Morocco at Christmas

[pedrizero]

Planning a 3 week trip round Morocco on a Bonneville this Christmas. Would be grateful for any advice or suggestions regarding the following...

1. How far can we expect to get on the Bonnie before the roads run out and we get left behind by the GS boys?
2. We will be 2-up so luggage space will be tight. Are cheap hotels easy enough to come that we can leave the tent and sleeping bags at home?
3. Weather? I have been up in the high atlas before and seen photos of deep snow up there but what can we expect on the coast, temperature-wise?
4. We're planning on taking the ferry from Algeciras to Ceuta. What documents are required for the import paperwork for the bike? Does it have to be organised in advance or can we sort it all out at the habour? Does it take long? How much does it cost?
5. Any recommendations on places to visit/avoid?

Thanks for your help

[Tim Cullis]

1. Moroccan roads are brilliant, my first trip in 1972 was on a TriBSA cafe racer. Morocco is a popular destination for groups of Harleys, Gold Wings, etc.

2. Camping in winter months is no fun--you don't want to be tied to a tent for 12+ hours. Hotels are plentiful and inexpensive. Check out the Knowledgebase in my signature.

3. Keep an eye on the weather forecasts
Fez: 10 day Weather in Fes - weather.co.uk
Ifrane (Middle Atlas high point): Ifrane, Morocco 9 Day Weather Forecast - Weather-Forecast.com
Ouarzazate: 10 day Weather in Ouarzazate - weather.co.uk

Have a plan A and a plan B and be prepared to change your intinerary according to the forecasts.

4. Check out the temporary import thread at Complete your temporary import forms online before you leave - ::. UKGSer.com .::

5. Don't be to ambitious with distances--travel in Morocco is at a slower pace and you don't want to have your main memory of the country being tarmac pounding. If you really need to make progress heading south take the coastal motorway from Tanger past Casablanca and then on to Marrakech.

Try to not spend all your time on the red main roads on the Michelin 742 map. Instead get away from the main roads and explore some back roads.

Come back if you need more info.

Tim

[pedrizero]

thanks a lot tim. i actually found a link to your "morocco knowledgebase" in another thread just after submitting my post. brilliant site, really helpful. looking forward to the trip even more now. cheers!

[pedrizero]

hello again tim. just starting to think about packing here now. we have decided to take your advice and ditch the camping gear in favour of hostels/hotels. does that mean we can leave behind the sleeping bags too or might we need them anyway in some places? it'd be nice to travel as light as possible but we don't want to freeze our nuts off in some high atlas hostel with just a cotton sheet between us. what do you carry yourself in winter over there?
thanks for your advice, tim. will you be around over christmas this year? i'll buy you a mint tea if we bump into you.

rich

[Dazzerrtw]

Originally Posted by pedrizero

hello again tim. just starting to think about packing here now. we have decided to take your advice and ditch the camping gear in favour of hostels/hotels. does that mean we can leave behind the sleeping bags too or might we need them anyway in some places? it'd be nice to travel as light as possible but we don't want to freeze our nuts off in some high atlas hostel with just a cotton sheet between us. what do you carry yourself in winter over there?
thanks for your advice, tim. will you be around over christmas this year? i'll buy you a mint tea if we bump into you.

rich

Hi Rich

I would say it's a good idea to take a good sleeping bag with you.

I have in the past been very cold in some of the hotel's ,they don't seem to have any heating in the room's and a sheet and a blanket did not keep me warm

Have a good one

Dazzer

[pedrizero]

Originally Posted by Dazzerrtw

Hi Rich

I would say it's a good idea to take a good sleeping bag with you.

I have in the past been very cold in some of the hotel's ,they don't seem to have any heating in the room's and a sheet and a blanket did not keep me warm

Have a good one

Dazzer

thanks for settling that one, dazzer. ok, sleeping bags packed. merry christmas

[dave ett]

Firstly, expect to get ill! Moroccan hygene is not a patch on European...

Accepting that as a given, you wil have a great time on their roads, as there isn't too much traffic, and for the most part the surfaces are good.

Definitely don't camp, there are loads of hotels - have you got a Garmin GPS? If so head to:

GPS Vector Map Morocco

For the best maps of Morocco you will find. If you zoom in you will find lots of hotels all over the country, though not all are waypoints. It takes some preparation to roam the map and convert them into points you can aim for.

