Kayaking has taken me to some amazing places over the past few years, through the pursuit of quality whitewater I have met some incredible people and seen sights that will stay with me forever. The driving force behind that travel has always been the kayaking, the promise of amazing whitewater and phrases like “five days of continuous class 4/5…” are what has driven me to explore new places, and the experiences that I have had were just been icing on the cake. My recent trip to Morocco was almost the opposite, it is the country, scenery, and people that made me put a trip together, and any good kayaking would be the bonus. Thankfully we got all we expected and plenty of bonus action.
Stunning scenery:
Friendly locals:
Plenty of Sitting Around and some relaxed multi-day paddling:
Great quality paddling in some stunning deep sandstone gorges:
The usual transport problems and associated Sitting Around:
Moroccan wildlife:
Classic North African skylines:
The enticing hustle and bustle of the Djema el Fna in Marrakesh:
And some great whitewater kayaking (Chris on the Sources of the Oum er Rhiba):
Over the ten day trip, we had some great paddling from grade 2 to 4 through some beautiful gorges and valleys. The paddling wasn’t the hardest and we didn’t get as much boating in as we could have if the van had been a bit more co-operative or the had been a touch more snow melt in the High Atlas, but as an experience and a chilled out trip with good friends, it would be hard to beat. Often on kayaking trips I can get quite stressed in focusing on trying to maximise the amount of boating, but I on this one I was getting quite into participating in the national pass-time of Sitting Around. I would recommend that everyone add Morocco to your destination wish list, regardless of your level of kayaking, and the sooner the better as we did encounter a few large dam construction projects on the trip, so some of these rivers, especially the Oum er Riba may not be around for much longer…
Oh, and the food beats any other country I have been to.
Filed under: Foreign Trips, Photography, Rivers, kayak
Some great shots there Dave.
You’ve made me add it as a future trip now – looks amazing, and lots of fun.
It’s going to look like I’m following your trips around the world soon!
Nice pictures fun times!
Thanks for comments. I’m really happy with the way some of the photos have come out, although in a country like Morocco, it’s not hard to get some great photos as the countryside is pretty amazing.
David, nice trip report from Morocco! It may be along while, if ever, before I can get over there to run those rivers.
Your trip reports would be more interesting if you included maps to show exactly where you have been.
• Posting Topographic Maps from Acme Mapper on your Site.
• Using Topographic Maps from Acme Mapper.
• American River SF – Gorge Run whitewater river guide.
I have added your blog to my Whitewater River Kayaking Blogs Directory.
Thanks for that, I’ll have a look at those maps, could be useful.
Dave.
Hi David,
Do you have any pointers for planning a trip to Morocco? Guide books/websites etc? There are a few of us from Imperial who are interested in going out there – it looks awesome! When is the best time to go out?
Cheers.