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Medina's of Morocco

Updated: Jan 24, 2023

A delightful December filled with beautifully historic architecture, a mosaic of colourful streets and vibrant exotic spices!...


Early October, I had just landed myself a permanent job, doing what I love. I was thrilled to say the least, BUT this also meant that I could take advantage of a full time job with access to annual leave and a little bit of money to be able to fund these trips. Morocco has always been of interest to me, however I was slightly worried that we wouldn't see much in the way of wildlife, as we had become accustomed to in Malaysia.

Morocco was a beautiful country with some amazing sights, smells and definitely worthy of its own unique array of travellers. Sadly, Morocco is one of many countries that has been hit hard by the illegal wildlife trade. Marrakesh Medina was alive with loud bustling market stalls, snake charmers and macaque wranglers. Seeing the clear neglect these animals face on a daily basis bought a tear to my eye, sadly many animals face this real threat on a daily basis.


If you do happen to stumble across animals being used as tourist attractions that clearly lack proper care, please avoid holding and taking photographs with them. These animals will continue to be taken from the wild, stolen from their mothers and neglected for an individuals profit, if we continue to seek these interactions as tourists. Just remember to be as sustainable as possible when travelling. Always respect the wildlife and nature in general. If you are worried about the ethics behind a guide or company there are many resources you can use, but if your gut is telling you it's not right, then please listen.


I think I was in too much shock to take any photos of the market on-goings at that point in time and don't want to post photos on to off chance it actually encourages someone to participate in these practises. If you ever see someone with a 'cute monkey' or offering photos with exotic tiger cubs, elephant rides, please resist. PLEASE SAY NO!... I promise to do my best when it comes to promoting best practises for wildlife viewing. If there's something that doesn't look particularly ethical to you, please flag it with me. There's most likely a reason, which I may not have explained very well.


However the trip was not a complete loss, the scenery and architecture here was absolutely astonishing, We booked a tour that allowed us to venture through the High Atlas into the Sahara Desert and camp under the dazzling night stars.

We journeyed from Marrakesh and its colourful lively streets, into the mountains stopping along the way at popular scenic destinations such as Ait-Ben-Haddou. Famed for its appearance in several iconic cinematic scenes such as Game of Thrones and Gladiator.

After stopping off at Ait-Ben-Haddou, we made our way (in luxurious coach style) towards Todra and Dades Gorge for some more spectacular scenery.

From the memorising gorges, we made our way further south towards the Sahara Desert. We headed into a small village bordering the Western Sahara.


So far on our travels, we have mostly hired our own vehicle rather than joining on group tours. On this occasion we did the latter, meeting some wonderful people and lowering the overall cost of our trip, however this type of trip largely restricted the locations we could visit and the amount of time we spent in each place. For this reason, I would definitely recommend hiring a car if you feel comfortable driving abroad, it gives you a lot more freedom and I think it would have improved our chances of seeing some of the wildlife Morocco has to offer. So with that in mind, head over to the showcase page to see a selection of photos from our quick trip. I hope you enjoy looking through them.


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