Driving in Morocco

After some long discussions, and several strikes, the new Code has been approuved by professionals as well. It was enforced now for a few months, so just to remind you what you risk if you don't drive correctly :

• The idea is that you have to pay on the spot. Not a very good idea from the point of view of corruption, but... If you refuse or can't pay, your driving licence is confiscated, you receive a provisory permit, and you have 10 days to get back your licence, in the court of the place where the fine has been issued. Quite a problem if you travel around, so many people prefer to pay on the spot.


• The prices ranges from 400 dirhams (+/- 40 €) for over speed, to 900 dirhams for the heaviest ; some infractions, like driving drunken, can also mean jail if you're involved in an accident.


• Points will be taken from your driving licence, but only if you're Moroccan.


• Police is everywhere on the road with mobile devices, and there are some fixed radars, but they are not yet in function. When spotted over the speed limit, the police barrage is a few meters after, and they stop you and fine you.


• You can discuss, there is a tolerance of 10% over the limit, but at the beginning they'll try to get you even for one kilometer over the limit.


• And, of course that's bad, but many policemen will trade 50 or 100 dirhams cash and forget the fine. That's bad, but don't forget 400 dirhams means a week work (minimum salary is 1800 dirhams a month, and you have a lot of people under that salary).

Anyway, Moroccan roads are not the safest, so drive carefully and slowly !

Ramadan 2007

Moroccan religious calendar being a lunar one, dates of the main events are changing every year. Ramadan in 2007, will start on 13th of September, "Inch Allah', and end on 12th of October.

This is a very special time in Morocco, the Holy Month means a lot for most of Moroccans. But, religious or no, all Muslims must observe its rules, or they risk to spend some time in jail in this life, and stay in inferno the the after-one. And that's not a joke, the risk or being signaled to the police and detained if you don't respect the rules are real. Some Moroccans don't respect Ramadan, but in the privacy of their home, behind closed curtains.

Ramadan preparation starts 40 days before. It's a time when alcohol, already normally prohibited, is strictly and totally prohibited, among other things. Tolerance disappears and drinking alcohol becomes a worse sin than usual. During Ramadan, alcohol will actually not be sold any more to Muslims (in normal times, though prohibited, it happens everyday).

This year, this period will be at the same time as the electoral campaign (elections will take place on the 7th of September).

Ramadan ends with Aïd El Fitr, "the small celebration", called with reference to Aïd el Kebir, the sacrifice celebration. Actually, celebration is every night, one visits his neighbors, friends, poor people are invited and fed, charity is distributed...

Life starts very early in the morning, and slows down in the day, and gets back in the evening, an hour after sunset (the first hour being for the first meal and prayers).

Less noticeable in the big centers, these changes are really visible in the South, in the small villages (and apart Ouarzazate and Zagora, everything in the South is a small village), where it can be impossible to find a shop opened to buy a bottle of water or a simple snack....

Fint

As a half-day trip from Ouarzazate, we can recommend Fint. You go there in 4WD, the track cannot be driven with a normal car. You arrive from the top of the mountains, with a splendid view over the village surrounded by high cliffs and partially hidden in the palm grove, along the bed of the Fint river.

End of May is the ideal time. The river is bordered with luxurious blossoming oleanders, and the abundant water created grazing fields of a green that could even look English !
You can spend the whole afternoon walking in the oasis and its shadowed alleys, drink a tea, or visit the small local pottery workshop.