May 20, 2014 
TATA to TAFRAOUTE 172 Km
Hotel Salama 256 dh ($32) double, w/o breakfast


Undulating Band in the Rock

The clothes we washed last night were dry this morning. Breakfast was sorely disappointing. A greasy pancake, which was fried in stale oil, jam and orange juice. 
 
We checked out our route options to get to Tafraoute. The one that appealed most to us was the "walking" route that showed up when we plugged our info in Google Maps. Minimum 4-wheel-drive. It was a shorter route but more time consuming. We decided to wait and see the 'walking' (or 4WD) road before deciding whether to take the cut-off or not. 

Four kilometers after we left the palmery of Tata behind, we turned west on the southern route towards Issafen. The mercury was rising fast, nearing 40C/105F. The 2-way, paved road was in great shape and hardly had any traffic. The mountains appeared like waves with undulating bands of rust, pink, mauve and charcoal. We must have stopped every 500 meters to take pictures. 

 
Piste to Tafraroute
 
After 45 minutes, we screeched to a halt when we spotted a hand-lettered sign with a large arrow pointing at a dirt track and one big word, "Tafraoute". The other words on the sign were in Arabic. We decided to go for it, even if it meant turning back if we reached an impassible section. Four wheel drive?? Yeah, we got 4 wheels.....does that count? 

 
We cranked up UB40 and followed the dirt-tracks. Salmon colored lizards scurried away too fast for us to get a close look or a picture. At every turn, the landscape changed. We drove through riverbeds, on washboard surfaces and on rutted rocky sections, up windy mountains and on flat plains, past deserted abodes made out of rock, and past inviting oasis which had been sanctuaries for weary tradesmen traveling this harsh landscape for centuries. Mostly we were happy to be inside the cool cocoon of our little car. Still, dust gritted between our teeth. 

 
Tried to Decipher Arabic Direction Signs

We enjoyed this route immensely. At forks in the track, there'd be a sign in Arabic. We'd try to compare it with the picture of dual language sign we had taken shortly after Tata. Dave would pull out his compass and his cell-map, which only showed our location-dot on a blank background, no roads. 

Eventually, after 80 slow and thoroughly enjoyable kilometers, we came off the dirt track out onto a wide paved road near the Akka Gold Mine. This wide road was made for the gold mine's truck traffic. 
 

Oasis Packed Gorge

We climbed out of the valley and entered a world of banded rock waves again before entering the most picturesque Aït Mansour Gorge. Stunning contrast between the sheer red rock-faces and the lush palmeries. They extended 10 or more km down narrow canyons. We passed several picture perfect abandoned villages clinging to the mountainsides. At one point, we drove through a tunnel of palms. Dry riverbeds were lined with hot pink oleander. 


Boulders and Curious Rock 

And as if that off-the-scale gorgeous scenery wasn't enough for today, about 10 km before we arrived in Tafraoute, the hillsides were suddenly strewn with boulders and curious rock formations. We took a detour and hiked around this Flintstones playground. Sadly, locals think is it cool to defaced groupings of the rocks by painting them blue. 

It was getting late and shepherds were on their way home with their sheep. 


Tafraoute (pop. 5000); A Great Little Village 

When we arrived in Tafraoute, a guy on motorcycle (named Sa'id) stopped us to see if we needed help finding our hotel. He showed us to it and suggested another one. He also pointed out that he was #14 on the map of town in the Lonely Planet guide. He runs a women's cooperative store for rugs and local crafts, Said said. 

After a quick 3km detour drive to see Le Chapeau de Napoléon (a rock formation), we checked out Said's hotel choice. But we decided on the original hotel we had picked out, Hotel Salama. We got a spacious clean room with a balcony overlooking a small square where a couple of comedians were entertaining a circle of people. At Kasbah Restaurant, we enjoyed a great dinner of beef tajine with prunes and tasty Moroccan salad. 

We were happy to learn that the weekly market is on Wednesday's. That's tomorrow!