Thinks to know before visiting Morocco

WATER

Finding free water in a dry country like Morocco is not always an easy feat. This is especially true if you intend to wilderness camp for a prolonged time in the deserts of the east. The easiest way to fill up water is to regularly stay on campgrounds, of course. If that is not an option, keep your eyes open for little water fountains. These are used by locals to get their drinking water, and often tourists can use them too. Regularly, they have two taps and are nicely decorated. The water flow is slow, however, so don’t expect to fill up a 500 l water tank quickly. If you are traveling close to the southern coast of the country, beware that the water can sometimes be extremely salty, even on campgrounds. This water is definitely not potable and frankly, barely usable for brushing your teeth.

POLICE CHECKPOINTS

Very soon after your arrival, you'll notice the countless police checkpoints around the country. Pretty much every time you enter or leave a city, police will slow down traffic and stop vehicles. As a western tourist, your chances are good to be waved through most of the time. Only in the south of the country and at some points along the coast in the north police are likely to stop you, ask for your passports and inquire about your destination. Don’t be worried if they step away from the vehicle with your documents for a moment. They are likely noting down your passport number or taking a picture of it. This is aimed at keeping tourists safe, although it feels somewhat weird.

MILITARY CHECKPOINTS

Similar to police checkpoints, the military also checks travelers, mostly to make sure they stay healthy and safe. This happens solely in the east of the country, close to the border with Algeria, and possibly in the south as you head into Western Sahara. The military will stop you much more often compared to police and either note down the details of your passport or ask for a fiche.

FICHE

A fiche is a document that has all your important information noted down, including your name and address as well as passport details and vehicle information. Sometimes, military personnel will ask you to hand over a fiche instead of noting down the details of your passport. It saves both sides a lot of time, so printing 10 or so fiche ahead of your trip is a good idea. At the end of the e-book you will find a template to print out or you can also download the fiche template here: https://shorturl.at/xGIQ4

BEGGING CHILDREN

Morocco is still a developing country. A lot of progress has been made in recent decades and the standard of living has improved, but nonetheless, poverty is still a large issue, especially in rural areas. As a result, you will often see children along the roadside begging for money or food. This behavior can come in many forms but most of them will wave at you and then indicate with their hand that they want you to stop or give them something. During the 7 weeks we spent in Morocco, we estimate that more than 500 children waved at us. Needless to say, you cannot help everyone. More importantly, the question is if you should stop at all. For us, the answer was no. We did not stop. The reason is that we think it is very detrimental to the development of these children if they perceive foreign tourists as some sort of money machine that provides them with free resources. Additionally, it will create instability in the micro economy if you help one but not another. So for us, the solution was to ignore them as best as we could and carry on. Sometimes that is easier said than done, especially if 20 kids come running towards you or are even actively blocking the road with their bicycles. Furthermore, the dark side also showed itself very quickly when we didn’t stop. In many cases, these children started shouting after us, screaming insults, or flipping us off. This strengthened our resolve not to stop. When it comes to giving food, they will often ask for sweets. But frankly, giving these kids sweets is probably the worst idea. Not only could it cause dental problems in the long run but sweets also have little nutritional value. If you really feel the need to help, maybe consider healthier options.

WILD CAMPING

Camping in nature is a great way to dive into the wilderness of Morocco. Saying that, wild camping is not possible everywhere. Especially along the entire coastline, wild camping is forbidden, and police will come and send campers away, sometimes even in the middle of the night. As long as you are staying inland, and especially so in the east of the country, wild camping is a perfectly viable option though. As a matter of fact, it sometimes is the only option as campgrounds are far and few in the desert. If you do intend to wild camp, remember to bring plenty of water and spare food, as well as fuel for emergencies. One thing to note about wild camping is that you are rarely truly alone. Because nomads roam even through the most desolate landscapes of the country, chances are good you’ll always see someone at some point. That can also result in encounters you usually would want to avoid, such as people approaching you for money or cigarettes. In one case, a group of three teenagers circled around our car for 45 minutes before we had enough and loudly asked them to leave.

CARRYING CASH

In Morocco, cash is king. Outside of large supermarkets, you’ll almost always have to pay cash. This applies to campgrounds, markets, most fuel stations, tourist sights and restaurants. Therefore, it is important to have a credit card that allows you to deduct money for a little fee abroad. Also note, that the daily limit on many ATMs is 2000 Dirham, which is less than 200 Euro. Lastly, don’t expect to see a receipt for your purchase at most establishments.

