DonB Posted February 7, 2007 Share Posted February 7, 2007 We are thinking of going to Morocco the end of this year/beginning of next year. We have had a look on the internet and there seem to be several firms running accompanied motorhome tours. Does anyone have any experience of any of these or any recommendations or tips? We have travelled through various parts of Europe on our own but felt that we might be better off accompanied on this trip. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Don Madge Posted February 7, 2007 Share Posted February 7, 2007 DonB - 2007-02-07 5:31 PM We are thinking of going to Morocco the end of this year/beginning of next year. We have had a look on the internet and there seem to be several firms running accompanied motorhome tours. Does anyone have any experience of any of these or any recommendations or tips? We have travelled through various parts of Europe on our own but felt that we might be better off accompanied on this trip. Hi Don http://www.desertdetours.com/index.htm has a good reputation and a friend of mine has just completed a trip with them. Have a look at this thread on MHF http://tinyurl.com/353rcm it will give you some ideas of what goes on. Don Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonB Posted February 9, 2007 Author Share Posted February 9, 2007 Thanks Don. This one looks quite good, we are following it up.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mansell Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 Hi, I have sent you an e mail. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
derek500 Posted February 11, 2007 Share Posted February 11, 2007 Don Madge - 2007-02-07 7:36 PM Have a look at this thread on MHF http://tinyurl.com/353rcm it will give you some ideas of what goes on. Don I love that thread!! There's an amazing example of how the misuse of the English language can cause an international incident!! A couple of people asked if they could take their dogs on the tour to Morocco with them. The reply was "We have 2 dogs from England on the trip with us now! Very Happy" This led to replies like, "I hope for the sake of my dogs and everyone elses in the UK that these 2 dogs will be quarantined when they return to the UK. The dog passport scheme is only valid for the EC for good reasons. If a dog disease is imported to the UK by these dogs the tour organiser should share in the resultant costs". If she had said, "We have 2 dogs from England with us now, here in Spain, whilst their owners are on the trip in Morocco" it would have saved all the confusion!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myspeak Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 Although I have no experience of cruising Morocco in my own motorhome yet (hope to go about the same time as you are planning!), I have spent a total of nearly 2 years there. Summing up this magic country is difficult but includes: Amazing scenery, from stony desert (Hammada) under a cloudless sky to cedar forests where you can go x-country skiing in winter, from bustling cities bursting with people (the Medina in Fes, now a UNESCO World Heritage Site, is the 3rd biggest, after Damascus and Cairo) to tiny hamlets in the countryside, from the high Atlas mountains to the Atlantic coastline which is almost one unbroken beach, from the Mediterranean coast to the (only real) sand dunes at Erg Chebbi, the Barbary (=bera-bera, =ber-ber) monkeys which you Brits stole and exiled to Gibraltar can, with a bit of luck, be seen in the wild in the Rif mountains, in season it is excellent for bird-watching (feathered variety...), at Volubilis see the finest Roman ruins in North Africa..., and everywhere you go: wonderful friendly warm and helpful people! OK you may have some problems in the big cities and the "touristy" places, of the hassling sort, but keep in mind that all these people that hassle you are only trying to feed themselves and their families, remember also that nobody can force you to buy anything you don't want. For your personal safety you need have no worries, attacks on foreigners are just about unheard of, even in places like Tanger or Casablanca, careless foreigners may well get pick-pocketed but attacked: NO, in that respect you are statistically a lot safer in a big city in Morocco or any other Muslim country than in any Western country. As regards your motorhome and security, it MAY get broken into in any of the big cities but that is the same risk everywhere, in Morocco you often have people hanging around, authorized or not, who offer to look after your vehicle for next to nothing while you explore the city, and you are most unlikely to have a problem then. On numerous occasions in the past I have left my very nice sailing yacht behind in a small fishing harbour on the Mediterranean coast without hiring anyone to look after it, and not a single light after dark, travelled around the interior with my rucksack on cheap public transport, returned say 2 weeks later and nobody had touched it. Wonderful confirmation that some people still know right from wrong! It may also be sensible to add the "Hand of Fatima" to your vehicle, I have cut mine myself from self-adhesive foil and stuck one next to the cab door either side, nobody could possibly overlook it and no good self-respecting Muslim would violate it, frequently in the countryside people paint or draw the hand symbol next to their doors, it is an ancient protective symbol and, although in the Islamic world usually referred to as the "H-o-F", its origins predate Islam and are lost in antiquity. Of course the very best way to explore Morocco and the rest of North Africa is precisely in a motorhome, preferably not too high-tech and the more low-tech the better, stop where you please and not necessarily on "proper" camp sites. As for rules and regs: Unless they have changed recently, your vehicle can stay for 6 months in any 12 without becoming liable for local duties, and yourself initially 3 months, if you know you would like to stay longer, you should apply within your first 14 days for an extension of a further 3 months, that is, 6 months total. Maps: The very best general road map of Morocco is that by Michelin, they do not make better maps than that in Morocco itself, you can buy that either in the UK I'm sure or in southern Spain before you cross over. I don't have mine to hand but I'm certain it used to be no. 959 (maybe the numbering system has been changed) and it is a fold-out affair, Michelin do matching maps of the rest of North Africa and they are all brilliant. Hope this helps to make up your mind, if you have specific questions, please ask. One thing I know: If you do go you will want to return!! Happy planning, and maybe see you there, MYSPEAK. