Page 39 - Qaranc Spring 2014

wonder where points 2 & 3 came from. On our final night in the desert, one of the three camels decided that he liked where we had pitched our tent and wanted us to move. He had urinated on one side of the tent, but that didn’t shift us, so he decided to sit on it! As you can imagine, we were not best pleased at 0200hrs. We had to wake up one of the camel drivers to move him so we could get to sleep. However, this camel desperately wanted this space. By 0300hrs we had two camels sat on either side of the tent as you can guess; two very unhappy campers (us not the camels!)
So the moral of the story, if you’re not careful camels will urinate on you (the Tent that is) and then sit on you.
It wasn’t only the lack of hostile fire that made the trek so enjoyable.
The temperatures are bearable during the Moroccan winter, camels are used to transporting tents and equipment so you don’t have to carry a heavy pack and a couple of assistants with a cook are provided to help out. By the time we arrived at camp each evening, the mess tent was up and dinner was on the boil. I need to make special mention for our cook, Mohammed. I will never know how he managed to cook such delicious food in his wilderness kitchen. Sitting on top of a glowing sand dune at dusk, with sand bread in hand is unforgettable. The chef actually made fresh bread in the desert from heating up the sand with a fire, burying the bread mixture and waiting for it to bake. AMAZING. It was a very special experience made possible by his amazing culinary skills. We ended the trip at Marrakesh and spent time in the souks/markets, haggling to my hearts content. I didn’t
give the ‘how I am going to get this home’ any thought when buying all the locally made Moroccan items. All of which are all safely delivered home and proudly on display. The large Tagine dish I bought has sadly not been put to good use yet.
I will be returning back to Moroccan at some point this year to complete another of Gorilla Mountaineering’s, tours; this time a climb, up Toubkal, which towers over 4km. Hope to see you there!
SSgt Debbie Fordham
THE GAZETTE QARANC 37