REFUELING

There are a large number of fuel stations around the country. Pretty much anywhere you go you’ll find a fuel station within 100 km. The only exception that requires some planning is the desert offroad tracks in the east. More importantly, however, is to know that not every fuel station takes credit cards. The first thing we always asked the gas station attendants - which will do the refueling for you - is if they take credit cards. We found that Shell and Total fuel stations are usually a good bet, whereas Afriquia fuel station attendants always said no.

GARBAGE

Morocco is full of trash. No matter which part of the country you visit, you’ll soon notice heaps of trash along the roadside or plastic wrappings being blown around the landscape. The reason for that is simple: too many Moroccans are ignorant of the effects of their behavior. If you keep your eyes open, you’ll undoubtedly spot people throwing plastic bottles or food wrappings out of their car windows or while they walk along the road. This happens everywhere: in cities, national parks or along beaches. As a result, loads of trash are piling up in many locations, taking away a lot of the natural charm of the country. Even in remote wilderness areas, such as in the sand dunes of the east, plastic bottles or oil canisters are a regular sight. There are efforts to clean up this mess. We saw several large cleaning crews in different cities. However, this seems to be a futile task if the underlying mindset doesn’t change.

DRONES

Bringing a drone to Morocco is illegal. Flying it, equally so. When you arrive by airplane, your luggage will be scanned and your drone will very likely be confiscated. If you arrive with your vehicle, you can easily hide the drone of course, just be aware that there are hefty fines if you are caught. For that very reason, we decided to leave our drone at home.

SPELLINGS Because many place names are translated from Arabic or Berber into the Latin alphabet, the spelling of place names is often all over the place. This not only applies to Google Maps and Maps.me but even to road signs where a city is spelled differently within a few hundred meters.

SPEAKING FRENCH

Without even a basic understanding of French, a visit to Morocco will be much harder. Outside of the very large cities, almost no one speaks English. Most people grow up speaking Arabic or Berber while learning a bit of French in school. Especially when it comes to conversing with police officers or military, understanding a little bit of French goes a long way to realizing which questions they are asking you. The same applies to doing purchases on a souk, in a small shop or checking in on many campgrounds.

SHOPPING

The easiest way to buy groceries is to go to a supermarket. The two largest chains are Carrefour and Marjanne. The surprising downside to that option is that there are no supermarkets in many towns and often not even in larger cities. Therefore, you will have to do a good bit of planning if you intend to travel around the country on a roadtrip. Sometimes you’ll need to purchase food for up to a week or more as no other supermarket can be found anywhere near. The second option is of course to follow the lead of the locals and buy your groceries on a souk (a market). The advantage is that almost every village has one and prices for everyday goods are often lower than in the supermarket. The downside is that it will take you much more time as every stall is selling something different. Additionally, if you purchase goods such as shampoo, expect to be ripped off and sold a counterfeit product. Our Nivea shampoo was clearly nothing else than some diluted hand soap with the lid screwed back on but with Nivea prices charged.

LOCAL SIM CARD

If you need mobile internet on your travels, purchasing a local SIM card is often a good idea. We went with Maroc Telecom which has very good coverage all around the country. Only in a few situations did we find ourselves fully without a signal. Loading up these SIM cards requires some effort though, as there is no fancy app for it. You can either go to a dedicated Maroc Telecom shop of which you’ll find one in every larger settlement. There you can ask them to recharge your SIM for mobile internet (in French, very likely) and they will do it for you. Alternatively, you can visit any of the little shops that have a small Maroc Telecom sign hanging at their door. These sell vouchers that you can then use to recharge your phone yourself. Most often, they are sold in the form of 20 DH for 2 GB of data. To recharge, call the number 555, follow the instructions of the menu, enter the number on your rechargeable voucher and then press *3. This will activate the amount to be used for mobile data. Beware, that if you recharge a 20 DH voucher, it will only be valid for one week. Even if you recharge 5 of them after one another, thus loading 10 GB of data onto your phone, they will only be valid for a week. If you need it to be active for longer, you’ll have to recharge 50 DH vouchers (which are rarely sold at small shops) or go to a Maroc Telecom shop where you can also load larger sums, such as 200 DH for 20 GB onto your phone.