The map is not routable (you can't ask the GPS to "Find Toaz" for example) You can create tracks though, and follow them. But that's a whole other topic!

It wouldn't hurt to take a sleeping bag, though you would take up less room with some good thermals, which you can then use to ride in should you get cold. I was fine in October, though did sleep in a long T shirt when up in the Mountains. The hotel didn't do heating, but they had plenty of blankets - the Moroccons are very friendly and helpful, so just ask if you need something.

Just be prepared for the squalor in every village. It is most definitely an African country with all that implies...

[grizzly7]

Dave ett isn't that a bit of an odd thing to say?! Presumably you were ill while there? Do you have any idea why and therefore how to avoid it in future? "Expect to get ill" implies all Europeans(?) are helpless in the face of such conditions!?

[dave ett]

I was vomiting blood, so not really an odd thing to say! All four of us got ill to varying degrees, and it appears most folk we spoke to suffered some form of D&V whilst in Morocco.

When you see the state some of their meat is kept in, you will understand - carcasses are not always kept refridgerated, it is sometimes transported in open backed pickups, and there is rubbish everywhere which means lots and lots of flies, so the general standard of hygene isn't up to much.

I ate from the same tajine as the rest of my group, and was hit the worst but it was simply chicken and veg, nothing out of the ordinary. And yes, I did check it was properly cooked through before tucking in. Especially watch out for runny egg in the 'Berber Omelette'.

Take medication and be careful what you eat, but don't be put off by it. Just accept it's part of the Moroccon thing if you're not staying in an Ibis every night!

[pedrizero]

really? flies and rubbish? and substandard catering facilities in the berber villages? how dreadful! right, i'm cancelling. mrs pedrizero will just have to make do with skiing in the swiss alps again until johnny foreigner gets his act together and has a bit of a tidy-up

[dave ett]

Heh heh, little over the top. I was surprised that it wasn't cleaner - for some reason I expected it to be more 'advanced' than it was.

No harm in warning others to expect trouble so that they can prepare for it. We're not all made of granite you know, but most here still get out and have our mini adventures.

[pedrizero]

haha sorry dave. just pulling your leg. i appreciate the warning and i'm sorry that you got sick. sounds like it spoiled your trip. i only posted my queries in the first place because i've never toured there on a bike before but i do know the country or the mountain areas at least and yep, one of our party came back with giardia. not very nice. i always carry a pack of ciprofloxacin with me and start to neck 'em at the first sign of trouble. if i do get ill this time, i'll be sure to let you know so that can enjoy telling me you told me so.
Merry Christmas

[markharf]

Cipro, Levaquin, and related antibiotics are not really the thing for giardia or amoebas, which are parasites. Use Flagyl by whatever name. And immediately dosing yourself with antibiotics is generally considered a bad idea anyway: for you, and because in doing so you're helping select for resistant organisms, which affects all the rest of us in the long term. If interested, this sort of information is easy to find.

FWIW, I didn't find Moroccan sanitary standards particularly bad, and I don't remember getting sick here, even briefly. I guess it depends on your context. Worst food poisoning I've ever had (by far) was right at home in America, at a potluck dinner put on by the local folk dancing group. Worst sanitation in general: Nepal, without a doubt.

Telling someone "Expect to get ill," just because you did seems to me an odd approach.

enjoy,

Mark

[Tim Cullis]

The reason that many people get stomach problems is down to poor personal hygiene. You will notice that even the most broken-down fly-ridden cafe will have a wash basin in the corner and all Moroccans wash their hands before eating. There's a good reason for this.

All meat in Morocco is examined by government inspectors. A green stamp is the highest quality, a red stamp is still good quality. I think the next grade is black but I've never seen it on meat for sale.

I rarely get problems despite drinking the local tap water and enjoying salmonella-free runny egg omelettes.

[palace15]

Originally Posted by Tim Cullis

The reason that many people get stomach problems is down to poor personal hygiene. You will notice that even the most broken-down fly-ridden cafe will have a wash basin in the corner and all Moroccans wash their hands before eating. There's a good reason for this.

Sorry Tim but I have to disagree with you on this point, I know you are very much 'pro Morocco' but do you think raw meat hanging out in the open unrefridgerated is ok? It is universally recognised that many places have water liable to upset the stomachs of alot of travellers, that is partially why travellers often carry water purifiers/tablets and companies make a fortune in 'bottled water'.