Les Tourmalines

the beauty of the Al Mansour ed Dahabi Dam

by angiebabe

About 20 km along the road from Ouarzazate towards Skoura and Tinerhr at the feet of the Royal Golf Ourzazate can be seen the waters of the Al Mansour ed Dahabi Dam.

the roads to the Golf Complex are off limits but just before there there is a public road turning off to the right which takes you to a rise with parking area where we got excellent views

- and what a sight we were so lucky to have that day with perfect and beautiful reflections looking across to a lone kasbah there on the edge of the water!

Lovely purple flowers were prevalently in bloom around the area too!

Thunderstorms, gites, flash floods and tourists

by Beefy_SAFC

How do I explain this? Well, the party were coming away from the gite (where we'd stayed overnight) after a day's trekking had been rained off. Now when rain falls, it normally has to flow downhill. What we didn't expect was the stream we were crossing to turning into a raging torrent when only half of us were across.

I was near the front and nearly clear of any danger when he shout came to 'go back'. The half who'd crossed the river got back to the riverbank to see the stream was not so little anymore. Then came the shout 'climb, climb', leading to tourists clambering up the hill on both sides. The water rose only slightly further and we climbed back down. For the second time, 'climb, climb'. Up we go again.

What really got to me was the reactions of the locals (no disrespect here lads) who seemed to be reacting that more jumpily to the situation than the tourists (sort of 'we've seen it all before' from the tourists) and in the above picture is a prime example. How do we react to the other half of the group getting across the river on the back of a donkey in the face of uncertainty how dodgy the situation was? Yea, that's right, when they need all the help they can get, we take photos to have a laugh at later (as many tourists do).

I know I'm making light of the situation (a very northern English trait) and probably didn't get the best view (I was stuck up the cliff trying not to puke with a stomach bug). That said, the Berbers here did go out of their way to look after us and had our best interests as their guests at heart - thank you lads. It has to be noted that we did not know how high the river would get (they as locals did know) and how badly we could get stuck. Although this stream of river didn't seem too bad, to drive the point home, the main river behind us WAS in flood and the first snows of the season had settled on the mountains behind us. And as I said earlier, the bad weather had led to a days trekking being called off. So this is a mickey take more out of the tourists than anyone else. ;-)

OUARZAZATE

by AsturArcadia

The hotel courtyard (for railtour groups you need large hotels on account of the high demand for single rooms). View towards the southwest. On this damp morning the tiled area around the pool was lethal (I am unable to swim, and it was a bit chilly for an unscheduled dip, in any case). The previous evening's buffet dinner had been magnificent.

Private dancing in Morocco

by Luchonda

"An adventure in the desert"

We were invited to have lunch in the middle of the desert - arriving by 4x4 vehicles - everything was prepared.
Except the nature and landscape of the desert.
Local music - local excursions on a Camel - an afternoon never to forget !

"Private dancing show"

Local women preparing their desert live show - turning around and around their heads - on the rytmh of the drums

"Private shows"

Turning around and around on the beat of the drums !

"Get mixed"

On the rythm of the local music - locals and the guests mixed up !!
I do not have to picture the atmosphere - do i ?

"Folk and local dancing"

Folk - music and a private atmosphere in Morrocco !

"Private male dancing part"

Also the male local citizens participated to the events.
This must be a man above the age of 60 !

"Applause"

The desert outfit ! traditional and very colorful !!
BTW the applause was not for me - but for the dancers !