Figuig

At the eastern end of the desert highway is the oasis town Figuig. This used to be an important crossing point into Algeria and a traditional stop over for pilgrims to Mecca. Morocco and Algeria fell out in 1994, since when the border has been closed. Figuig has many palms and a significant industry with dates but, along with several other border towns, the local economy has taken a beating.

From Ouarzazate we headed east to Rissani. Easy driving. Open desert. Mountains. The miles flowed by without effort. In the evenings, we could just drive a little way off the road to find peace and quiet. During the day, it was warm and sunny. Later, we could toast the sunset as the air cooled down and the bright desert stars came out. Nights in the desert

At Rissani we turned north on what is known as the “desert highway” following the fertile Ziz valley past Erfoud. We were back on the tourist trail here. Hotels, cafes and restaurants abound. We saw many motorhomes, campsites and Renault 4 cars. An awful lot of Renault 4 cars. Driving singly, in pairs, in groups of six or more. Parked by cafes, by the roadside, under trees, small clusters on tracks. Often brightly coloured. Some carrying spare wheels and some sporting banks of roof mounted lights. They were all liveried with rally numbers. We had stumbled into the path of the 4L Trophy, billed as an annual humanitarian rally across the Moroccan desert in aid of providing children with school supplies. It has been running since 1997 and is only open to students driving Renault 4 cars. Now I am sure there are enthusiastic fans of the Renault 4. It may well be a great car but to me they are ugly, ungainly and to be honest, make me laugh. This year there were 3,000 competitors (students) in 1,500 cars (Renault 4). Since they were heading the other way, we had to pass every single one of them. Took several hours of almost continuous Renault 4 cars. Most of which were rally prepared in a very student fashion and all off which brought a little smile to my face. 

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40 km or so north of Erfoud  we turned east away from the tourists and further out into the desert. We passed many palmeries. Plantations of palms. They were all new. I do not think I saw a mature tree but we did see acres and acres of small, freshly planted palms. This area is dry, open desert. Not much will grow here naturally and certainly not palms. Each plant needs irrigation. This means that each palmery has a well, a pump, a big open holding tank and miles of irrigation pipes. Each plantation is a big investment in time, effort and money. We passed scores of these. Someone has put millions into setting all this lot up and it has all been done in just the last couple of years. In all the plantations we passed there could not have been one that was starting to earn money yet. I found this quite remarkable. My natural inclination would have been for a more organic approach. Start with a few palmeries and see how it goes. What we were seeing was all in, flat out, total commitment. I hope the world is ready for a lot more dates.

In Figuig they have a history of growing date palms. We stopped at the Hotel Figuig for coffee and a view over the valley full of big, mature palms. The hotel, like the town, is pleasant but has a bit of a run down, end of the world feel to it. In the distance was Algeria. Did not really look any different. It is all desert but there is a line and no one is allowed to cross it. We finished our coffees and then, because the border is closed, all we could do was turn around and head back west.

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