The final part of our Morocco trip in 2024 was along the valleys southeast of the Middle Atlas and the Mediterranean coast of Morocco, more or less the same route we took in 1987 with our four-year-old daughter. As on our first trip, there are still almost no tourists in this part of Morocco. But the locals here are incredibly friendly and lovely.

Thanks to several sandstorms (see article about the Anti-Atlas), we had already enjoyed far too much sand and, unlike in 1987, we skipped the beautiful oasis of Tafilalet, where the Sahara looks like a picture book. In 1987 we climbed an almost 200 meter high sand dune there and rolled rapidly down the steep slope - an unforgettable experience, but we had sand everywhere, even in our ears.

The magnificent High Atlas is the mightiest mountain range in the Atlas Mountains with peaks almost as high as the Alps or Rocky Mountains. Its tallest peak Mount Toubkal, at 4167 meters above sea level, is the highest point in Morocco and North Africa. Therefore it is a very popular destination for mountaineers and hikers.

Before we came to Imlil, we visited the metropolis of Marrakesh at the southwestern foot of the High Atlas Mountains for the third time in our lives after 1986 and 1987.It's the most famous city of Morocco with a lot of exciting museums, palaces and more culture, and also the eponym for Morocco. Its Medina has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985 and the huge main square Jemma el Fnaa - The assembly of Death - was the first entry on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008.

The Anti-Atlas or Little Atlas is the southernmost range of the mighty Atlas Mountains. It stretches from the Atlantic Ocean approximately 500 kilometers northeastwards between the High Atlas and the Sahara desert. The Anti-Atlas is a traditional region of the Berber people with various dialects and a totally different writing which reminded us a little bit on Greek characters. Mainly they live in oasis in the extreme dry desert climate with huge differences between the settlements. Famous are its castles - Kasbah and fortified granary citadels - Agadir.

From our westernmost point on this trip to Morocco - Sidi Ifni on the Atlantic coast we came directly to our southernmost - busy Guelmim which is called the door to the Sahara desert. Its is an old medium sized city with approximately 200,000 people where in former times the camel caravans from Mauritania, Senegal and other sub Sahara areas ended, and traded their goods.

On February 7th 2024 we came the third time in our lives to Morocco.  We had been there in the years 1986 and 1987 with our little daughter (two and half years / four years) and our self equipped tiny camper Volkswagen Bully T2. We were very curious how Morocco had been changed in these 37 years. Indeed there are a lot different items like less poverty but a lot of waste, more paved streets but many policemen and much more tourism. But the people are as amiable and the landscapes are as magnificent as we had them in our memory.

This time we crossed the strait of Gibraltar with the convenient ferry from Tarifa, Spain (southernmost village of the continent Europe) directly to busy Tangier which is with approximately 1 million inhabitants one of the biggest city of Morocco.

Tanzania is a peaceful tropical paradise in East Africa with friendly and mainly happy people. Its nature is overwhelming with famous national parks like Serengeti, pristine beaches on the Indian Ocean and Lake Tanganyika, and huge mountains like 5895 meters high Kilimanjaro which is the tallest peak of Africa. In addition there is a lot of touching culture like Stone Town on the island Zanzibar.

Chimps in the Gombe National on shore of Lake Tanganyika

Of course we had the intention to climb up Kilimanjaro. Close to the mountain and between the two larger cities Moshi and Arusha is the Kilimanjaro International Airport where we entered Tanzania together with Marion's brother Tommy mid of January 2019.