where the wild things are

Yesterday Ruby and I set out to walk some of the tracks I explored on Sunday, only walking in the opposite direction. We had reached the back of hill number 3 and I was looking up at the higher peaks behind and the argan trees in the little valleys, thinking to myself that if I was very quiet I might see a wild boar or two.

Ruby had been running ahead, up and down the hill seeing if she could find any ground squirrels but all of a sudden I heard her galloping down a track to suddenly appear in front of me. Hackles up, she immediately turned round and stared back the way she came. I looked up the track and there was a wolf looking back at me! Ruby immediately started to bark and the wolf turned tail and ran before I had time to take in anything more than it's grey face and bright eyes. I am sure it was a wolf and not a fox or a feral dog.... it was larger than the foxes we have seen and the wrong colour. It was about Ruby's size but as I say it was all too quick for me to see much more than the face.

Ruby's hackles stayed up for a good half hour and she kept her eye on the hillside till we were well on our way back down the valley. It is good to know that she would come back to me when under threat... though whether it was to offer or get protection I don't know. I think the wolf was just as surprised to see me as I was to see it.... it was that time of day when most Moroccans are on their way home with the goats or settling in to their second breakfast of the day.

I am not having any luck posting photos - not that I have any of the wolf - but I will try and get some online later.

see, its not just me!

"The air of the unforeseen blows on one from the roadless passes of the Atlas"

From Edith Wharton's book (also named) "In Morocco" written about her travels in 1917.

boldy going

I think I will have to rename this blog "Walking in Morocco", but Ruby and I are enjoying ourselves so much on our walks.

On Friday we set off to climb the nearest hill to the east of us. We crossed the river bed and then followed quite a wide track as it went round the shoulder of the hill and found ourselves in a lovely little valley full of argan trees and GRASS!!! Ok the grass is quite dry and hay-like at the moment but it must be really lovely in February and March. Anyway I thought I should get to a highspot to get my bearings so I headed up the hill and there I found the walls of an old ruined kasbah built around the hilltop! I guess everyone and their donkey in the village knows about it but it was a brand new and exciting discovery for me. I don't know how old it is but the walls are made the same way that the walls of Taroudannt are built, from compressed slabs of earth. Moroccans have been building large structures like this for over 10 centuries. I found two sides and two square towers at diagonally opposite corners and possibly the places where the third and fourth tower were. I could also find the outlines and wall foundations of at least one stone house built just below the Kasbah. Mohamed says that the villagers talk of houses built by the "Berrrd Kheiss" - Portuguese, who were here abouts in the early 1700's, to the west of the village but I don't know if they specifically mean the kasbah (ok Mohamed is also sceptical that it is a kasbah... but he hasn't seen it yet.) BTW when I got home and looked I could actually see one of the kasbah walls from our house - just hadn't recognised it for what it was.

From the top looking over the river you get a nice and different view of the village and the valley, to the North the hills rising higher and to the east (?) there is a large wooded valley with more hills surrounding... I started for the first time to think about taking a horse out! (I also realise that I am possibly getting my north south east and west a bit muddled.... must get a map.)

Yesterday I went out in the same direction and climbed the two peaklets to the north of the Kasbah - actually all part of the same hill, and on my way back found a nice track that looks like it heads off up the first big hill in the range. I think I might find my way up there next weekend.

I always come back from these walks looking as if I have been dragged backwards through a hedge - which is quite incorrect as I usually plunge through them head first - and covered in scratches. Most of the tracks I follow are made by goats and their goatherders... sometimes with a donkey and sometimes just by goats. As the tracks wind through (and sometimes under) argan trees (prickly), thorn bushes (organic barbed wire) and other just normally prickly plants, it would be a miracle if I didn't get scratched.

We saw a spectacular sunset... though Ruby gets very impatient with me if I sit for too long - it is almost as if she thinks something bad will happen if we stop walking... and when the full moon came up yesterday it was a bright orange. As we walked back home after seeing the sunset I heard the wolves up in the mountains calling to each other. Ruby, thank goodness, was quite unaffected by this.

