Morocco 2012 - Looking back by B.Nesseler

Located on the Northern African coastline, Morocco is one of the most well known Maghreb states offering breath-taking landscapes, a mixture of African and Arabic culture and a very exquisite cuisine. We mainly travelled to Morocco for the geographical aspect but were lucky enough to experience and take home a bit of everything. Arriving at the airport in Marrakech, I was expecting tropical weather conditions, however, it turned out that the shorts in my hand language were unnecessary ballast for that evening. The conditions were comfortably warm most of the time though, and coming from Great Britain, I guess most of us appreciated the sun when it was shining. Most people we met on our trip were very kind and warmly welcomed us, be it in the hotels or cafes. Eventually, we discovered this might have been associated on some occasions with the fact that we were easily discovered to be European tourists who may have some extra Dirhams left to spend on their superb souvenirs. Anyway, our guide and our bus drivers did a great job and safely led us from Marrakech down to Ouarzazate, then further into the desert and back again only showing us the best sides of Morocco, always being a helping hand. Geographically, the trip was useful for all students as all of us were able to engage with and look at aspects of the courses we study, followed by some evening Geography sessions. One of the highlights of the trip was surely the night out in the desert. It was an amazing experience to spend the night away from civilization in the Moroccan dunes next to camels. The market place in Marrakech is also a quite memorable image in our minds; unbelievably busy and exotic smells and shops around every corner. This was also a very good opportunity to go shopping and get some original Adidas sneakers for 5 pounds! Unfortunately, not everything went as well and fluidly as the waterfalls coming down the hills in the Atlas Mountains on our journey back from Ouarzazate to Marrakech after some rather excessive rainfalls during the day. There were some health issues from the first day on, even going on back home. These made some days of the trip for some people less comfortable but that may simply be considered to be part of the personal costs and risks you pay going to such a country. All in all, I would like to thank Mr Walker, Mr Strachan and Mr Gracie who organised and ran the Geography excursion and of course also everybody who joined us on the Moroccan adventure, looking back to a good time overseas with Bedford School.