Thursday, April 28, 2011

Morocco 2011,
Desert, Mountains and Sand
A photo-safari to record desert images for future travel lectures.


Kit Constable Maxwell and Dr Raymond Bird will be launching an overland trip to south east Morocco in May 2011. We depart on May 3rd and return at the end of the month.
We shall navigate mountain tracks and donkey trails in the Atlas Mountains. We'll camp out in the desert sands, bask in the silence of the Sahara and sleep under the great African panoply of stars.
Our home will be this sun-saturated, camel-powered desert environment where time has stood still for centuries.
The trip will take us from Portsmouth across the Bay of Biscay to Santander, 600 miles through Spain to Almeria, and then across the Mediterranean to Nador, Eastern Morocco.
We shall drive eastwards to the Algerian border and trek down the edge of the 'Erg Occidental' sand sea. We shall reach Erg Chebbi, 500 miles to the south and then cross the DrĂ¢a valley, course of the longest river in Morocco. This valley drains the centre of the Anti Atlas mountains and hosts many of the historic sultanates and domains. We will examine some of the old Sultan's castles described by Gavin Maxwell in his 1966 book 'Lords of the Atlas'
The trip will cover some 3,000 miles. We will collect emails periodically.