January 04, 2012

by Stephen Jan in Daklha, Morocco

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Since we were waiting for Hassan to finish his work anyway, Colin suggested that we take a trip out to the desert to experience a taste of nomadic life. We were told to leave our gadgetry behind and hop in Martin’s Land Rover.

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Land Rovers have very different capabilities from Ford E350 Ambulances. When we drive, we’re paranoid about speed bumps, pot holes, and gusts of wind.  Martin on the other hand demonstrated doesn’t even care about roads. He can drive on it, off it, and weave around it. NewYears

Impressive, hats off to the Land Rover, but we’re still the ones with the disco ball.

Our first stop was to the beach. Colin, being the modern day African MacGyver that he was, knew the area like the back of his hand. He knew where to go, when to go and what to look for. The plan was to harvest mussels from the beach NewYears

when the tide receded. This hinged on knowing where to go and being there at the right time. Given the fact that the only landmark you’ll see in the desert is sand sand and more sand, it’s pretty amazing that he was able to find anything.

Martin and I went to work on the mussels while Colin took Dennis and Mike around the beach to pick oysters off the rock. NewYears

It doesn’t get any fresher than that.

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After a couple hours wading around the beach pulling mussels and oysters off the rocks, Martin took us deeper into the desert.

We made our way to an area that I guess would be considered an oasis. I really have no idea where it was, all I knew was that we drove past mine field warning signs and giant sand dunes and hills. I was amazed at this patch of green in the middle of the desert inhabited by a lone donkey. Field of green grass and trees in the middle of the desert was a pretty weird sight, but there it was.

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That night, we built a camp fire and grilled fresh mussels deep in the desert. Each of us picked a spot near a bush to shield us from the wind. I was once again anticipating a starry night. That night, the moon was out and lit up the entire desert.

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