The Morocco Adventure

The beautiful city of Casablanca welcomed the Explorers last Friday, ready for yet another adventure, this time in the magical Country of Morocco.
The first day, as per our GIVI Explorer tradition, was dedicated to the distribution of the custom made riding gear and the assignment of the motorcycles. Before dinner, personnel from both the promoter and GIVI introduced the itinerary of the trip and explained a few basic safety rules for the group ride. Saturday 10 was the first day on the road. After a quick check of the motorcycles, the group headed to the showroom of Mob Shop, GIVI importer for Morocco, where it was greeted by several members of the local media. After a few interviews, pictures and videos, the Explorers finally hit the road, headed to the ancient city of Fez.The first leg of the trip (Casablanca to Fez) covered 347 Km in a little more than 5 hours, with an average speed of 62 km/h.
The streets in this part of Morocco are wide and well paved, and besides the usual herd of sheep or the occasional obnoxious dog getting in the way, the ride was smooth and comfortable for everybody. The landscape was beautiful: rolling hills reminiscent of Tuscany suddenly giving way to plateaus covered in red clay and vast patches of olive trees.
The city of Fez, final destination for the first day of the ride, is the second largest city in the Country and it was founded in the 8th century. Fez is considered the religious and cultural capital of Morocco, and the Medina (the old city within the ancient walls) hosts, hidden among its narrow alleys, more than 800 small and large mosques and a myriad of tiny shops and restaurants. It has also been designated as UNESCO World Heritage site in 1981.
Tomorrow the group will cross the Atlas mountains to end in Arfoud, an oasis city in the Sahara desert.

The 4th day the Explores left the city of Fez to head towards the Atlas mountains. It was a great ride, with the landscape changing constantly with the elevation change: from pastures to forests, to the patches of snow at the very top of the mountain range. After a visit to the monkey colony that lives by the millenary “big cedar” tree in the Parc National D’Ifrane – near the town of Azrou – the group reached the pass at 2,192 meters and immediately started to descend towards the Sahara desert. It was once again a changing landscape that greeted the riders, from deep canyons carved by twisty (and fun!) roads, to blue mountain lakes and finally the first signs of the desert approaching, with everything around becoming progressively flat and dry, without any sign of vegetation. For this reason, the sudden appearance of all the palm trees at the bottom of Ziz Valley was even more impactful, giving everybody a good idea of what the sight of an oasis could have been to an ancient traveler crossing this desolate but beautiful land.Just around twilight, with the last light barely tracing the outline of the mountains in the distance, the GIVI Explorers reached the city of Arfoud, built around one of the largest oasis in the Sahara desert.

The 4th day of the Adventure started off nice and easy, without the usual “crazy-early” wake-up call. Instead they covered only 60 km and dedicated the morning to a few interesting visits to a fossil shop and the market in Merzouga (the real one, where all the locals go and not the usual tourist trap).After lunch it was finally time for the most anticipated part of this trip: the visit to the Sahara desert.
The whole experience included a short off-road stretch, a camel ride (actually dromedary) among the sand dunes and a night in the berber tents, under the stars.
Unfortunately not everything went as smooth as expected, with a few riders falling victim early on to some deep sand patches. Luckily, only a few egos were hurt in the process, but the time lost pushed the arrival to camp way past sunset.
The dromedary ride was awesome, though. The experience of bumping around, sitting high up on the top of these funny looking yet magnificent animals, among the reddish sand dunes at sunset was definitely one to remember. The Berber camp didn’t disappoint either, and the tents were decorated and comfortable just like any other regular hotel room in the city.

