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Eagles fly, deserts call!
  • Michael Spies
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  • Michael Spies

Eagles fly, deserts call!

"High Atlas" mountains and deepest Mauritanian Desert. Time to move again! Lue lisää
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  • Michael SpiesEagles fly, deserts call!Michael Spies
    Our flower of the day taken from Marrakesh
    Higher and higherAutumn colours above 2000mOur road winding around the mountainsOkaimeden, still many locals looking after their sheep living in stamped clay hutsOur place for the nightOur place for the nightChez "Juju"Morning glory above the cloudsShepherdSleeping beauty waking up😁Shepherd1000m of Okaimeden peak ahead of usAt 3000m this beautiful one room appartment with a view. Unfortunatly access by foot😁The peak at last! We have never huffed and puffed so much!Small villages on the slopes on the way down

    Goodbye Marrakesh, on to Okaimeden

    26. lokakuuta 2025, Marokko ⋅ ⛅ 10 °C

    The last thing I would expect to find in Marocco is a ski resort, and yet,
    Okaimeden is just that, a ski resort!
    The village, at 2609m is full of chalets and typical french ski resort hotels. Okaimeden peak reaches 3255 meters with a view on the high altlas chain of mountains all over 4000meters, among other, the 4167 meter Jebel Toubkal.
    And now the sad part.
    The village is empty, with exception of a few locals and sheep, the fancy hotels are falling apart and the lifts are broken.
    Everywhere decay!
    One small cozy Gite, "chez Juju" is still open, but not even they have guests. "Juju" founded the gite in 1946 in the days when they still had 4 meters of snow and you hiked up the mountain with skins under your skis. Modern lifts followed, hotels sprung up.
    Today average snow in winter is 50cm, the tourists are gone and everything is falling apart. Listening to locals talking of the "old times" is agonizing! They speak of constant mountain streams of water, all summer long, today everything is dry.    Lue lisää

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  • Michael SpiesEagles fly, deserts call!Michael Spies
    Mohammed Tari
    1Salah Nasiri runs "artisanats africain" art and cloths while his father drives around west Africa.Aziz el Khanjar specialist for Touareg and Berber art and uncle of Salah NasiriMohamed Tari invited us for a cup of tea on our last dayMohamed TariToureg table i. The shop of Aziz el KhanjarIncredible mirrors in shop of Abdil El AsrAfrican bronze statues from Ghana1

    Marrakesh 4

    22. lokakuuta 2025, Marokko ⋅ ☀️ 29 °C

    Right next door to Hassan Fessie making brass lamps, in the same back yard complex, were three guys producing mosaik tables in a workshop no bigger than 10m2. The Mosaics were chiseled out of clay pieces with utmost precision using a tiny hammer.
    Before leaving Marrakesh we returned to the courtyard of Atisains Africaune to say goodbye to the wonderful people we had met there: Salah Nasiri and hi uncle Aziz el Khanjar and , Mohammid Tari who poured some wonderful tea as a farewell.    Lue lisää

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  • Michael SpiesEagles fly, deserts call!Michael Spies
    In a dark ally way, suddenly a decorated door!
    Our riad entrance in a pitch dark allywayInside a serine oasis1Terrace with view over marrakeshRiad at nightAnd off we go into the chaos, racing scooters in 1,50m wide ally waysA real shoe maker!Artisan minutely honing a brass lampTypical lamp workshopDrilling one million holesTaking a siesta in his "everything shop", bicycle saddles, water kettles and everything else1960ies washing machines, broom, water kettles, and cooking potsSimply everythingThe xat food storeScoolers everywhereThe sheep he just killed, being cut up weighed and sold in piecesTourist rubbish1 cubic meter of parsleyLamp storeTransporters waiting for customersAnd then I discovered this inconspicous jewel "Artisinat Africaine" full of african art,Beautiful african art from west africa and Marocco

    Marrakesh, an insane boiling pot.

