Joke (for indeed it is one) courtesy of Bob Hope and Bing Crosby from their wonderful film 'Road to Morocco' check it out!
Road to Morocco
So, I may have neglected to mention that the bit of the Sahara that I will be trekking in belongs to Morocco. To be exact, we will be flying into Casablanca from London (hmm, another film opportunity), and going, somehow (it's not clear from the details) to Ouarzaazate (pronounced 'Wazzazat' apparently), which is just below the High Atlas Mountains and on the edge of the desert. I'm guessing there must be Low Atlas Mountains as well, but we'll have nothing to do with them!
Anyway, there is a hotel in Ouarzaazate, which is good news, and the actual starting point of the trek is a five hours drive away in a place called M'Hamid.We drive through the Valley of a thousand Kasbahs' apparently. I can hardly wait!
I don't want to give away too many details at the moment, I have to hold something back to keep the excitement mounting, but suffice it to say that we finish some 6 days later at Foum Zguid, which is in a Saltpan (!) and a short distance from the beginning of the tarmac road, which leads us (after 5 hours) to Marrakech.
5 hours seems to be the standard length for a drive in this place. Coincidence, or suspicious? I can imagine picking up a taxi in Marrakech, and asking 'how long to the hotel?' 'About 5 hours should do it'. Or is it just me?