The 5th day everybody got up just before dawn, but “thanks” to a very unusual cold and gloomy weather, even for November, the Explores missed the opportunity to admire the sunrise among the dunes. Regardless, it was another epic day of riding, for a total of 295 Km in about 5 hours. After riding the dromedaries back to the motorcycles, the group hit another stretch of off-road before getting back on tarmac and heading towards the world famous Todra Gorge. A nice, scenic route, that made it very hard to resist the urge to twist the throttle beyond any reasonable limit…That is exactly when disaster hit. One of the riders had a very bad crash and it’s a true blessing that he walked away untouched.
Let’s hear it from the rider himself:
“Somewhere between the ever-shifting dunes of the Sahara and the immutable majesty of the Todra Gorge, disaster happens.
Having tackled an exciting hilly pass on one of those beautiful riding days that you wish would go on forever, I ease up on a straight section to admire the looming mountains. It’s only for a second, but it’s enough to hit a patch of sand on the road that puts my bike into a tankslapper, resulting in rider and bike going their separate ways at some speed. Thanks to the full riding protection of my Hevik Ikaro jacket and Givi X33 helmet, once I stop tumbling I find myself covered in little more than a few small bruises and scrapes, not to mention copious amounts of sand. The biggest ache comes from the desire to jump back into the saddle. The bike, alas, is not able to oblige – severe damage means it will never be ridden again.
Apart from the fact that it’s possible to crash in a straight line, the incident has left me two lifelong takeaways: always keep an eye on the road ahead no matter how tempting the scenery, and always use the very best riding protection. Even if you have one disaster, a second one can be averted.” – Leow Ju-Len from SingaporeIt was a big scare, of course, not only for Ju-Len but for all the members of the Explorer family. The thought that he was 100% ok and the view of the magnificent Todra Gorge just a couple of hours later, helped everybody to regroup and enjoy the rest of the ride.
Let’s talk about the Todra Gorge for a minute: it is an incredibly tight passage among tall and imposing red rock cliffs, one of those things that words can’t really describe. It is, of course, a very popular destination, but neither the burble of the Todgha river, nor the buzzing of the tour buses, the voices of the tourists and the yelling of the street vendors cannot distract from this powerful show of nature.From there the Explorers turned around, in the direction of Boumalne Dades. A fast, twisty road, with smooth pavement and beautiful views all around, the perfect ending to a nice day on the road. Not even the rain in the last few kilometers could spoil it (well, Ju-Len probably begs to differ…)!

Wednesday November 14, was the 6th day of the 2018 Morocco Adventure. The Explorers were set to ride all the way to Agoudal pass before heading to the Dades Gorge and eventually end their day in Ouarzazate. But the few drops of rain of the night before turned into a full fledged storm up in the mountains and the off-road loop to the pass had to be canceled. The rain also caused the temperature to drop significantly and the big challenge of the day was dealing with the cold weather. The travelers bundled up with all they had in their cases and bags and hit the road around 9 in the morning. The first stop was the vantage point of Timzzillite, an hotel and restaurant that has become World famous for the magnificent view of the switchbacks that exit the Dades Gorge, on route R704. After that, the group headed South, following the East flank of the Atlas mountains all the way to Ouarzazate. It was a sensational ride, made mostly of nice roads with fast & sweeping corners, surrounded by the now familiar and beautiful Moroccan landscape. Once in Ouarzazate, a small town mostly known for being the hub where many famous Hollywood movie productions were based, some of the Explorer elected to stop and rest, while others pushed for another 70 kilometers roundtrip to reach and visit the fortified village of Aït Benhaddou.
What an incredibile place! A complete fortified village (ksar in local language) made of adobe (dried mud), sitting on the top of a hill that dominates the only passage through the valley. The village was built in a very strategic position, as it was on the caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakesh, and today is on the list of the UNESCO World Heritage sites. It was also featured in many movies, “The Gladiator” being the most famous in recent years.
A curios fact: the whole ksar needs to be renovated and rebuilt every three to four years, because the rain progressively washes out the adobe and weakens the buildings.

Thursday November 15, was the 7th and last day of riding of the 2018 Morocco Adventure. The Explorers today are traveling to Valencia where they will be VIP guests of the LCR Honda Team and enjoy the last race of the MotoGP season in person.
The last ride, from Ouarzazate to Marrakech, covered a total of 194 kilometers and reached 2,209 meters of elevation, when the group reached the top of Mount Tichka, in the heart of the Atlas mountains. The last leg of the Moroccan side of the tour took more than 3 hours, due to the cold, some heavy traffic and the very bad conditions of the road, muddy and with several unpaved sections. The arrival to Marrakech, the final destination of the adventure, was celebrated with a small event organized by the GIVI importer for Morocco, Mob Shop, and several group pictures. After a quick shower, the Explorers headed towards the medina and its World famous market, and concluded the night with a nice, traditional dinner. During the final event everybody contributed to “Riding for Reading”, a charity started by GIVI to give children from several developing Countries scholarships and educational material. Because GIVI Explorer is not just about riding motorcycles around, it’s a mindset and a way of life.