I will take my camera and post some photos soon.

another year

Thanks everyone for the birthday wishes and gifts..... I went along to our postbox in Amskroud yesterday and found some nice surprises. It was the first time I had been along to check the box and was surprised to find that the postboxes are all handmade wooden boxes. Not all the promised packages have arrived - yet so I have more goodies to look forward to.

This year Mohamed had got me a nice Moroccan tiled table and two chairs so that I can sit on the terrace or in the patio and have my breakfast (or will when it is all finished)... When we went along to collect we found that the table top was ready but not the base or the chairs so I will have to wait a while before I can sit down to breakfast.

We had lunch at the port and then went along to the University to see if we could find out anything about Mohamed's course... but still no news. It seems a bit shambolic!

Walking the map

I have settled into a new routine which involves getting up feeding all the animals, working for a bit, having breakfast, work, lunch, work and then at around 4.30 heading out for a walk with Ruby.

If we manage to get away on our own we are free to range further but if one of the cats catches us we have to keep fairly close to the house. Yesterday I didn't spot Marmela at my heels until we were almost right down at the river and though she came over the river with us she started getting cross and anxious so we turned back and walked along the river bed with her. (nb when I say river I mean river bed... although in some parts there is a trickle of water, it is mostly dry) So when we are in the mood for a long walk we have to tiptoe out of the front door and then sprint along the road till we know we are free of company!

We have been exploring the hills on this side of the valley, walking up stream along the river bed and also along the aqueduct. We generally stick to the tracks - otherwise we either get stopped by someone's thorn hedge (there is some cultivation goes on) or end up climbing up, or down, cliffs.

The day before yesterday I spotted a wild pig with 3 little piglets heading down the hill towards us.... but someone came along the road and scared it off before it got too close. Of course I didn't have my camera with me. The hills are full of game birds - quail I think - and ground squirrels and Ruby is always so sure she is going to catch one. We also see a lot of lizards and once two scorpion and an eagle but no snakes, foxes, rabbits or wolves (so far) - and I know they are out there!

From just above our house a track runs westward along the hillside to the next village Taarzhout (actually a subset of Ouikiran) which is built along the top of the hill and appears to be without road access. The houses are perched on the hill, in some cases built into the hill with footpaths worn in the rock and accessible only by donkey or foot. In fact a new road was put in last year, though it is tucked round the far side of the hill so I haven't come across it yet. Halfway along the hill, in a little pass between two peaks is a ruined house, a really big house actually. It is in a great spot but abandoned. I wonder what happened to the people who lived there.

View Larger Map

Googlemaps looks like it has been updated in the last year and you can just about make out where we cleared the ground to build our house - more or less dead centre of the map... and you can see the tracks that Ruby and I follow on our walks. I would love to get my hands on a good map of the area - especially as I am starting to look at the hills on the other side of the valley and Mohamed thinks there are tracks that go through the mountains to Immouzer (of the waterfalls) which seems possible if a bit of a long walk. Though I think before I tackle the hills I need to get some proper footwear - come the spring I will have to think about wet weather gear as well... I expect Ruby will still want to walk whatever the weather.

The ground is very stony and any time I look up to see the view I inevitably stumble... in this countryside it does not pay to let your attention wonder. Keeping my eyes on the ground does mean that I do spot fossils.... and there are lots. I have picked up a few rather nice bits - though nothing compared to the specimens that you see for sale at the roadside in the mountains - and some I have found have been too big to carry home. Although walking along the river bed is really hard work I love the colours of the boulders, everything from white, yellow, orange, pink, red, blue grey to black... there is a really amazing mix of geology. Ruby likes the river bed best as well as there are a few squirrel nests in amongst the boulders. When we want an easy walk we head along aqueduct. There is quite a good track alongside it most of the way into the valley and there are lots of trees, palm trees and even grass growing - and it is just a gentle slope!