Moroccan Adventure

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Saturday, 5 November 2022 - Woke before sunrise to climb the big Sahara sand dune we watched sunset from the day before, captured beautiful light and shadows on the dunes, then left the desert camp around 9:00 AM, and drove toward the dramatic Dades Gorge, stopping along the way to photograph old towns, palm oases, casbahs, and deep canyon walls before settling in at our hotel overlooking the rugged Dades Valley.

morocco2022 — Along the way a good view of the camp and our tents - where Virginia Ann is enjoying the morning sun rise from our tent.

morocco2022 — At the top of the big dune - same sand dunes but now the sun is on the other side.

morocco2022 — Red sand in the early sun.

morocco2022 — The sun peeks from around the distant mountains.

morocco2022 — Sunlight just touching the sands.

morocco2022 — Pretty shadows with the sun so low.

morocco2022 — Like ocean waves.

morocco2022 — Beautiful - and so peaceful.

morocco2022 — As with sunset the shadows are very sharp.

morocco2022 — Sunlight beginning to reach all the dunes.

morocco2022 — The sun is up, and the dunes still look great - going to be a warm day.

We left the camp around 0900 and began a trip to Dades Gorge.

morocco2022 — Along the way a mountain has the Amazigh symbol outlined in white.

The yaz symbolizes the "free man", which is the meaning of the word Amazigh.

morocco2022 — In Tinghir we stopped to photograph homes dating back 200-300 years

morocco2022 — A panoramic view of the old city

The predominant ethnic group is Amazighs (Berbers), and the city is at the center of one of the most attractive oases in southern Morocco. Lush palm trees cover about 30 miles on 550 - 1,600 yard-wide tracts along the Wadi Todgha.

morocco2022 — The palm oasis, dense and widespread, is irrigated by a network of pipes and irrigation canals. Occasional heavy rains are absorbed in a few days.

morocco2022 — Mountain colors as we travel into the High Atlas.

morocco2022 — We stopped and walked into the Todgha Gorge.

morocco2022 — A vendor was using this little donkey for transport.

morocco2022 — The Todgha Rivers are responsible for carving out these deep cliff-sided canyons, on its final 25 miles through the mountains. The height of the canyon walls can vary, but in some places can be up to 1,312 feet high.

morocco2022 — The town of Dades at the mouth of the canyon forming the Dades Gorge.

morocco2022 — As we drove toward the Dades Gorge we passed several towns each with their own fort (casbah).

The casbah protected the town and trade routes.

morocco2022 — This is an older casbah overlooking the river.

morocco2022 — A town perched on the side of the Dades River.

morocco2022 — White Poplar (also called Silver Poplar) in the canyon with very strange rocks climbing the cliffs.

morocco2022 — White Poplar is closely related to the Aspen.

morocco2022 — Another town another casbah.

morocco2022 — Casbah ruins. It was fun to see so many forts along the road up the valley.

morocco2022 — From the hotel patio we could watch some little boys playing soccer (football) in the main road through the gorge.

morocco2022 — Dades Gorge from the hotel you can see the road winding up the canyon walls in the background.

The Dades Gorge is a rugged wadi gorge carved out by the Dades River. The river originates in the High Atlas range of the Atlas mountains, flowing some 220 miles southwest before joining the Draa River at the edge of the Sahara. The many-colored walls of the gorges range anywhere from 650 to 1600 feet.

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