Last month, I went on an adventure. It’s been more than a year now that I’ve been wanting to do this, but for a some haven’t.
23th of July 2022, I packed my backpack and went into what turned out to be the longest and most aweosme trip I took in my whole life.
Before diving into the lessons I learnt from the trip, here are some facts about it:
- I traveled ~3000Km in 20 days.
- I walked more than 100Km.
- I visited 13+ big cities in 5 regions.
- I visited 20+ towns and villages.
- I’ve been to 3 mountain chains (Rif, Middle and High Atlas)
- I spent:
- 2 nights on the road.
- 10 nights camping.
- 2 nights in hotels.
- 3 nights in hostels.
- 2 nights hosted by a family.
Now, with the facts out of the way, here is what I learned from the trip 😁
Morocco is huge
When I was planning the trip, I was confident that I could reach the north of anti-atlas atlas. At the end, I barely could reach the north-eastern part of the high atlas.
Contrary to the feeling you may get from the maps, Morocco is a big country, and this is what I learned the hard way during this trip.
I think I may need to provision more time to my plans to travel the entire country 🤷.
Morocco is rich
Morocco is a so rich country! Everyone knows that, but what I learned is that it is even richer than I was thinking.
We have a very rich and varied nature, from wet to dry and from mountains to planes. During my trip I passed by forrests, mountains, caves, beaches, deserts, rivers, lakes, waterfalls, … you name it. And what it more insane is that all of that wasn’t even a 5% of Morocco.
In addition to that the Moroccan history and culture are so rich. The country is ancient: both the land and the beings.
I was mesmerized when I first learned that Morocco houses an important heritage from the Dinausors ages (In particular in M’goun Geopark - Azilal). Also Morocco used to host a large population of pre-historic humans from millions of years BC. All of that in one hand, in the other hand Morocco is one of the oldest dynasties (Fez is more than 1200yo).
One last display of the richness of Morocco is the people themselves. Throughout my trip, when I visit a new place, 90% of the times I meet entirely different people with new vibes, new facial features, new traditions, new cultures, new accents and sometimes new languages (Darija(northern, eastern, middle, …), Tamazight, Tarifit…), and list goes on 😁.
PS: The first human brain surgery was recorded here in Morocco in Tafoughalt. It dates to 11000 years ago.
PPS: Unfortunately, despite the richness of the Nature and Culture, on the economical side, most of the places I visited are poor marginalized. Authorities should work on the promotion of local and regional development (especially in rural sides) instead of centralizing development in two or three regions.
Moroccan Fauna and Flora are rich too
During this trip I’ve seen a lot of animals and plants for the first time. And of course there still many more I haven’t seen.
Morocco is Amazigh first
Despite being an Arab country, Morocco is an Amazighi country first, almost all the people I met far from the big city are Amazigh and use Tamazight as their main language.
Good People > Bad People
When you are looking for the good in people, you are definitely getting it. When I started the trip, I said to myself: “I hope I will only meet good people”. And that’s what it was.
During my first days I met Mustapha in Tafoughalt, who showed me around the town and suggested spots I can camp in for the night. The day after I met Ssi Mohammed who has given me a free ride to Berkane, showed me around, and invited me over to a cup of tee and Moroccan Donuts (Sfenj). The day after I met Ahmed, who showed me around Taza and invited me for a family wedding happening the next month. Then I met Abdelrrezak, Rachid, Abdelhadi, Salah Eddine …
One of the best moments was when Jamal whom I met in the taxi station invited me to stay with his Family for two nights.
They are living far away from the city, in the middle of the mountains. The place is so remote that there is no state funded electricity (they use solar panels) and no road (you should go through the forrest).
Despite being a foreign, they treated me like one of their own, and gave one of the warmest welcomes I had since a long time. I spent one of the best two days in the trip (maybe in my life).
PS: I met a lot of looooooooooooooot of beautiful people, I can’t mention them all.
Hostel > Hotel
I discovered hostels months ago in Chefchaouen, and since then I’ve never stayed in a Hotel if a hostel is present in the city. Not only they are cheaper, hostels offer an “on a new level” experience. When you are in a hostel, you are there to meet people, to talk, to share knowledge, and to learn.