    20. lokakuuta 2025, Marokko ⋅ ☀️ 31 °C

    Marrakesh is a mirror our arrival at our our Riad in town, (riad = traditional Maroccan town house) .
    We walked through narrow, dirty, incredibly loud, stinking ally ways at 35deg. with hooting scooters racing by, and shouting carts pushing through. Then we turned down a tiny pitch-dark ally way into a dark tunnel, wondering where the hell we are. Suddenly on our left a decorated door with knocker. We knock, and enter into a court yard, with fountain and trees in the middle, surrounded by 5 beautiful maroccan rooms and TOTAL SERENITY! An oasis in the middle of chaos.
    Marrakesh is crazy, it is everything! Claustrophobic, Loud, dirty, stinking, beautiful, artistic, fascinating, touriststic, warmth, politeness, agressiveness, stress. Acute poverty crashes head-on into extreme wealth.
    And it is totally exhausting!
    It was like a roller coaster ride.
    Merchants and artisans, motor cycles and carts, incredible african and arabic art next to the most terrible touristic rubbish, luxury restaurants next to the street butcher that imediately grills the sheep he just killed.
    Simply crazy!    Lue lisää

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  • Michael SpiesEagles fly, deserts call!Michael Spies
    Gin tonic at sunset!
    A small game of Backgammon to keep our brains fitWho do you think won?Incredible sunset in front of our gin-tonic5-star dinner after one month of "Sprinti" mealsMarocxan architecture, and decorationInner courtyard, a small paradiseVerdant garden, while around us is semi desertOld Berber doors

    Kasbah Bab Ourika

    19. lokakuuta 2025, Marokko ⋅ ⛅ 26 °C

    While preparing for this trip in Germany Elfi and I watched a film on Netflix called "Love in Marocco". It was absolutely terrible, but parts of it were filmed in an incredibly beautiful Kasbah, today a boutique hotel decorated in exclusive maroccan style.
    As we neared Marrakesh we remembered the film and researched where it was located and decided to spend a night in this incredible location and really spoil ourselves.
    I phoned them, only to hear that they were booked out for the months in advance. We decided to look at the place none-the-less, eat a luxury meal and then sleep somewhere else in our "Sprinti".
    Oh my god, were we spoiled! The place was incredible. The evening began with gin tonic (hardly available in this Islamic country) while watching the sun set, then continued with an incredible meal and wine.
    As we returned to our car I passed a seated british gentleman talking to the hotel manager and spontaneously developed a really nice conversation. It turned out to be the founder and owner of the Kasbah.
    He promptly offered us the room they keep in reserve for VIP'S.
    And so it came that every staff member knew that we were befriended with the owner. They carried us on hands!!!
    And so, we spent two days in heaven.😁    Lue lisää

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  • Michael SpiesEagles fly, deserts call!Michael Spies
    1Beautiful Berber carpets woven in the winter months
    My favourite carpet shopTough negotiations!Presenting their wareThe deal has been closed and huge quantities of cash change handsThe carpets are packed and ready for shipment by DHLHappy sellers and buyers❤️The cascades d'OuzoudA visit from our friends. He suddenly jumped up from the ground to my shoulder. I wasn't at all sureToday was washing dayThe flower of the day❤️No space in the car, then we go on the roof

    Cascades d'Ouzoud, major negotiations!

    17. lokakuuta 2025, Marokko ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    On the way to Marrakesh we passed the cascades d'ouzoud. A 100 meter waterfall that used to transport huge quantities of water is today just a memory of the past.
    Obviously it is overrun by tourists, but it had ONE very exceptional carpet shop run by Abdelkabhir and his nephew Yassir Ben who regularly visits Berber families in the Atlas mountains where the women weave the most unbelievable carpets during the long winter months. I promptly fell totally in love with one of the carpets. While trying to negotiate the price, the number of carpets kept increasing. Due to "complexity" of the negotiations we posponed to the next morning. After breakfast we continued, I told him about our trip and how I had produced hashisch at the "weed farmers", he told me about his visits to the weavers in the mountains and how they use natural dyes for the wool, I told him about my family and kids in Germany and he told me about how each carpet he buys is like a child to him especially the one carpet I loved most which he called his best horse! We dealed-and-wheeled for three hours with breaks for tea and discussions with our "back-up teams" (Elfi and his uncle).
    All the while Elfi had philosophical discussions with his uncle about ethics, beauty and bought some earrings😁
    Finally the deal was closed! 6 carpets for an absolute fortune😁    Lue lisää

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  • Michael SpiesEagles fly, deserts call!Michael Spies
    Road construction as a way to get employment into the poorest regions
    Truck drivers transporting immense quantities of rocks hacked out of the mountains to create roadsQuarries to sive gravel for the surfacesThe result, not quite the kind of off-road tracks I loveA prety big mess in a pristine mountaneous region.Diesel dor the trucks at 2600 metersBrick layers building complex support walls for roadsBack in the untouched Atlas mountainsOn the way homeLooking after the flockNew road surfaces for the locals.But she doesn't have a car and uses the old method by foot

    Road construction as development aid.

