Motorcycle tour of Morocco & Southern Spain

Planet

Preserving the natural environment is inextricably linked to supporting local economies.

This Morocco Motorcycle Tour includes rides through Natural parks such as Ifrane National Park. We made the promise to leave the nature just as it is using only paved roads, without damaging the flora or bother the fauna of the areas visited.
Ifrane National Park is home to one of the few remaining habitats for the Barbary Macaque, now an endangered species. Even if most of the macaques are used to human presence, we recommend our riders not to touch or feed the wild life. Even with a full stomach they are tempted by food that is bad to their health, so it is best to leave feeding the macaques to their natural environment. The macaques live in forests that provide them with enough natural food for them to feed.

Morocco waste management systems still leave much to be desired. We recommend our guests to try to minimise the amount of rubbish they produce by using their own bags at the market or in the shops. At the Hotels we ask everyone to remember to turn off the lights when they leave the room. Using local produce will also go a long way in reducing both packaging and the amount of fuel used to transport the produce.

Water is too precious to waste and the Moroccans know this better than anyone. From conventional water sources to wells, rainwater or fog harvesting, they cherish every drop and the visitors are encouraged to do the same.
We recommend our riders to try to minimise the use of water, not to leave water running without purpose. Drinking tap water is not advisable in Morocco. We recommend the travelers to minimize the use of bottled water by enjoying the delicious taste of fresh fruits juice (oranges, lemons, etc.). This will support the agricultural activities, leaving the income in the communities that produces them. However, if bottled water is necessary, we recommend the riders to keep the empty bottles until the next restaurant or hotel that recycles this material and leave it there instead of throwing it in the rubbish been.

Energy
At the foot of High Atlas Mountains near the city of Ouarzazate, in the hot climate of Sahara, thousands of tall mirrors stand in row as part of a solar-power generating plant. The solar panels are tracking the sun (the sun shines about 3,600 hours a year in the desert), giving Morocco one of the world’s highest levels of solar power potential. Noor Power plant is the doorway to a new era of cleaner energy production in Africa.
The efforts for clean energy are also made by locals. Most of the hotels we choose have their own solar power system providing hot water and/or light. The tent camp in the Sahara Desert bases its energy using solar panels and the light it produces is in direct link with the hours of sun/day.

We work with small family run hotels, Kasbahs or Riads, some of them located in rural areas, as all these places have a great respect for the environment: the food is mostly organic, they try to minimize as much as possible the amount of electricity used, most of these places do not have central heating and for domestic works use water from wells.

Our guests are encouraged to do a little reading before coming to find out more about their host communities and environment. We provide suggestion on how best to support the local economies and communities, as well as the surrounding environment. Guests can expect a pre-trip information pack via email, to minimize the use of paper, which will inform them about issues relating to the place they intend to travel, some language tips and general advice. Furthermore, our tour guides are well-educated multilingual people who can offer guests their skills as an interpreter and offer up-to-date details on current national and regional issues.

People

On our tours we ensure that the positive impacts are maximized and the negative minimized. We recognize how profound the effects of tourism can be, and our aim is to promote the positive impacts that tourism brings to the local and global community alike.

The benefits brought by our motorbike groups traveling through Morocco will have a positive effect on the communities visited. We support local businesses and suppliers. Spending the night in family run Kasbahs, such as Dar Bab Todra in Tinghir, will increase employment opportunities in the area. For lunches we use local restaurants offering traditional food (such as chicken and pickled lemon tagine or beef tagine with vegetables). In the countryside the vegetables are grown by the locals thus keeping the income in the communities without the need of transporting the goods from far away markets, reducing the pollution as well.

Our guests are offered advice and suggestions on how to be a responsible traveler and by improving their knowledge about the villages and regions they visit considering tradition, culture, language, economy, history and current issues.

If managed carefully, tourism is a way of generating income with excellent long-term prospects which help communities to protect their environment for future generations. We actively encourage our guests to purchase locally produces foods and handicrafts. Cities like Fez and Marrakech offer a wide selection of locally produced goods, some of them hand made. Visiting the medina of Fez offers an insight to the way people live their lives. Tasting the local bread and fruits while strolling the streets of the ancient medina is a great way of travel. The 11-century built, Chouara Tannery is the biggest tannery in Fez, situated in the oldest part of the Medina – Fes el Bali. The workers keep the traditions in working the leather: instead of using ammoniac or other chemicals, the leather is treated with cow urine, pigeon droppings, etc. Leaves of mint are provided at the entrance to the visitor in order to keep the smell away.

In the Ksar of Ait Ben Haddou the guests can see first-hand how the Berbers are using sugar and Safran to create beautiful paintings. The technique was used in the past to write secret letters.

On the way to Marrakech the riders make a short stop at a Women Cooperative to watch Berber women prepare the famous Argan oil and to purchase this oil directly from the source.

Our groups are small, allowing people to interact more easily with the locals. In Merzouga, we chose to overnight in Berber tents in the Sahara Desert. In order to reach the camp, the riders leave the motorbikes parked in the courtyard of the Riad and enjoy a camel ride. Every small group is lead in the desert by a local Berber guide. The traditional Berber dinner in the tent and campfire with locals playing their drums under the starry desert night is an experience to cherish for a lifetime.

The Berber guides leading the riders trough the sand dunes have a good and personal relationship with the camels, calling them by name, feeding them and offering them water. They make sure each camel carries the right weight and take care they have enough rest. The rides are short – about 45 minutes with a break in the middle of the sand dunes, just enough to admire the sunset. While the travelers take photographs and enjoy the Desert, the camels rest.

Our local guides can advise the riders on local customs as well as helping them break all language barriers. Using locally run business and small family run hotels, such as Dar Bab Todra Hotel in Tinghir, small Riads or Kasbahs in Er Rachidia, Fes and Marrakech or the beautiful campsite in the Sahara Desert run by Omar in the region of Erg Chebbi, south of Morocco makes the revenue generated to remain in the communities where it is needed the most.
The tour includes 2 rest days, time when the motorbikes are parked and walking the medina of Fes or Marrakech is the main attraction. This keeps gas emissions down reducing air pollution as well as minimizing the need of gasoline.