Ride Morocco – The California of the Muslim World
Just as I completed my Asia cycling tour and starting riding Africa, COVID-19 hit. Miraculously, I breezed through Morocco before everything halted.
This would lead to an 18-month Moroccan adventure, a permanent residency card, and an inside-out exploration of my new home.
Voilà, the birthplace of Bankeronwheels.com!
By June ’21, thanks to its commendable pandemic response (Europe, take notes), Morocco reopened, granting me temporary freedom.
Once I left, I was hit by a nostalgia wave for six things I grew fond of and will sorely miss.
Consider this a sneak peek if you’re eyeing Morocco for your next getaway!
Learn a few words in French or Arabic and enjoy the ride in this exotic yet geographically close country.
SOME HIGHLIGHTS
- Elevate Your Cycling Experience: Reach new heights in Morocco, a land where roads climb above 3,000 meters, but be prepared with self-sufficient gravel equipment to tackle the unpaved terrains.
- Experience the California of the Muslim world with a climate closest to the Golden State, diverse landscapes , and a cultural immersion into Berbere culture, colonial heritage, and exceptional Moroccan hospitality.
- Rediscover authentic food in Morocco, from fresh olives and oranges to real honey and rural butter, and heal your health issues with seasonal African cuisine.
- Morocco is a relatively safe emerging country with friendly people, limited wildlife threat, theft risk limited to crowded tourist areas, safe food, and road safety challenges mainly in big cities.
Here is the full analysis
#1 Ride high (ABOVE 3,000 METERS)
Riding at high altitude in Africa is possible
Morocco has several places where you can reach 3,000m (and above) but you will need self-sufficient gravel equipment.
Roads are not paved up there, and you may only see a couple of shepherds for the entire day.
Europe‘s highest mountain pass is Pico del Veleta in Spain (3,380) but it’s nowhere as exotic.
For road cycling without gravel equipment, you can choose the absolute classics like Tichka pass (2,260m), relatively close to Marrakech with great roads.
peaking above 3k. A Road called 'close to the sky'.
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#2 THE CALIFORNIA OF THE MUSLIM WORLD
The climate is closest to California
Of all the places I’ve been to, the climate is closest to California, I think, in that it’s very mild and Mediterranean near the sea and quickly changes once you cycle inland.
Morocco also has the same size, population, and similar landscapes (read below!) as California so my comparison may be somewhat relevant.
Near Rabat, where I lived for over a year, the temperature is always within 18-27 C range (I never bothered looking at weather forecast and think about clothes for my rides).
The climate can become quickly dry and challenging once you go inland.
I frequently had my nose bleeding in the desert, which only happened to me in Morocco (not even in Australia).
And some parts of the country combine the two – you can have dry argan trees a few hundred meters away from the coast (Essaouira) protecting you from humidity, which is perfect for a long term stay.
The great thing about Morocco is that it almost never rains (even though some regions are quite humid) which is always a logistical challenge on a bike.
Prepare for cold nights in the desert, though. And if you cycle outside of peak season, snow will be part of the game in the Atlas mountains.
Best season to ride: Spring or Autumn
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#3 (RE)DISCOVER authentic FOOD
olives, oranges, mint or spices from your botanic garden
You probably know Tagines and Couscous quite well.
Morocco’s cuisine is much more than that. I really miss the seafood (Japan has exclusivity on importing some fish).
Quality of life is just different if you can pick olives, oranges, mint or spices from tress in your own botanic garden.
Watermelons weren’t far away from my place either.
Or you can prepare the occasional Amlou.
What I didn’t know is that I will discover real food.
Rare are Europeans for which it will be a re-discovery since this quality of food wasn’t seen in Western Europe (apart some southern European places) for decades.
Real honey, rural butter that has a somewhat cheesy taste, fermented Raid, delicious eggs that are more difficult to break due to a strong shell membrane (or amazing turkey eggs!)
My allergies went all away, for the first time in my life.
I am a big fan of Japanese cuisine if staying in a fully developed country, but access to raw food is priceless.
Both Asian and African cuisine have one thing in common – they are much more seasonal than ‘year round’ imported food that we got used to, especially in Northern Europe.
You will enjoy it no matter when you go!
#4 RIDE FROM SEA TO DESERT VIA THE ATLAS
Arizona-like canyons
Haven’t been to Utah, California or Arizona, yet?
