Morocco - desert (1)

Leaving Marrakech we were soon in a rather deserted area but still rather fertile. Surrounded with fields we entered the mountains. The road soon began to raise and narrow.

The first villages emerged and I was left speechless again. They were small, dark browned colored – just like the mountains that protected them.

Women were wearing more colorful and less modern dresses, there were more man wearing traditional dress with the hood and the children were running around.

After reaching the highest point at 2260 meters of altitude we descended into the desert. The first oasis opened up and with it the first oases villages that were much alike those form the mountains just brighter (like the sand behind them) and they had a paradise full of water and vegetation in the bottom of the valley below them.

I began to see the people working on the fields, carrying big bags on their backs, riding mules…

Anyway, I was surprised. I already visited one desert (in Australia) but that one was far more abandoned. I remember driving for the whole day without seeing one single house (besides gas stations). Here every single oasis was inhabited and people were working very hard to have a nice life there. And the differences you can see on a really small space amaze you to – from the nicest flowers to the dry earth…