8:30am saw us gathering every bit of official paperwork we could lay our hands on, in readiness for our meeting with the Mauritanian Embassy; we guessed we’d be there most of the day. By luck rather than design the Embassy is only 2 blocks down from the campsite at GPS N33 33.723 W7 38.688, so with paperwork in hand and wearing the cleanest clothes we could find we trundled along.

A tall very well dressed black guy stood on the steps of the embassy and starred as we walked by. “What do you want”, he shouted as we made our way past him to the embassy door. Oh right he works here…Umm, Visa’s we answered rather sheepishly. “You have copy of passport and two identity photos” he asked. “Yes” we both answered, rather proud of ourselves. He sneered and looked a bit disappointed with our answer. Standing at the barred window we handed over our paperwork, Visa application (in Arabic and French) and photos. “How long”? “Umm…, sorry…, didn’t catch that”, I replied, Christ I thought, I sound like bloody Hugh Grant. “How long you stay in Mauritania” he barked. Some time later we finally managed to get out of him how much the Visa’s for 1 month were, not knowing how long we’d be in Morocco we ended up buying 2 X 60day Visa. The Visa are 100 Dirham (£6) for each month. Paperwork finished and money handed over we were simply told to come back at 12:30 to collect our Visa’s. Well that was easy we thought, there’s got to be a catch? We didn’t get asked for our Carnet’s, return air tickets (which have been asked for in the past) or anything else. So with 3 hours to kill we jumped on the red GS and rode into Casablanca…as you do???

A healthy dose of Caffeine was needed and somewhere safe to park up. With Ramadan in full swing getting coffee wasn’t a simple task so the International Hyatt, bang in the centre of Casablanca seemed like a likely candidate. The guards on the gate of the parking compound asked if we were arriving guest. Well, we wanted coffee so we’d be guests for a short while and we were just arriving, so we answered “yes”. A little confused by our lack of baggage we were shown to shaded parking. Terribly civilised we thought. The Hyatt was palatial with well-dressed businessman doing their thing in front of laptops. In clean but tired T-shirts and camping trousers we felt a tad conspicuous. The next 1 ½ hours was spent simply taking it all in, enjoying coffee and trying to work out if we’d missed something at the Embassy. We ended up walking around the centre of Casablanca for another hour trying to get an idea of what we’d do later after picking up our Visa’s. The Median is huge and very tempting but with our budget pushed we figured we’d give a miss. ‘Petite Taxi’s’ buzz everywhere all painted the same dull red, they truly rule the road and you don’t play chicken with them. Having paid 10 Dirham to have someone watch the bike we made our way back to the campsite. With Lisa at the tent I made my way to the embassy and joined the other 20 or so people loitering at the gate in anticipation. The well dressed guy from earlier appeared clutching a handful of passports and began very slowly to read out the names and hand out the Visa’s. One by one the passports were issued and the group began to disperse. As if to simply add to the drama our passports were the last in the pile. I was desperate for him to call our names, the nervous sensation of being the last one there, reminded me of the scenario at school as teams are picked and all you want is not to be the last one stood there. Paul and Melissa an English couple in a kitted out Land Cruiser were happily looking at there new Mauritania stamp. I’d overheard they were looking for camping and so a few minutes later found them in hot pursuit as I rode back to the camp site.Grabbing a taxi we headed back into Casablanca. We’d give the Medina a miss but had to see the Hassan ll Mosque which overlooks the ocean just on the northern tip of the medina. It was finished in 1993 and is the third biggest religious monument in the world. Truly beautiful and absolutely massive. The Mosque is open to non-Muslims but we chose to admire from the outside – plus it cost to go in. With a photos taken and dusk arriving we started to walk back. With our earlier Hyatt visit so successful we went back for second helpings. With the Ramadan breakfast was in full swing and the roads deserted getting a taxi was impossible. It was quit an eary scene as the earlier bustling streets were by now completely deserted. No people, no vehicle and almost no sound…everyone eating. Caffeined up we left the Hyatt and crossed the main street to a traditional Moroccan restaurant we ‘d past earlier. The delicious smells from earlier were just to tempting.

By 8am we were already bartering with Mohammad who was desperate to show us the water-falls “for a very good price”. After starting at 500 Dirham we finally agreed on 100 for the four of us and a tour of two hours, if only we’d known then…!Walking with Mohammad we past through two small villages until finally reaching the steep path, which would lead us down to the waterfalls. One tight turn after another, after another. Some while later we finally reached the river and got our first view of the lower-falls. The falls are set in a gorge, which could easily have been taken from a movie backdrop. As we walked up river the falls became progressively larger and more impressive, we lost count of how many pictures we taken by now. We reached the largest cascade 1 ½ hours later…wow. Three large plumes of water tumbling 100’s of feet straight down and crashing on the rocks below. Photos were taken quickly as the fine water mist was soaking us all. Mohammad guided us to a long concrete staircase, which ran up alongside the cascade. When finally reached the top of the falls we realised that we were literally 200ft from the campsite and had only to cross a small road. Ah well it was a beautiful walk. Mohammad still had a few cards to play as we handed over our cash. “You give me a little more” he asked quit naturally. “Why”? Paul retorted a little bemused, bearing in mind that we agreed a price earlier. Mohammad without hesitation replied, “you give me more because I made you a good price”. You could tell that Paul wanted to tell Mohammad that there was a flaw in his financial argument and that he really wasn’t getting the idea but It was pointless arguing and so some while later we’d settled on 100 Dirham and a packet of cigarettes. Mohammad seemed happy enough. On the road again and heading for Marrakech. Melissa had an address of a Riyad that was recommended verbally by another ‘over-landing’ couple…so this is where we were heading. The Riyad Nora in the medina is home for the next few days or so…wonderful. Finding parking in front of the Medina Police station we figured this should be safe. Unloading a few bags we made our way through a large arch into the alley that would eventually bring us to the Riyad Nora. The Riyad only has four rooms and could quite easily could have been taken from the glossy pages of Vogue or the like, a tranquil oasis in the heart of the Medina. The central courtyard leads to all the rooms and the 3 floors. Lisa and I chose our room on the second floor and just kept grinning like kids. With our dirty bike kit changed for clean trousers and shirt it wasn’t long before we found Paul and Melissa on the roof under a large sweeping canopy of material, both wearing the same grins as us. With Ben (the owner/Manager) bringing up a chilled bottle of French white, it couldn’t have got much better and as the sky turned red the call to prayer was sung from the many minuets that surround our the Nora. Marrakech was just inviting us to go explore. So taking Bens advice we headed for the Heart of Marrakech, the Place Djemaa el-Fna. 1000’s of people milling about the square where market stalls selling nuts, dates and bread vie for space amongst the snake charmers, musicians and the dancing nomads. Rows of hot food sellers send plumes of smoke and steam into the air and scooters, bikes and cars all go wherever they want, literally. Ben had already suggested somewhere he ate regularly, the Toubkal café is more for the locals than the tourist. It was just what we needed and a large Lamb Tajine each set us back £1.50. The souqs are packed are sell every thing imaginable from rugs to slippers to half a goat if you fancy.