    17. lokakuuta 2025, Marokko ⋅ ⛅ 20 °C

    The Riff mountains, as well as the central-, and high-Atlas mountains are home to the Berber tribes. We have experienced this region as one of extreme poverty, with people sometimes totally desperate, begging us to buy something, anything, just so that they can have some money. It tears my heart to experience this, especilly when one realizes that they are talking about several "Dirhams", less than 50 Euro cents.
    It seems the region is totally disconnected from the development marocco has gone through in the last decades. Houses are made of stamped clay frequently in total disrepair, transport is by donkey, cooking is with wood. Water, which was once readily available in the mountains has becom a magor problem as the drought continues. Villages are dying out and the cultural heritage of personal jewelery and family carpets is being sold to the markets in Marrakesh to people like us, to generate at least some money for the families. It is all very sad!

    What we have noticed is that there is massive road construction and repair work taking place all over, especially in the Atlas mountains where tracks leading tens of kilomerters to tiny villages in the high mountains are widened and graded. These multi-year projects train and use locals, also in qualified positions, such as truck drivers, operators of machine shovels and other infra structure.
    This brings desperately needed income into the region, villages and families.    Lue lisää

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  • Michael SpiesEagles fly, deserts call!Michael Spies
    1And then they put this in the middle of the route! That was the end of this project!
    Women resting in the fieldsDonkey carrying the days work homeWater channel leading out of the canyon. This stream became paradise for us further upstreamWe moved this huge bugger out of the way cm-by-cm to be able to passThen built ramps with rocks to enable us to drive over areas with big rocksBut Paradise waited at the end of the 13km hikeOh my god! Ice-cold flowing water for the first time in 4 weeksChief driver today😁And off she drives!Along the river bedA kaspah along the rover route

    "Dra Tafilalet", another gorge attempt

    15. lokakuuta 2025, Marokko ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Today we drove into the "Dra Tafilet" gorge in another attempt to drive through the bottom of a river gorge. To not make the same mistake we made last time, we walked the 8 km route along the gorge bottom to check out the route. Because river beds always risk sinking in, we chose a route slightly above the river bed. At some stage, as in the last gorge, large rocks apeared blocking any vehicle. One huge rock we were able to roll aside cm-by-cm. For the other immovable monsters we decided to stack rocks around them building ramps to be able to cross over.
    After 2 hours of bone crushing work we had the bottleneck solved and continued our hike, only to be confronted by a 5 ton shovel that a grader had deposited during road works. That was the end of this effort!

    But a wonderful surprize awaited us when we hiked back along the stream, a small waterfall. The first moving water we have washed ourselves in since the beginning of the trip🤽
    So the next morning, the daring Elfi Aschenbrenner took the steering wheel, in a dare to drive through rhe river bed.
    She managed without further catastrophies!😎
    One more adventure survived!🧛    Lue lisää

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  • Michael SpiesEagles fly, deserts call!Michael Spies
    A climbers Eldorado
    Suddenly, large busses and hordes of Japanese Chinese tourists.😅Finally Elfi has found water again😁Again this group of canadians crossing marrocco on these tiny 49cc honda bikes😅Washing her clothes among the touristsChilled barbary tent, marrocxan tea chilled music and grass smell

    Todra gorge, HELP! Masked Asean touists!

    13. lokakuuta 2025, Marokko ⋅ ☁️ 17 °C

    And then the gorges get deeper and deeper, and suddenly in a place where the road is only 3 meters wide, a huge tourist bus comes through, directly behind, 3 other busses. We have arrived at the Todra and Daades gorge, an eldorado for climbers and a "must see" for Japanese and Chinese tourists who walk around wearing their face masks.
    We gather our spirits and activate "maximum tolerance" and walk along the rows of Berber tribe carpets and garments, relax in a chilled Berber tent only with locals, all smoking grass to a very cool Sahara band called "Saharawi". Maroccan tea, and another marroccan tea. It is difficult to leave😅    Lue lisää

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  • Michael SpiesEagles fly, deserts call!Michael Spies

    Breakfast in Ait Hani, what a chill !!🌹

    13. lokakuuta 2025, Marokko ⋅ ☁️ 14 °C

    A spontaneous stop in "Ait Hani" results in a chilled breakfast watching the village come to life. Kids are picked up by the school bus, the Imam from the local Moshee philosophising wit others about the Koran, beautiful Berber tribe girls not allowing me to photograph them flirting with the boys. Just another early morning in "Ait Hani"❤️
    and in the.middle of it the beautiful Elfi ♥️    Lue lisää

