards, usually 10 or 20 DH. If you visit a house in one of the villages, you are expected to pay 5 or 10 DH.
Weather
- Best time to visit is undoubtedly spring, but that's also high season of course. At that time the country should be green and it's not too hot yet. You should have water in the rivers.
- I went in November, and weather was OK. Still, it was not always warm, and in Toubkal region we even had snow. Also everything was very dry, no water in the rivers. People told us they didn't have any decent rain for 2 years now, so that bec
omes a big problem for them. Also during this time of year, you're very likely to get a lot of clouds, so forget about sunset or sunrise in Merzouga.
- Summer can get very hot of course.
Medical matters
The only thing to worry about is travellers diarrhea, but I had no problems. Take Ciproxine in case.
Sports
Trekking Morocco is a fantastic country for mountain trekking with a lot of possibilities. Toubkal is of course very popular, and most treks start from Imlil. Guides are pretty cheap by our standards, and they always speak at least 1 Western language quite well. Price is around 300 DH p.p. per day and this includes everything (food + accommodation), but if you're in a big group, this price can go down. You can also rent a mule for about 40 DH a day (with a group of 3). Also the region North of El Gouna is great and maybe even more beautiful then the Toubkal region, especially the villages are different. In Toubkal houses are built against the mountain, in the M'Gouna massif they are built along a river with usually a kasbah in between. You also have some gorges there, and there are less tourists.
Rafting It should be possible to raft in the M'Gouna massif, but since there was no rain for 2 years, rafting was not possible also you should preferably go in spring, although tourist brochures say you can raft all year long.
Skiing Same story as rafting: skiing in Oukaimeden should be possible around February, but there was not enough snow the last 3 years.
Political situation
- When I was there in November 2001, King Mohammed VI was in power for a bit over 1 year. It was clear to us that a lot of things had changed for the good, at least that's what people told us. There was more political openness, and he provided more public services for the poor Berbers (like installing electricity in their villages). Also the situation for women was getting better, in Marrakesh you saw very few women traditionally dressed, and Morocco has some good female athletes too.
- Another point was the September 11th attack and the war in Afghanistan. It was clear to me that almost ALL Moroccans, also the ones getting in contact with tourists, were against the USA, against Israel and thus supported Bin Laden. I don't know whether they had changed their minds a bit once the Taliban was defeated because by that time I had left the country. Their reasoning was very simple: Israel oppresses Muslims/Palestinians - the US supports Israel and thus the oppression of Muslims - Thus Muslims (Osama bin Laden) have the right to attack the US. I'm pretty sure 95% of the Moroccans agreed with this reasoning. Personally, I don't approve these attacks, that's obvious, but I think that Americans should try to understand why they suffered from these attacks: because due to their policy, there's a widening gap between rich (the West) and poor. And poor people can be influenced by radical ideas, like the ones from Bin Laden.
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