Midelt

We left Fes heading for Midelt passing by arid and stony land with dry eroded gullies.  There were adobe houses here and there and a few herds of sheep.  Where there was a river there was a swathe of green and villages with crops and fruit trees growing.

As we pass through towns and cities we often see partially finished houses.  The first floor is finished so the house can be lived in and the other floors added many years later when there is enough money (maybe 25 -30 years later)

Here and there we pass nomadic Berber camps and people herding their sheep.  They may have 50 - 70 in a flock and sometimes a few goats to lead them.  The nomads that live tents will spend 6 months in the south and 6 months in the north.  Some build houses from stones and adobe and these people stay longer in the same place staying there through winter.  The nomads are free to roam with their stock, there are no fences, the land they are on is government owned.  They sell meat and wool from their animals.  The nomads don't have doctors but they use herbs for medicine; the children don't go to school

We passed through cork oak trees and stopped to see some Barbary apes (macaques).  Forested areas here are national parks and the government has a ‘green Morocco’ project so in areas exotic trees have been planted.

As we climbed we came to an area that sees snow in winter and in places beside the road there were stone fences to stop snow drifting.  These were used by the locals for ' donkey parking”.  If the owner has business elsewhere he hitches his donkey to the fence and gets a ride to where he needs to be.  We felt sorry for the donkeys but they do seem to be patient animals.  Some weren't tethered, just standing by.  We often see donkeys waiting while their owners are harvesting a crop or shepherding stock, sometimes tethered sometimes not.

Donkey parking

This one looks happy.

We had a picnic lunch beside a small stream, in the shade of trees.  Earlier that day we had stopped at a huge supermarket to buy what we wanted for our lunch.

We stopped at a weekly Berber market.  Not quite the same as our farmers markets at home.  Here the stalls were set out on the ground and well as meat and produce there was plastic ware, hardware, tagines, clothing and much more. Vehicles leaving the market were fully loaded.

Fruit and vegetables

Stock truck Berber style.  Sheep are inside too so I don't think this would convert to a campervan 

Midelt is known for growing apples. The farmers generally have small plots and rotate the apples with cropping growing alfalfa or vegetables under the trees.  The women harvest the crops by hand and use donkeys to carry their harvest home or they carry it on their backs.  

We visited the Berber village of Berrem which was a short walk from where we were staying.  We were asked not to take photos of the adults and the women especially were wary of cameras. They were delighted when one of our group had a portable printer so could give them photos of their babies, the smiles on their faces told it all.

Children on their way home from school

We left Midelt heading for the Sahara.  We travelled through a dry landscape with the usual green patches by the river then came to the Ziz valley which is known for date palms.  Wheat, barley and alfalfa is also grown here.  From high on a hill we could see the palms extending for a long way down the valley and villages were dotted here and there.  Date palms crop after 6 to 10 years and a female palm can crop 210 kg a year, a palm can live up to 100 years.