Chilling in Ounagha before tackling the hustle and bustle of Marrakesh

We have travelled only 20 miles east form Essaouira and are parked up at Camping des Oliviers (N31.53274 W9.54705) in the small town of Ounagha, Sonny is surrounded by lovely Argan trees and brightly coloured red plants.  It’s our most expensive campsite to date at 105DH a night with electric (we are still keen to preserve our valuable gas until we get down to the Sahara Dessert).  That said the facilities are good for the price - showers and toilets are clean and hot (or so Mel tells me, I still prefer to use ours in the motorhome) and good strong Wi-Fi, so plenty of free t’internet.  It even has a swimming pool although that doesn’t get filled with water until May, a concrete table tennis table (that slopes to one side and has no net!), an outside barbeque area for campers and children’s play area.

Shelling peas and prepping for a barbeque steak lunch!

We decided we needed to chillax for a few days before hitting the madness of Marrakesh.  I last visited the city in 1983 and it was busy then, so I have told Mel we need to ‘brace’ ourselves for being approached by numerous touts, hassled by kids for money and lots of beggars on the streets.

Although the campsite is quite upmarket, the town unfortunately is not and is very run down. Just across the road from the campsite we saw a few workers making gates and furniture (beds and chairs) from scrap metal using grinders and welders, but saw no use of eye protectors!

There were a few shops selling the usual: bread, fizzy drinks, sweets and bottled water, a couple of fruit and veg stalls and a couple of butchers stalls hanging their carcasses of lamb and cows for all to see!

Ironically, in this small run-down town, you come across a vineyard 200m from the campsite on the N1 heading out of town– Les Domaines du Val D’argan   We never imaged we would come across one of these in Morocco!  You can get guided tours and a meal and wine tasting for 300DH per person.  We declined as 1. we had already eaten and 2. we thought it was too pricey.  Having declined we got a free mini-tour anyway, seeing how the wine is bottled, corked and labelled.  It is the smallest vineyard in Morocco and founded 17 years ago by Frenchman Charles Mélia, a Châteauneuf-du-Pape wine producer.  

They manufacture over 100,000 bottles of wine a year here – Gazelle of Mogador, El Mogador, The Vald’Argan, Orients of the Val d’Argan, and all from organic farming and export quite a lot.  For a moment we felt we had been transported back to France.  As we had had a free tour Mel felt obliged to buy some wine – think he would have bought some anyway!  Prices ranged from 70DH up to 320DH, we opted for 2 bottles of Gazelle red wine.

Part of the vineyard

Mel proudly carrying his 2 bottles of wine, disguised in a black bag

 Next stop Marrakesh, then over the high Atlas Mountains via Tizi n'Tichka Pass (a 2260 Climb) to Ait Ben Haddou.  Should be an interesting drive!

Sally x