Bikepacking Through Morocco’s Most Amazing Canyon

This is one of the most fascinating downhill stretches. As you can see we have to be really careful not to set anything alight because it will be like gasoline here. We're just riding away from Tafraout. Such an amazing place with all these big boulders stacked on top of each other making these really strange shapes in the landscape. Just fascinating. I'm curious how that happened. I don't know. I don't know much of geology. We also just rode across a cemetery and the cemeteries here in Morocco are very simple. Somehow I kind of like it. I think the graves are just beautiful. After a couple of days rest in Tafraout, a small town in the Anti Atlas mountains, we ride southeast to the most amazing gorge we have seen in Morocco. After spending a memorable night in one of the most unlikely places, the next day we get a surprise invitation to a fascinating piece of history. So we're riding out of Tafraout here into the Anti Atlas mountains and once again we have a 700 meter pass to climb. This is one of the last big ones in Little Wild because we're heading out to a more desert flat area. So I'm very much looking forward to that. So interesting. And yeah now we have to tackle this. It's the middle of the day. It's hot. So let's get it done. So we're now riding with two gentlemen from the Netherlands. It's lovely to chat a little bit in our own language. Hear about their cycling stories. They've made incredible cycle tours already. Also in the Sahara desert back in 1989 I guess when I was born. Incredible stories and great to have some good company too. This is one of the most fascinating downhill stretches we've ever cycled. I don't even know if we can like fully capture the experience on camera. We try to but it's just It's amazing. You don't see that very often. Like never. It's just amazing to be among the palm trees in this oasis. Kind of like a gorge. Yeah. So that's really really something special. Yeah I think these are really capable of going without a lot of water. over here we found a camp spot. Man was the most gorgeous day today. We're now camping here in this oasis with some shade. Yeah just a perfect place. So we settled here on this spot. It's a little bit more snug than the one down there. Behind Maury there is a little bench we can sit and cook and relax. There has been a fire though here. As you can see we have to be really careful not to set anything alive because it will be like gasoline here. Actually it's a bit dangerous but the place is wow man so cool between the palm trees. So we decided not to cook here because the slightest spark could set the whole thing off. It's so dry. So we're gonna snack and yeah take it easy. I don't know it's a little foamy so uh get rid of that. First there's probably some air stuck in the filter system. So we're filling up our water bottles here with the water filter because the next stretch is a stretch without any visible villages on the map. So it's probably really sparsely populated and there are some streams on the map but we don't know if there's water in it or not. So we're gonna take some extra water just to be safe and have enough to drink on the coming stretch. Just have a look at the villages over there against the mountain in this valley. Such a remote and different place to grow up. I can also really see that people are very content and live a relatively good life here in these valleys. Compared to the cities we've been in Morocco it's a hard life for people especially with the prices going up. You can definitely tell. I guess here in these villages people look out for each other and the wealth is transferred to the younger generations and it's so interesting. Nice. We're just invited here by this gentleman to come and see the village. A very interesting old mud style building. So let's see what it's all about. So we're now actually in this old village that we saw from up above. It's amazing to see it all crumbling down. It's very interesting how all these houses are built together like a puzzle with staircases connecting different rooms perhaps different families. How people used to anchor together to stay cool I guess because it can be very hot here. So when they stay together they can control the temperature better. It's super interesting to see. This is the stove where they cooked their dinner on. It's pretty basic but livable for sure. This cask here is for storing clothing. This is a place to let air in so it's kind of a ventilation and I think it also has to do with cooling as well the space. So the cooler spaces are down below. Here it gets a incremental warmer. So there are not only people living here but there are also special rooms for livestock. So these cows I guess and goats they also walk here through this whole village through these narrow hallways. It's super interesting. It's just like a complete ecosystem. We're here on the top floor and he's telling me don't go in certain areas because I guess the roof may be not strong enough to hold us and man it would be really nasty if the roof collapses here on us. This water is of course meant for the plantations here but he also says he takes a dip sometimes. And yeah I was just talking earlier of course about how younger people are growing up here. His parents actually work here on the palm plantations. These are date palms and he's also working here on the plantations. So it's so funny that I was just thinking about how do people grow up here and now we get a little bit of an insight. When we climb out of the gorge we can quickly see the landscape change. Vegetation has almost disappeared and we can now feel that the Sahara desert is really drawing near. The area we are about to enter is empty with little resources and dominated by a large gold mining operation.