Somewhat similar terrain and canyons await you in Morocco (with better food).
Landscapes are very diverse. Not the extreme variety of New Zealand or Peru but, by far some of the best in this part of the world.
The variety of fruits and vegetables are best proof of this diversity.
From humid Alpine mountains (Middle Atlas) where you can find monkeys, through Mediterranean climate in the Rif suitable for growing cannabis to the dry High Atlas.
Finally, the driest of all of them, the anti-Atlas range, hosted the first edition of the Atlas mountain cycling race in 2019.
Each mountain chain has its merits but my favorite parts are the Rif and northern part of High Atlas.
Various Moutain Ranges in Morocco
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#5 WITH A BIKE YOU EXPERIENCE A CULTURAL IMMERSION
Moroccan Street ARt
I first heard about exceptional Moroccan hospitality from a girl that cycled with me in Tasmania.
She loved Australia, but said Morocco is a real gem, just two to three-hour flight away.
Morocco is a Muslim country, but the Berbere culture in the Atlas brings another dimension to it.
It also has some colonial heritage from the Spaniards in the North, and the French.
To really know the people, ask them to stay in their homes in deep atlas and villages.
While having a tent to enjoy the night sky in the desert is almost mandatory, to get closer to the people (and have a warmer bed) learning a few words in French or Arabic can help.
That said, kids nowadays speak better English than French, in some parts of the country.
#6 USE SOME MOROCCAN WISDOM
Moroccan Street ARt
There is a good analogy from investing as it relates to handling the COVID-19 pandemic in Europe.
I found that a number of Western governments, often pressured by their electorates, have been very short-sighted and acted like amateur speculators.
Waking up in the morning and looking at Japanese candlesticks, our governments have been relying on short-term data (that was often lagging and inaccurate) and constantly adjusted lockdown policies.
Acting under high uncertainty involves applying precautionary principles and acknowledging its own limitations.
Asia had cultural advantages (top-down social structures, mask aka ‘care about your neighbor culture’ and SARS experience with pre-established protocols).
The US had a technological edge.
Morocco had wisdom. It will probably be one of the textbook cases on how to handle a pandemic without First-World resources. If there is even a post-mortem analysis of crisis response.
It was wise to close borders for almost the entire pandemic, leverage internal infrastructure to restrain movement, and not look to revert policies every other week.
Wisdom is to behave like a long-term investor that doesn’t feel the pressure to trade every day based on meaningless charts.
Wisdom is to behave like a long-term investor that knows his own weaknesses (here lack of infrastructure to handle the pandemic).
A safe Emerging country
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Safety
People are generally very friendly but the usual travel rules apply.
Some cyclists have reported slightly aggressive behavior in some villages in Africa, but generally this doesn’t apply to Morocco, based on my observations.
Terrorist threat is overblown. Morocco is a police state and relies heavily on tourism. Whether you notice it or not, rest assured that you are constantly being monitored (old-school way, without the Chinese tech, yet). Any suspect behavior in villages is usually reported.
Wildlife can be a threat in that wild dogs are quite common in rural areas. I do have a belt with me that I started using back in Tibet.
I didn’t personally experience any dangerous situations, though.
Theft can be pretty common in tourist areas (think Medina in Marrakech or some neighborhoods in Fez) or some parts of the country where you probably wouldn’t venture anyway (Sale near Rabat) but rural parts of the country are fairly safe.
As usual, I haven’t used a bike lock and haven’t had any issues.
Food is very safe based on my experience.
During my entire stay, I did not have any stomach issues while having had such problems in Asia on a few occasions.
Road safety can be a serious problem in Morocco.
However, I didn’t notice an elevated level of threat when cycling across the country, compared to other emerging countries.
And you probably won’t notice either, unless you decide to stay there for a few months.
As a general rule, the threat is quite limited in rural Morocco but very much present around cities.
I found this to be the case when I stayed in Rabat for over a year and heard stories from other road cyclists.
It’s not all anecdotal (see the cycling section), since the road fatality rate is 9x higher than in the UK.
Bottom line: Morocco is not an ideal casual road cycling place (yet) for weekend warriors living in large cities.
And if you're still worried about safety, get yourself a Beagle :)
Kotomi and Buddy Boy
Good Luck and Keep’em* Rolling!
(* Wheels & Dividends)
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