During my 2 night stay at Moroccan Dream hostel in Fez, I met a lot of people from all over the world (Morocco, Sweden, Ausralia, Germany, Brazil, Italy, New-Zealand …). I had very interesting discussions especially about traveling and about the world, and I got to discover new cultures, new prespective and new ways of life. And of course, and most importantly I made new friends (shout out to Mustapha, Qais, Zack and the others)
The Water situation is serious
Most water sources I visited before, are now either completely dry, or depressed compared to how they were. Also all the dams and river I passed by are low. The situation is so bad that in some places people can’t have water in a specific time of the day.
So please try your best not to waste water 🥹
I am not shy, I am just lazy.
I always beleived that I am shy!
I’ve always found it so difficult to start a conversation with strangers, or even with people I already know with whom I don’t talk too much. I though that this was a part of me, but it is not!
When you are traveling alone, in order to survive you should talk to strangers: Ask for directions, ask for help, talk to the person who gave you a ride, get to know your camp neighbours, make new friends and many many other things. So from day 1, each day I wake up ready to talk to people, communicate, tell stories, and more importantly listen.
You know what? I did great! And what’s even greater is that I haven’t changed a dime. It’s been always me! I knew how to talk to people and how to engage them, I just was lazy to do it at home.
Give, give, give, give … recieve
If life had a rule it would have been this one would be it!
I never go to a place empty handed. I always bring things to give to people I meet (thing as small as candy, books, help …). I always give, give, give. And after a while I start to recieve - either from the people to whom I gave someting before or from elsewhere.
Survival relies on mindset.
It’s 15:00 I am Alone in the middle of nowhere, I can’t go back. The road is empty (no taxis, no rides, …), I still haven’t had lunch, and it started raining like there is no tomorrow.
For a moment I doubted what I was doing, but quickly the mood switched to “Cool this is something I haven’t experienced yet”. I put on my raincoat, rebalanced my backpack, rainproofed everything and I started the hike.
It was the most magical hike I did! I met beautiful people (locals), got to see wild makkakes, birds, unbelieveably huge cider trees and many other beautiful things. And Eventually I had a lot of problems to solve e.g. getting water (I stopped a car and asked them for water 🤣), getting something to eat, dealing with stray dogs, time and distance management, and many many more…
That’s only of one the many bad situation that I got myself into.
In life (For example when you are traveling alone) things will sometimes go left, and you will have two camp to choose from either “Oooh we have a problem” or “Ooh we have problem. Let’s solve it.”
Solitude is getting rare.
I haven’t been alone for years now that I forgot how to do it.
Being alone is becoming a harder thing to do in our digital age. Days into the trip, I realized how I haven’t had time with myself for ages. Even during the trip, I was never alone for a sufficiently long period of time. I was often accompanied. Either listening to music, taking pictures, checking social media, or even checking the map, the compass or something “useful” for the hike.
I had some little moments, when the phone battery got drained and I was finally alone. Just me, myself and I in the middle of the nature. And these moments felt like meeting a friend I haven’t seen for a long time. It was PEACE and LOVE! It was the BEST!
I was short-sighted
Best for last! The most important thing I realized during and after the trip’s end is that I was so short-sighted (I still am). Whenever I had hard (or good) times, I start judging my life, “life is hard”, “Life is easy”, “Life is this, Life is that”. And in a many times I wished I had a different life, an easier, comfy, more succesful life.
During 20 days, I met people from all around Morocco. Some had to wake up at 5 am to work on the bees and get back home in the evening, others needed to go each day to the far away well to get the daily share of water, and others got all the money they want but have a sick family member to look after. All of them had hard times, and easy times, but all in all they were happy with what they got.
Is my life better or worse than all these lives? Am I more succesful, or am I a failure compared to them?
The universe is sooooooo big, and Life is too short for us to be at the core of it all. YES, We matter, our lives matter with the goods and the bads, the joys and sorrows, the successes and the failures, but we are too tiny to judge each other, to be better or worst, more or less succesful than each other.
This was the most important lesson I learned. I learned that I should love and live my life as it is. And thrive to make my life better according to what I believe is better. And Never judge people or myself.
That was it, thank you for reading ❤️