By Paul Bryers

• Morning Itinerary: Drive ~ 3 hrs Marrakesh to Essouria
• Guide/Driver: Said^

My carriage – no not the horse drawn carriage, the SUV…awaited me this morning, my driver, Said, at the wheel for our journey to Essauoria.

Economy:
The wee towns we drove through reminded me that while Morocco is a middle-income country with a diverse, market-oriented economy, living standards are lower by international standards. People work very hard to make a living.

My understanding is that Morocco has made progress in reducing poverty and improving basic services, but multidimensional poverty (considering factors like education, employment, health, and housing) remains an issue, particularly in rural areas.

I believe that travel is a political act. Your behaviour reflects your country, Scotland in my case.
You can read as many books as you like but the only way to get to understand a country, even a little bit, is to visit or better live there.

For example, Arabic countries are by far the most friendly and family and community orrientated anywhere I have travelled.

Travel is also an opportunity for economic impact. Buying truly local is not always as easy as it seems. In Morocco, using a Morocco- based travel company helps, as does staying and eating at owner run Riads and Restaurants. Yes, I could get the public buses but frankly I’m not doing that alone.

Public Transport:
As in many African countries public transport has failed to keep up with it’s growth, with seemingly hours-long traffic jams a common feature of many metropolises.

This has got to do largely with the colonial planning systems that have been adopted and inherited on the Continent. Urban areas were segregated and hence fragmented and so formal transport provision was largely intended for the formal city or … the ‘white area’.”

Poor planning since then has meant that people moving to cities have largely not been catered for.

For tourists exploring Morocco, the choices are mainly public or private buses or private car with driver.

I opted for the latter as I’m getting lazy, for the additional comfort, for some company, and that I want to cover a lot of ground 2000 kms/1300 miles) in 14 days.

Journey Marrakesh to Essauoria:
Lecture over 😃 … back to the journey to Essaouria.

Our drive to Essauoria took as through Marrakesh and then on to country roads sided by many beautiful dry stone dykes/walls (reminding me of Scotland), sand and stones and the occasional orchard of Calabash Trees.

Document checks were infrequent as I’m white and look reasonably respectable 😃 – lot of speed traps.

Coffee/WC stop was important and we were joined by a rally. Wonder if they are required to obey the speed limits? Probably not as they passed us at some speed…

We finally came to the crest of a hill and below lay Essaouria and the glittering Atlantic Ocean.

Guide/Driver:
Said^ is from Sahara and, like me, prefers the countryside to cities.

He kept me safe obeying the many speed restrictions – important even in the countryside and wee towns where there was, from my perspective, some craziness from drivers and peds, as well as dogs and goats.

^ Supplied by Luxury Tours Morocco