Arriving back in hot and crowded Marrakech and its crazy traffic was a shock after the comparative quiet and cool of Essouira. Crossing roads here involves saying a prayer and stepping off the curb with teeth clenched, waiting for impact, as scooters, cars, buses and horse drawn carriages weave in and out of your path. We have already seen one motorcyclist bowled off his bike by a taxi as both vehicles attempted to take the same gap. Happily, metropolitan Marra...

Essouira is a picturesque white and blue painted coastal town with impressive city walls and a medina which is more easily navigable than any of the previous towns we've visited. Our hotel was on the beachfront, a short walk from the fishing port and medina. We said goodbye to Ali, our quietly skilful driver who, miraculously it seems, drove us all this way without a motoring incident. It was then time for an evening stroll to check out the historic sights, inc...

Our journey from Todra Gorge to Ait Benhaddou took us through "Mollywood" - Morocco's movie making capital. It was another scorching day and I was feeling a little overwhelmed by the heat, but rallied the energy for a tour of the movie studio open for visitors. We walked through sets from movies such as "Gladiator", "Prince of Persia", "Kundun", "Alexander", "Kingdom of Heaven" and a remake of "Ben Hur". Part of the studio was closed to us as filming was in progr...

Todra Gorge is Morocco's largest canyon. Our guide had promised that it would be cooler there, but as we travelled closer this was difficult to believe. One electronic sign we passed recorded the temperature at 47 degrees. We stopped to see a local well used for watering camels. A nomadic family were at the well preparing for the arrival of their small herd. The father, whose face was covered with a black scarf to protect against the sun and dust, was busily hau...

Visiting the Sahara was one of the highlights of our trip I was most looking forward to, and it didn't disappoint. After travelling most of the day, it was around 4pm that we caught our first glimpse of sand dunes in the distance. Against the brilliant blue sky, the dunes appeared to glow pink, and in front of us the air shimmered in the heat (it was easily 40 degrees). We began to see camels, some roaming the plains around us in search of something green to ea...