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  • Michael SpiesEagles fly, deserts call!Michael Spies
    Greniers d'Ajougal
    The gorge under the grenier d'AjougalGrenier d'Ajougal gorgeAt bottom left, the start of the ledgeLedge coming from right with the first storage houseZoom into the picture to see 3-story house jammed into the ledgeIncredible architectureWomen washing at riverA sand storm took our view for three daysA taste of our tracks

    Les greniers d'ajougal

    12. lokakuuta 2025, Marokko ⋅ ☀️ 17 °C

    When you look at the history of marocco, it seems like a series of wars with "A" flattening and plundering city "B", and then "C" flattening and plundering city "A".
    Life for the normal farner must have been hell allways at the mercy of others with them repeatedly plundering everything they posess.
    So I found it really cool that the farmers of Ajougal stored their grain in a natural ledge of an 800meter high cliff and promptly built some houses in the ledge to live.
    The ledge is only accesable via a 1 metre wide gap. Very easy to defend against any army🤣    Lue lisää

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  • Michael SpiesEagles fly, deserts call!Michael Spies
    1Lac TislitThe two lakesCould this be "Isli" thinking to take the waters of "Tislit"ImilchilThe clasical butchers shopThe "Everything store"Just sitting and watching life1Also sitting and watching life☺️This is the sugar quantity with one cup of tea😱Lake "Isli"There she goes again into the ice cold waterShould I really go into that water?2Yes, here I go!Three beautiful Barbary girlsBarbary xamp

    The tears that filled two lakes

    11. lokakuuta 2025, Marokko ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    Once upon a time near Imilchil in the high-Atlas mountains!
    There were two berber tribes, the Ait Brahim and the Ait Yaaza who battled over water for centuries.
    Then the handsome shepherd "Tilsit" and the beautiful "Islit" fell hopelessly in love. But their tribes forbad them to meet, and so the two fled from their homes into the mountains and cried and cried their sorrow, their tears filling two deep craters until both drowned.
    Their respective tribes were so deeply shocked, that they ended their century long feud and started the "Moussem", a wedding market. Once a year the barberies come down from all over the atlas mountains to meet in Imilchil and approx 60 women choose their husbands to marry on the spot. Several notaries who are present, sign the documents and because everyone knows each other and the whole thing is a party anyway, one saves the costs for a wedding party.

    And so, each night the two lovers exit their lakes and reunite!    Lue lisää

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  • Michael SpiesEagles fly, deserts call!Michael Spies
    1Scattered remnants of old cedar treesStone oaks deal amazingly well with the arid climateWe wer not able to identify this tree/bushStone oaks with skeletons of cedar treesThis shepard popped up in the early morning looking for a missing sheepTaschine for our invitation to lunchIsmael and his father who invited us for lunchThe Good, the Bad and the ugly. You decide!1An incredible sand storm hit the high atlas for days reducing visibility and planting dust everywher

    "High-Atlas" mountains

    10. lokakuuta 2025, Marokko ⋅ ☀️ 12 °C

    Besides the incredible roads, the highlight of this leg was an invitation to lunch by Ismael and his father. While tanking water, Ismael a 15 year old boy approached us wanting to understand each and every detail of our car and trip. Then he askes us if we'd like to eat the Friday prayer lunch with them.
    We sat in their cool mud-brick living room, a flat screen TV running in the background operating from solar panels. Outside, in holding with their tradition the mother stayed in the kitchen while the two men entertained us, the older speaking good french.
    When I asked why she doesn't join us, the answer was very clear: "A woman connot be with the guests, she may only be with our family". This was said with total clarity, yes even a coldness!
    Wow, difficult to accept for us europeans.    Lue lisää

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  • Michael SpiesEagles fly, deserts call!Michael Spies
    Oh no! It's happened again. We forgot to empty the urine tank. One day of cleaning!
    Heading toward our offroad challenge, the canyon1The track drops into the canyon, this is where it gets serious1The "Dare the Canyon" dream teamSteep walls and partially only 2,50m space to get throughThey have no problem with this terrainThe rocks start to get biggerWe stack stones to get through rough spotsThe last floods have brought down rocks we cannot circumvent, no getting throughSo its reverse for several hundred meters and then drive out again"Cirque de Jaffar" Off-road track1A small tasteThe "Cirque de Jaffar" offroad track. Unbelievably beautifulDramatic drops and broken away roadsThe only secure mode of transport hereHigh atlas reaching up to over 4000mThat evening Frank from the "Mocca" truck comes by to congratulate us for trying the canyon.Our reward for trying😃Incredible night spot on the "cirque"1

    Toilet fiasco and other terrible things

    8. lokakuuta 2025, Marokko ⋅ ☀️ 25 °C

    Oh no!
    It has happened again, the unthinkable! We forgot to empty the urine tank of our toilet and............
    I'll spare you the rest.
    The result is one whole day of cleaning the toilet and the floor. This is about my most favorite work!

