REVIEW: MEB MOROCCO TRIUMPH TIGER ADVENTURE

Adventure with a Capital 'A'......

Adventure they wanted - adventure they got! Our forecast proved to be accurate!

We will forget the journey through Spain to join Grenade, even though it supplied a percentage of emotion and hell! Instead we start in Alhambra city where we met in a superb hotel. The next day saw us visiting the foothills of Sierra Nevada following some marvellous roads towards the rock of Gibraltar. Cross-over to Morocco, direction Ceuta and disembarkation on Moroccan soil with its customs, regulations and buckets of paper-work!  As a result of some over zealous officials we lost three hours on our schedule, which meant a rush to get to Fez before nightfall.

The next day the adventure started for real with lodgings right in the Middle-Atlas - under canvass! For many it was their first experience of camping for over 20 years, and it turned into a super experience. We were only missing a few degrees on the thermometer and a couple of bottles of wine to make it truly unforgettable. We promise to rectify that next time!

On our third day we attacked the first tracks. 15km of easy riding was quickly followed by 30km of tortured riding. All riders finished the section with honour, and at the evening stop in a magnificent hotel near Beni Mellal, they adopted the confident air of fighters! The following day was devoted to tourism. We visited the Cascades of Ozoud, widely regarded as one of the most spectacular sites in Morocco. Only one problem emerged: a devil’s thunderstorm such as they can strike in Africa in early summer, which discouraged some of the group to ride the marvellous 30km dirt track to Skatt. As it turned out the conditions were favourable, although a rather slippery surface turned it into a memorable experience! In the evening we all met in de Gorge of Ourika, near Marrakech, wondering at the river charged with red clay searching its way through the canyon.

Next morning the sunshine had come back, announcing the great journey southwards. Up to Igherm it was a Sunday walk. At that point, and as we were still behind the schedule, we decided to take the 55 km track to Tata …   some still blame me for this! At the time of the reconnaissance we had foreseen 4 km of difficulties, but the storm of the previous day and road works on this track multiplied the distance by 5, and after over 5 hours of misery we joined the valley and palm-grove that to many of us seemed to have an air of promised land.  One must say that steering a Tiger over a 4 m wide track strewn with holes and stones, and bordered by a 400 m deep ravine, is enough to cause some fright.  Well, believe me or not, we had not a single fall, nor a single mechanical problem. That day I truly believe that Allah was really was with us!  

The journey of the next day was the longest of the adventure, as we had not foreseen all these troubles. In the evening, at Mahmid, after crossing part of the Northern Sahara and climbing up to Zagora through the valley of thousand Kasbah’s, some people were after my skin! Unfortunately there was no spare time for a rest in the desert; we had to go and make the great track journey of the Raid.  For a starter we had 90 km between Zagora and N’kob, 90 km with just a few difficult passes, where the advice of our friend Jean-Paul, participant to the Raid but also experienced enduro-rider was very useful.  A marvel it is this track. Wriggling between palm-groves and canyons, where the heath sometimes suffocates you, the villages have medieval looks and the local population an inborn sense of hospitality.

We had another 100 km of tarmac just in front of a classic of the adventure raids: Alnif – Tinerghir, 55 km, three hours including photographs and a tea-stop at café Bellevue. This was already a difficult track – the weather had ‘helped’ to further change the road into a ploughed field. It took us two more hours to reach the end, exhausted, but without any breakdowns.  We owe thanks to our guide who led us through detours, avoiding misery, and mainly to the same Jean-Paul who did not hesitate to cross all the bikes through one particularly demanding section that we were incapable to do so. When we returned to the tarmac, we felt for only one thing: to sleep! Hence we went on to the village of Tamtatouche, an unspoilt town bereft of tourism. Our night in the Guesthouse of friends turned into an unforgettable experience, complimented by some superb food.

Next day it was once again impossible to ride following the road-book.  The wind and rain had swept away everything and cut the tracks. Thus we headed southwards again enjoying the gorge of the Tohdra, which we had left aside the previous day. Our plan was to stop at Merzouga, but our agent informed us that the guesthouse over there had been partially destroyed by the flood! Luck was on our side, and we managed to secure accommodation in another hotel, which just happened to be full of participants of the Rally ORPI of Morocco.  To have dinner in the company of Carlos Sainz and Schlesser, to have Lavieille, De Villiers as neighbours, to share a glass of wine with the complete factory run KTM team on their bikes … these experiences are not common!  The participants of the Tiger Adventure in future will see images of the Paris-Dakar Raid, and be entitled to say they have had a personal and very close view of the vehicles and the pilots.

The next day was, in principle, devoted to rest … but with the rally so close, some of us went to watch some of the competition. Others preferred a lazy day visiting old Kasbahs and relaxing. The group came together again in the evening, and sheltered from a huge sandstorm. With winds reaching 120km/h we were delighted to be inside. It was one of the most memorable experiences of the adventure.

The next day sunshine was on duty again, and we left for what will be remembered as “the perfect journey for Tigers” … a mix of broken roads, tracks through the cedar forest, loose cattle, packs of apes, and permanently the smiles of the inhabitants and their kindness towards the greeting passer-by. In the evening, reaching Khenifra, we could smell the end of the voyage. From there we rode to Assilah, the last journey of the trip, over a sample of small roads snaking through hills and valleys, everyone carrying in his heart a piece of this sympathetic Morocco, and felling the appeal of Europe. Arriving at the end of the journey we all visited the souk for purchases we had been unable to do due to the intensity of the Raid. We had some 100 km left to remember as much images as possible of this superb voyage - even if to some of us it reached the limit of exhaustion – and engrave them in our memories.

Our thanks go to the Moroccan Ministry of Tourism for their efficient help all along this tour, to Euroferry and their agents Euromer for the welcome aboard their vessels and for the gifts received, to the Agency MC Voyages Marrakech for the quality of the action of our guide and their quick response to the events that failed to endanger the organisation of the Raid, to Château de Falgueirol at Chateauneuf du Pape for the disposition we enjoyed of their 4X4 and which was more than useful in many circumstances, to Wakkas, our guide, for his advice and perfect knowledge of his country, and to all attendants to this Morocco Tiger Adventure for their understanding, their good mood and their spirit of helpfulness.

See you next year at the Iberian-Morocco Adventure, a different concept, but always with the same aim:  to make you discover Morocco far out of the beaten tracks.

Hervé Descamps
MEB