Continued....

We wait and watch....

Two other drivers were arranging some sort of "fine" payment at the table, money changed hands and after this they were allowed to travel on. The motorcycle officers left us waiting in the car for ten minutes, then gave me back my licence and waved us on with a curt dismissal. An hour and a half later the same thing happened again on the toll road. The Moroccan Tourist Board card was produced this time before the driver's licence and after a short and amusing discussion in French about him wanting a parcel of goodies posted by me from Spain, we continued down the road. I'll keep his name and address for our next visit......Either we get a motorcycle escort or can expect a much longer wait!
All together we were stopped six times and went through at least 40 road check points, usually on the outskirts of towns. Red and Black Kite kept us company and our first views of the beautiful Moroccan race of Black-billed Magpies came at the end of the toll road.

Once off the motorway we stopped off at a roadside petrol station which had a variety of small restaurants and hot food stands. We ordered a Tagine at a restaurant and a pot of sweet mint tea. It came served with bread and we ate hungrily. We continued south and were aiming to get as near to Tiznit as possible as we wanted to be up at dawn and see what the estuary of the natural park at Oued Massa had to offer.

We took a small (we thought) detour on a road out of Marrakech, stopping to admire the birds near a waddi sunset and some villages that were on the western edge of the High Atlas ridge. Nothing much of note was seen although Common Bulbul sang and chattered around us and Collared Dove flew into the palms to roost.

It was already late when we arrived north of Tiznit, looking for a campsite.We came passed the gates of a large vetinary and agricultural college on the outskirts of town and when I asked the gatekeeper for directions I quickly realized that he only spoke Arabic. He insisted that I speak with someone that could understand French and off we walked to the refectory. Here we met Laghaft, a student who offered us an unoccupied room for the night with two comfortable beds! We graciously accepted and had a good nights rest.               Continue