    Then followed the the canyon drama.
    The big trucks decided to not even try, but we took the bet, we will get through. So we drove a whole day into the canyon and had to turn back, at some stage the rocks got so big that no stacking of stones before and after them could solve the problem. We first had to reverse hundreds of meters and then turned around needing half a day to get out again.

    But then we were richly rewarded by the "Cirque de Jaffar" one of the most incredible off-road tracks I have ever experienced, advancing into the "High Atlas" to 2500m with the most beautiful place for the night.    Lue lisää

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  • Michael SpiesEagles fly, deserts call!Michael Spies
    "Joe" our new donkey pet
    Early morning in AzrouBarbary tent offering maroccan tea: 90% sugar, 10%teaSources de l'oum Rabia: The "water rat" has finally found her element again!Luxury toilet for 2 DirhamsSitting on a ledge overlooking the Salty river waiting for our Tachine dinner.1This beautiful river is totally salty!A lone Cedar tree reminding of forests of a time gone by.1Elfi doing what she loves best, swimming😅The water used to be 50m higherSmall oven for baking breadBarbary tent to eat our favourite meal, Tachine

    Donkey visit for breakfast

    8. lokakuuta 2025, Marokko ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    The "Source de l'oum Rabia" is a huge irony in this water starved country because the massive waterstream coming out of the mountain is intensly salty!
    But the Tachine we had for dinner in a beautiful barbary tent overhanging the stream was delicious, and Aziz, whose wife did the cooking, attentively refilled our maroccan tea every time it threatened to empty. ❤️

    We then drove on to "lac Aguelmame Zigza" the only natural lake that still has water. That is a shocking fact!
    MANTOCO had last seen the lake in 2014 with a water level 50meters higher than today!
    But also here we had a plesant surprize when a little donkey (let's call him Joe) came by for breakfast.    Lue lisää

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  • Michael SpiesEagles fly, deserts call!Michael Spies
    The cedre GiraudThe huge Alpha male arrives and the whole troop goes crazyThis little guy is deeply relaxedThis guy watched us a long while, in a moment of distraction he grabbed Elfi's fruit bag.Look at that incredible kiss😍De-fleaing sessionThis de-fleaing lasted about one hour. That is friendship❤️Daddy, mama and babyDaddy looking after babyOh sjit, I ate too much😁Full moon

    Monkey business😍

    4. lokakuuta 2025, Marokko ⋅ ☀️ 22 °C

    These Atlas mountains are home to huge endemic Cedar trees and used to be covered by them. They are also home to troops of Barbary apes. Now only a small zone of trees remains, protected by a national park with at the center, the Cedre Gouraud (a huge dead cedar tree which is revered as a reminder of how things used to be). As we drive through the country, huge 100 year old dead stems sprinkle the landscape, reminding us of how it used to be.
    The dying of these ancient trees has also drasticly reduced the living space of the monkeys putting them on the endangeeed spieces list.
    Near "Azrou" we spent two days with a troop of barbary apes and were deeply moved by how incredibly intelligent , emotional and cute they were.    Lue lisää

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  • Michael SpiesEagles fly, deserts call!Michael Spies
    Harvest time. Sweet potatoes
    Interesting hay transport1Troughs used for stacking and drying red onionsOnions being stacked for dryingOnions everywhereGetting ready for our stroll through Ifrane with subsequent visit of an "Art nouveau" restaurantTjis total luxury amidst the poorest dryest regions, crazyLuscious green parks and ally ways through constant irrigation.

