Gorging in Maroc

The scenery on the desert side of the Atlas range is spectacular.  Within 100 miles lie three beautiful gorges as well as Saharan dune fields and the Algerian frontier.  All three of the gorges would rate as National Parks in the US and the scenery compares well with Southern Utah.  The aforementioned Ziz Gorge was a nice prequel to the more fantastic Todra and Dades Gorges.  While all three could be seen in a busy day, it's easy to envision several weeks trekking the area.  One of my favorite routes was through the Dades Gorge, a section of which makes www.dangerousroads.org's list of most dangerous highways in the world.  Lots of narrow blind curves and it's a good thing no trucks were coming!  The main road linking the gorges has the title "Route of 1000 Kasbahs" and in between the gorges one drives through ksars and kasbahs ranging from those in total ruin to those still being used as living quarters.  This area was part of the great trade routes of centuries past, when Moroccan salt and was traded for African gold.  It would ultimately be my favorite part of Morocco, marred only slightly by a terrible room in a supposed five star ranked TripAdvisor hotel in the Dades Gorge.  We took it because it was raining hard and getting dark and driving after dark here is a real no-no.

Dades Gorge on the list of World's Most Dangerous Roads

Along the Route of 1000 Kasbahs

After seeing the Gorges, we decided to spend our final desert evenings in Ouarzazate, a former French Foreign Legion outpost and now home to several large film studios.  Gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia, The Last Temptation of Christ and Kundun were filmed a few miles from town at Atlas Studios, the largest studio in the world.  If it's good enough for Marty it's good enough for me.

At this point we've been on the road for over a month and we're starting to get tired of the travel grind, so we booked into the reliable Hotel Ibis chain and stayed on for a second night.  Hot showers, reading lights, a desk, good internet and the best beds in Morocco made for a nice vacation within a vacation and set us up for the grueling drive to Marrakesh.