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 Myspeak.Very interesting and informative.Two questions:1 Why the preference for "low tech" motorhomes? Does this imply anything more than what is likely to be familiar to Moroccan mechanics, if repair arises?2 Languages. Presumably Arabic and French, but what else works? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myspeak Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 Hello Brian, Why a low-tech vehicle you ask? Well, the short answer is because it is Africa! (I had a post here on "Motorhome Matters" recently partly about this but the post has simply disappeared, I have just emailed the admin-people to highlight a possible technical problem with their software). Any old Mercedes van or light truck is perfect because every mechanic from Marrakech to Tashkent knows these vehicles inside out, I have seen literally thousands of these in places like Turkey and Morocco. The fewer high-tech gizmos, above all of the electric/electronic sort, your vehicle has the better. In some cases if you have them they can relatively simply be off-lined or bridged, but any major electronic problem and any new motor vehicle is dead. I know one case where it took 2 mechanics, in an authorised MB main dealer in a large city in Spain, and they had all the latest manuals available and in their own language, nearly 8 hours (i.e. 2 man-days) to resuscitate a nearly new (20,000 kms) MB Vito with every conceivable extra (but all were works fitted options) - why??? Because, in order to replace the alternator, which was a Bosch standard component which took about 25 minutes to replace, they had to disconnect the battery..... Yes, laugh if you must, but this fine motor vehicle, which was paid for in full, was simply DEAD and useless once the battery cable was disconnected, apparently because all electronic settings revert to factory default settings, so have to be laboriously reset. A car electronics pro told me there is so much electronic magic hidden in a typical new car, usually between 15 and 20 individual computer chips, that a temporary back-up battery would not last very long, so isn't used because "generally it is not a problem", well, maybe not if you are within reach of motorways and big cities. OK so my friend's Vito was revived in one day but it is still utterly ridiculous and if that were to happen in the south of Morocco or eastern Turkey, well, it is a very long walk man! The local mechanic would shake his head, throw up his hands and politely say: "Why you come here with such car Sir??" and in my view he would be right. OK, currently approx 25,000 (yes, 3 zeroes) European motorhomes head to Morocco for the Winter and of course most of them are fairly modern and many are new ones and of course they do not all have terminal problems but still, things like electric windows and electronic engine management systems are asking for trouble. As I understand it, with central door locking, you can still override it with a physical key should the system fail, but, correct me if I am wrong, with an electric window stuck open, you just cannot close it, so you cannot leave the car alone until fixed. Another thing is that almost all modern vans have turbo-charged engines. For one winter-visit to North Africa it probably would not matter but long term use in such hot dusty countries with turbo engines and their higher revs and finer tolerances, and much smaller oil sumps, cannot be a happy marriage. They also require more "high-tech" oils which, of course, you can bring with you, but you get my drift. I replaced my sailing yacht with a 1976 MB508D, the praises of which I sung in my now disappeared post, and I absolutely love it, one of the most honest motor vehicles ever made and just about perfect for what we so impolitely call the third-world, my truck may be 30 years old but it will keep on driving longer than I will! Languages: Yes mainly Arabic and French. The official language (government, media, education etc) is Modern Standard Arabic (MSA) but the colloquial is Moroccan Arabic which is in many ways so different as to be a different language. Anyone with higher education speaks French which I personally detest and refuse to learn (sometimes when asked for the 20th time that day "You speak French?" I have pointed to the ground and said in Arabic "No, this is Morocco!"). Still I guess, any language is a useful tool, even French... And then they have the 3 main Berber languages, from the Rif, the Mid-Atlas and the High Atlas, with more than one hundred sub-languages and dialects. Say, even if you had spent 10 years struggling to learn Arabic and were trekking in the High Atlas coming to a small hamlet it is quite likely that nobody would understand you! Language-wise, Morocco has not made it easy for itself. I have told everyone who cared to listen: Throw French out and concentrate on English because that is the future, but with the (mainly English-speaking) West's so-called War-on-Terror and general demonising of all things Muslim and Islamic, plus the fact that France donates literally tons and tons of free school-books to Morocco, that situation is unlikely to change soon. Hope this is of assistance. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