    Luxury Ifrane, and a country in drought

    4. lokakuuta 2025, Marokko ⋅ ☀️ 24 °C

    Today was wierd!
    The plan was to pass by a series of large alpine lakes. But not a single one had water, only dust! No water! Not a drop!.
    It was here that we heard that since the 1980 there has been a dramitic decline in rainfall, and that in the last 7 years, virtually no rain has dallen in a region that is normally gifted with water.
    All the more absurd when we arived in "Ifrane", the favourite holiday destination for wealthy maroccan families, home to an elite university and a huge holiday home of the king, guarded by a whole division of the royal maroc army. The whole town a luschious green park with lawns and ally ways of trees. Sprinkler systems irrigating the town all day long.
    And this in a country suffering from dramatic drought!
    And yet, Elfi an I decided to suck up this exclusive atmosphere as a change of scenery to our 4 m² and enjoy a real cappucino, a crispy salad, and a real beer, (all be it alchohol free).
    What a crazy world!    Lue lisää

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  • Michael SpiesEagles fly, deserts call!Michael Spies
    Entrance into the Medina, the old town with hundreds of tiny stores selling everything.
    Local beauty parlorDaughter all done up in red dress strolling proud in heel shoes with her mother.The almost "everything" shopUnfortunately, as in Iran and arabia, rubbish everywhere!What beautiful company🌹

    Sefrou

    3. lokakuuta 2025, Marokko ⋅ ☀️ 26 °C

    Spontaneously we deviate from our route to visit "Sefrou" a trading town from the days of of the camel caravans. This town was known for its many different religions and maximum tolerance for strangers. Sinagogues stand next to Moshées, modern stidents next to ladies in Chador hoods and face mask. This tolerance for others would do our world good in these times.Lue lisää

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  • Michael SpiesEagles fly, deserts call!Michael Spies
    Winding roadsGoats everywheee, also in the trees.Preparing for charcoal production. The last wood available!Charcoal production next to the road.Good food and Maria Callas at 2000m, it can't get better!And then "Joe" the donkey rides up to pay a visit.Joe the donkeyHe doesn't eat carrots only dry thorns!

    2000m, Maria Callas and great cooking❤️

    2. lokakuuta 2025, Marokko ⋅ ☀️ 19 °C

    We are now in the central Atlas mountains, and constantly varying around 2000 and 2600 meters. Unbelievably steep roads with hairpin bends leading up Mountain passes and down into the next valley, and finally endless high altitude plains.
    And yet there is also a sad side. The slopes and plains are massively over grazed leaving the surfaces bare to wind and rain. The result is massive erosion with huge gullies everywhere. I have never seen such bare surfaces!. On top of this many locals use wood for cooking and heating. I was really shocked when I saw trees cut down to run a charcoal production all along a steep mountain road.
    All this shocks me and makes me sad.

    In the midst of all this, parked off road on a peak near the 2509m pass, we listen to Maria Callas as the sun sets to the smell of delicious cooking.
    Oh my god, how good life can be❤️

    Just as we get up in the morning we get a visitor. "Joe" the donkey has just carried his owner up the pass and so they drop by for a cup of tea and the donkey for a carrot. The crazy thing is he doesn't want the carrot, only the prickly thorns grown out of a tiny bush.    Lue lisää

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  • Michael SpiesEagles fly, deserts call!Michael Spies
    Weed plantations everywhere
    Everywhere the sweet smell of weed! We are becomming addictedOur incredinle night location at 1700m and 30 min from the roadHike to the summit the next day after our imagined encounter with the drug bosses😅

    The sweet smell of Marijuana everywhere!

    29. syyskuuta 2025, Marokko ⋅ ☁️ 16 °C

    Oh my god, what a pleasure it is to drive through the Riff mountains with open windows! Constantly we are accompanied by the sweet smell of Marijuana. It is harvest time and the endless fields are being cut, the plants tied into bushels and dried on the rooves of the houses. EVERYWHERE the sweet smell of weed. We are becomming addicted and hyper sensitive to this delightful smell, constantly sniffing the air every time we come round a bend 😁

    But we have also dived deep into the topic of Hashisch smuggling, their speed boats, drug bosses and how the spanish police chase the smugglers crossing the straits of Gibraltar.

    This afternoon we turn off the road onto an off-road track leading us high up into the mountains to 1700m where we spend the night on an outcrop. It is totally silent, pitch black and we feel alone in this incredible place.
    Then at 23:00 hrs the unbelievable happens! A huge truck surrounded by strong lights creeps along the road in the darkness. The driver spots our lights and stops 109m away. 4 men in boots, armed with strong torches, get off and start to approach us. All the reading about drug bosses has got to our heads, we are terrified and switch off all our lights, lock the car and prepare ourselves to grab the kitchen knives. Suddenly, not seeing us in the dark anymore, they turn back to their truck and move down the mountain track in the pitch black night.
    We are giggling and shaking all over, aware that we have read too many stories about the drug trade. Non-the-less the night is restless with wild dreams😁    Lue lisää

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