{"id":26650,"date":"2017-03-11T16:58:42","date_gmt":"2017-03-11T16:58:42","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/ourtour.co.uk\/home\/?p=26650"},"modified":"2019-04-11T17:02:16","modified_gmt":"2019-04-11T16:02:16","slug":"palms-camels-sand-dust-tata-foum-zguid-morocco","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/ourtour.co.uk\/home\/palms-camels-sand-dust-tata-foum-zguid-morocco\/","title":{"rendered":"Palms, Camels, Sand and Dust, Tata to Foum Zguid, Morocco"},"content":{"rendered":"

Zagan the motorhome’s shading me from the desert sun. It’s 33 in the shade and we’re parked on hard mud under four tall, faded-green palm trees in Camping Khayma Park, Foum Zguid, Morocco (N30.080244, W6.871981<\/a>). This campsite is one of two in Foum Zguid, and I’ve\u00a0seen ’em both on a cycle around the town. ‘String town’ is how we’ve come to describe places like this – as they feel like mile-long towns which are strung out, having the road as their focus rather than a square or some other point. This one’s an oasis, nothing particularly special (not around here anyway) in itself, dominated by a vast\u00a0sculptured landscape of palms, rock, dust and sand.<\/p>\n

\"Camping

Camping Khayma Park. Yes, we have a pool. No, we have no water. The site could use some tender loving care.<\/p><\/div>\n

OK, I’ve given up trying to see the screen in the glare of the sun, and am sat inside the van now. The heat’s cutting straight through the blinds behind me, and my skin’s glistening. Yes, I could wait for it to cool down until later on, but I’m a muppet.<\/p>\n

I liked Tata and didn’t much want to leave. We didn’t need to leave, and we had a great spot by the river. Days started to settle into a rhythm: the minarets cranked up their loudspeakers even before the dawn call to prayer, lifting us from sleep. With sunrise about 8am I’d leap from bed and deploy the awning, as low as I could but not low enough, and the sun cresting the palms opposite started the day’s Zagan baking. The bike cover would be pulled around the side to shade the fridge, and we’d take the blue\u00a0blocks from the freezer\u00a0and pop them in the fridge to help keep the milk cold.<\/p>\n

We’d breakfast outside, after checking on how the previous night’s video uploads were doing. Then we’d gear up to face the onslaught of the sun, by resting up like three geckos. Daytime entertainment came in the form of frog choruses, a man chasing a donkey, young locals doing backflips, colourful ladies crossing the river, the various calls to prayer one after the other down the valley, and a thousand and one other small and unusual things, all viewed from the shade of our awning. One of us would make a foray out for supplies or for a look around, while the other stayed with Charlie to keep him cool and safe outside our\u00a0oven of a van. Come evening we’d gaze at the stars, watch satellites glide overhead, read, watch TV, browse Facebook and look through photos. Life in Tata was good, but maybe too good, we were vegetating.<\/p>\n

\"Irrigation

Irrigation in the Tata oasis<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Earth

Earth and stone buildings in Tata<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Many

Many of the old buildings are collapsing in Tata. Folks still live in them in the old town and surrounding villages, but modern materials look to be increasingly used<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Looking

Looking south-west down the Oued Tata<\/p><\/div>\n

\"Ladies

Ladies in colourful local dress crossing the river in Tata<\/p><\/div>\n