| The next morning we began our trip across the Middle Atlas. Climbing up the North side of the mountains was much like a trip to Switzerland. We passed through beautiful wooded terrain and made our first stop in the quiet village of Ifrane. The weather was begining to clear and we were leaving the clouds behind us.
| Soon enough, we crossed over the top of the range and began our descent into the desert part of Morocco. Barren sand and rocks greeted our view from the bus windows.
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| In this part of Morocco live the Bedouin, the desert nomads. They have goatskin tents like this one. The tents are few and far between as this inhospitable desert will not support many herds.
| We began to leave the Atlas mountains behind us as we continued across the desert. The scenery on all sides was beautiful to see.
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| In the former French Foreign Legion outpost of Er-Rachicia we stopped at this colorful restaurant for lunch. On this portion of the tour lunches were included as it would be very difficult to find any other options.
| We lunched on typical Berber food served in tajines. It usually consisted of couscous, meat and vegetables, served with delicious local bread.
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| Soon we passed into the beautiful scenery of the Ziz Gorges, with spectacular rock strata on all sides. The bus made frequent photo stops as we could not resist the wonderful shots.
| In the late afternoon we arrived in the oasis of the Ziz Valley at the village of Erfoud.
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| We stayed at the Hotel Kenzi Belere, a charming complex of mud brick cottages, but with a thoroughly modern pool and restaurant.
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