Marrakech was a combination of tourists, snake charmers, market stalls, scented spice shops and locals looking to make money off anything that moves. You can blame them, as the poverty line is ever present. There is a small rich sector in Morocco, an even smaller middle class and a massive poor or poverty stricken class. The medina, or old city is where the hub of activity is. Endless market shops selling everything from leather shoes to handbags to investment rugs (rugs which are sold as investments as they are special and of apparent exceptional quality, if you are none the wiser), trinkets, sheep brains and other chopped up animal parts hanging from various butchers windows. There is a distinctive smell in the medina; it is not a bad one, but a fusion of working leather, fried fish, smoked sheep heads and scented spice stalls. One thing is for sure people are friendly; walking around town is safe and definitely an experience.

As evening approaches crowds gather at the main square where the snake charmers, acrobats and other performers gather. It is an interesting mix of locals and wondering sun burnt (lobster looking) Europeans. Watching the snake charmers was fun, but there is a sinister reality. The snakes do not dance or listen to the music, their teeth are removed, their venom milked, then they are starved to near exhaustion, miss handled and often die after just 6 months. The government just looks past this as the locals are making good money from the show, what is disappointing to me is the move to brutalize other animals, birds, guinea pigs etc. Everything in the market is designed to make money, people put a het on you and charge instantly for the service. If you pull a camera out, heaven help you, you are in for redistribution of wealth. It actually gets frustrating and as much as you understand the mentality and the ingenuity to earn money, only after a repeated no and hassle to keep your money in your pocket and their hat off your head do they give you some peace, until the next chap sees your camera, exhausting.

Standing on top of the guesthouse roof in the center of the medina watching the sunset and listening to the harmonic screaming contest between mosques during the call to pray was incredible and a sure reminder to where we were and how special it was. We decided on taking a tour to see some interesting historic sites in Marrakech, it was not the sites which were interesting, but the way we got screwed financially by the guide. Leon and myself fell into the wealth-sharing gap again, and we were had. It was not the money, which was the issue, but the poor tour coupled with the tenacity to steel. I was beginning to believe that honesty and Moroccans were words impossible to link in a sentence, like military intelligence. We were shown otherwise, but that was only a few days later.

It was time to however to navigate our monster vehicle through the tight and ever winding crowded medina streets trying not to smash everything in our path to the open space and serenity synonymous with the Moroccan countryside. Our travels took us 300 odd kilometers on a fantastic highway to Rabat, well just short of Rabat to a town called Skhirat (often pronounced sh1t rat). We were privilege to be staying in a great hotel with Allison and Leon, Linda’s folks who had been with us since our arrival in Essaouira. Arriving at a fancy hotel for us is generally embarrassing as the porters have to cart towels with our clothes bundled into it through reception followed by two relatively smelly and dirty youngsters, us. Our time in Skhirat was fantastic; we enjoyed catching up with Alison and Leon over some gin and tonics, red wine and superb food.

Linda and I had to get to the South African embassy in Rabat to meat Charl Muller regarding our presence in Morocco and for the application procedures for a shengen visa to enter Europe. This was not supposed to be complicated, but the Spanish ensured the process was as ridiculous as possible. Basically we were not allowed to apply for a visa from Spain, as we were not in our country of residence. The rules say that you have to obtain a visa from the country of first entry into a shengen area, for us this was Spain. What we did notice though, as we were traveling to more than one shengen state we could apply for a visa from the country, which was our main destination, a lucky break. But the process was not to be easy, and then we met our good friend Ilhan Hanem Farid. Ilham has officially adopted Linda and I as her children and not only has she looked after us in Morocco, she has taking our expedition to a new level with respect to media, contacts and finally in finding us the Moroccan positive story.

The next week saw Linda and I driving the 160 km round trip from Skhirat to Casablanca daily to meet Ilham and attend interviews with the TV (2M), newspapers, company CEO’s you name it, we met them. Ilham also contacted the Fisheries Ministry in Morocco, and before you know it we were hunting for clothes so we could be respectably dressed with our meeting in the ministry. We were treated like loyalty and people started admiring our expedition, all the hard work that has gone into it, and the passion we show towards our goals. It was truly humbling for us, and we appreciate all the Ilham has done for us. The good news is that our relationship is not over, it will only build from strength to strength as the expedition progresses. While all our meetings were progressing and the film crews filming us surfing and interviewing us about the expedition, our visas were quietly running out, so time was definitely of the essence for us, and for rapping up our story in Morocco. What follows next is testament to how good people really are, and their willingness to help. Also it brought us closer, literally to a great project which saw us doing a presentation at an orphanage, surfing and meeting more honestly great people, this story will be updated soon…. 

The Marine Resource Expedition the the gentlemen and Ilham (the good looking one next to the brutes) from 2M, Moroccan TV. Great people, awesome new friends and good times, thanks everyone..