myspeak Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 Brian, Oh yes, I got so carried away that I forgot you asked what works language-wise other than French and Arabic: In the cities and touristy places, you'll be amazed how many languages the locals speak, only sufficiently to get through the deal they hope to make with you but nonetheless very impressive, I used to use an unofficial (illegal) guide in Fes-el-Bali (old Fes, or Medina), in his mid-twenties, he had spent very little time in school, could barely write his own name in Arabic and nothing in Western script, but his English was, and I hope still is, fantastic, all learnt from working with tourists, listening to the radio, TV and so on - very impressive and I wish these guys the best of luck. In (very touristy) Agadir, looking for something to eat, I was immediately, before opening my mouth, addressed in reasonable Danish - and the waiter was spot on, these guys size you up and work you out in seconds. Also bear in mind that with hand signals you can actually convey a lot of meaning and if you are about to spend money the local has a real interest in understanding you and will make every effort to do so and, maybe most important of all, a smile does help, it really does and, al-hamdu-lillah ("thank God" in Arabic), the vast majority of the people you will make contact with in Morocco will bring out the smile in you. Before you go, or on arrival, learn to say "Thank You" and the basic greeting/s and it goes a long long way. Don' take my word for it, and I get no commission for saying this, go see for yourself. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Brian Kirby Posted February 19, 2007 Share Posted February 19, 2007 Thank you again, Myspeak. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonB Posted February 27, 2007 Author Share Posted February 27, 2007 Thanks everyone, sorry I couldn't reply earlier, but when the forum crashed it lost my username and password. Only just got it sorted out. Thanks again, especially Don and Myspeak for all that info! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jumper Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 HI DonB In case you are interested. I have recently returned from Morocco after a fantastic tour with www.desertdetours.com Ours could have been the tour mentioned in an earlier post. Massive support, well staffed with Euro and Moroccan personel 24/7 and nothing was too much trouble. We visited places you would not know even existed [as well as some well known]. Most memerable for me? Hard as it was ALL great, but the night treck by camels and camp to the top of the dunes at Merzuga and the night sky while waiting for the sunrise was outstanding. The organisors friend and musician "Mulaurd", who gave a short but moving "set" at Meski, was brilliant. Campfire and apes in the great forest near Azrou was an exceptional night and Marrakech and Essaouira were great. In fact we enjoyed it all so much we are already re-booked for next year. You can do Morocco solo, but we in fact saw no solo MHomes on the trip [most were at least 2 vehicles]. NO security issues, but a loan breakdown on some of the more remote roads or areas would not be fun and I would think expensive! All in all by far the best MHome holiday we have ever had and Morocco is a fantastic destination. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mel E Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 The Plus Side: - Morocco is undoubtedly beautiful with the Atlas, Sahara, coastal plain, and very friendly people. - it is also very inexpensive. The Minus Side: - it is a Third World country: expect extreme poverty and beggars who will not let go! (Take a fistful of pencils and cheap note pads to give to the kids and you'll have friends for life.) - there is a severe lack of camp sites so wild camping is often the only way. Every so often one reads of crack-downs by the authorities, but little seems to happen - with a few notable exceptions, camp sites where they do exist have very low standards - especially, often, the ablution blocks, so you need on-board working ablutions - we collected a couple of dents in the aluminium sides of our vehicle from stone-throwing kids - a not unusual event - as you'd expect in a low income country, corruption is one way of boosting incomes. We were stopped and fined for speeding on the open road - but they were stopping Moroccans as well! Of course, all these possible negatives adds to the sense of adventure! About 6 years' ago, I flew a light aircraft from Malaga Airport to Rabat: we had a hilarious day, especially the conversations with Air Traffic Control which, by international convention, have to be in English (even tho' we were the only aircraft to whom he was speaking English!). If you've never been to Morocco, or only to 'holiday Morocco - Marrakesh and Agadir - then enjoy it. But expect the unexpected. Mel E ==== Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jumper Posted February 28, 2007 Share Posted February 28, 2007 Echo your points Mel E Campsites are getting better and we stayed on a few excellent ones that would put many "Euro" sites to shame. Wild camping is I think a feature of a Moroccan tour. As mentioned, we had a great night "wild camping" in the cedar forest etc but did notice that the tour organisors [desertdetours] had to produce their permits to police who discreatly arrived late at night. It was in fact most reassuring to see that the organisors were well known to authorities throughout Morocco. We did see Mhomes moved on from the seafront at Essouira and elsewhere and hear of a few parking fines being issued. "tourist police" are doing a great job in the cities, dealing with unofficial guides and touts and the organisors told us that they had seen a marked decrease in "hassel". Motoring offences i.e. talking on phones, missing traffic signs and in particular speeding are being vigourisly enforced. Good! Yes, its an "adventure" and as Mel E says, expect the unexpected! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hymer C 9. Posted March 7, 2007 Share Posted March 7, 2007 MESSAGE FOR JUMPER Hi Jumper, just wondered if you have checked your pm inbox, regards Carol. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonB Posted March 7, 2007 Author Share Posted March 7, 2007 Thanks everybody, We have now booked with Desert Detours for next January. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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