I was recently sent an email and asked about some tips for Morocco. Most of what I’ve said here is also on other posts, but I’ve just rattled-off some of the main points. So, my biggest tips are:
CLOTHING. How much gear will you need…? You will be surprised how little you actually need. The bulk of my gear on my trip were spares, food, camping and cooking equipment. My clothes were actually very few:
- COURSE Four Seasons 3 Jacket & Trousers.
- Altberg Defender boots
- 3 pairs of socks and 3 pairs of boxer shorts (cotton)
- 3 tee shirts, 3 riding shirts, two easy-wash shirts and 1 pair of easy-wash trousers.
- Washing kit and towel.
- Boat shoes and flip-flops.
- Warm jacket, fleece, hat, belt and rucksack.
- Laptop, cables, GoPro kit, batteries and portable battery.
CAMPING EQUIPMENT. For camping equipment, besides my tent I had:
- Solar-charging camping Light and a USB rechargeable light.
- A camping pillow and a blow-up pillow (as a spare)
- Blow-up mattress.
- Spare pegs, spare guy-ropes plus a small camping hammer.
PRACTISE. My biggest tip here is this: about a month before you make a big trip, load up your bike with everything you intend to take with you and go away for a few days – camping at a different place each night. This will help towards:
- Cutting down the time it takes putting your tent up and down.
- Makes you realise what things you use and what you do not use.
- Makes you realise what works and what doesn’t.
This will get you into a routine – ride, camp, cook, un-camp, ride, camp, cook etc.
SAFETY. Cities like Tangier and Casablanca are just that: cities. As soon as you arrive in Morocco hit the road and start your adventure because there are so many other wonderful places to visit. Don’t be shy of heading into the interior, because the Moroccan people are friendly and helpful. If you want to go to Morocco:
- Work out firstly how long you are going for. One week, two weeks, one month or longer.
- Depending on how long you are going to be in Morocco, spend time on Google maps looking for the places you want to visit.
- Once you’ve worked out where you want to visit – join the pins together and you will more or less have a route.
- Be realistic with your route and the time you have to travel. If you try to fit too many things or places into your itinerary then you may end up spending most of your time travelling too fast and your journey will be over too quickly. Be realistic.
ACCOMMODATION. Use iOverlander to work out where your campsites are. If you don’t want to camp, use Booking.com or Hotels.com to work out where you want to stay. I always booked my hotel at the last minute because if you book in advance, there is no guarantee that the hotel may be there is you turn up six months later. Also, when you are on the road, you never know when you want to make a diversion or maybe stay longer at one place, so I always booked my hotel/guest house the day before or even on the day itself.
MONEY. As soon as you get off the ferry in Morocco there are ATM’s nearby, and there are always ATM’s in big and small towns. Just use Google maps to find a nearby ATM. I used a Revolute card for my whole trip, taking out money £100 at a time. Morocco is a cash society, so you always need to carry cash. Also, try to get as many low denomination notes as you can. When trying to buy some apples and giving the guy a 100 dirham note will cause the guy on the stall some hassle. It’s like paying for a packet of chewing gum in Europe and handing over a 50eu note. Always try to accumulate low denomination notes, and especially 5 and 10dm coins. When you’re on a street market and want to buy a coffee, bread or some fruit, if you have coins or a small note, it makes the sale easier. Also, LEARN TO COUNT IN FRENCH….
FUEL. It’s clean and you will find a petrol station in every large town. The rule here is if your tank is half or a bit less and you see a petrol station – always top-up. You may be getting low on fuel, get into a town and find that their only petrol station has run out of fuel or they’re closed while the staff have gone to the mosque for prayers. When you stop for fuel, you don’t do it yourself – a man will operate the pump for you. I’d always try to get him to stop at about 120 or 130 dirhams – and then give him 150 as a tip. It always gets a smile. Even if it was 100 or 200 dms, I would give him some coins. They don’t earn a lot and it’s a good tip.
SAFETY. Morocco is a superb country, and it’s also a safe country. The people are welcoming, honest and friendly and a Moroccan will go out of their way to help you if you need help.
BEGGARS. The only time I’ve had problems with beggars is in Merzouga – in the south east. It’s a touristy place and because the kids are so used to begging from weak tourists it’s become an industry. If you go to Merzouga, stay on the official campsite or in a hotel. If you wild camp outside the town the kids will make your life a misery. I’m happy to give tips but I never give money to beggars, and I wanted to stay a few days in Merzouga but left after one night because the begging was relentless.
FOOD. When touring in Morocco there are always small shops and supermarkets in every town so buying food, snacks or water isn’t a problem. Also, stopping at small roadside cafe’s isn’t a problem either – but be warned – sometimes they can serve you a lot of food and you will have trouble motivating yourself to get back on the road.
Generally, 8 to 10 UKP will buy you an excellent evening meal. While travelling I did carry some emergency tins of food, but besides pasta and rice, I would generally stop in the afternoon when passing through a town or village to buy some food and UHT milk for the evening. There is fresh meat available from butchers, but usually it tends to be mutton or camel meat. I never bought fresh meat and always bought tinned food. Bread is always available and cheap. 3 to 5 dhirams for a flat-loaf (20 to 30p), and if you are passing through a town and see a boulangerie, buy bread. They usually sell lots of pastries, which are great for afternoon or evening snacks. As for fruit… You will see a better choice of fruit in Morocco than in the UK. I love oranges and wherever you look in Morocco will always find lovely large oranges. Street markets are always good for fresh fruit.
EATING. I have conditioned myself to only eat two meals a day. Breakfast and my evening meal. I do this so I don’t have to mess about with food when I’m travelling, though I always carry a bag of nuts or some fruit in my tank bag just in case I do get a bit peckish. I always eat muesli and milk for my breakfast, and you will find muesli and UHT milk in any shop in Morocco. As for my evening meal, I always cooked my own food, and would occasionally eat-out depending on my mood.
LANGUAGE. Google Translate is your best friend. If you speak some French, great. If not, google translate it… In Northern Morocco French is the primary language but as you travel south Arabic is the primary language.
SIMCARDS. If you buy a sim-card at the Tangier Med port with 10gb of data it will cost around 50eu, with 30-40eu being the cost of the sim-card. You can buy 10gb top-ups from garages and in towns from mobile shops or supermarkets for around 10eu for 10GB. My advice is to use an E-sim once you get into Morocco. I was paying 69eu for 30 days (47eu for 15 days) for unlimited data and calls (within Morocco) on Holafly. There are cheaper deals but I never had any issues and wherever I went I always had a strong four-bar 4G signal. To be honest, the 4G in Morocco is better than Scotland. I never once struggled for data.
MOBILE PHONES. I would recommend having two mobiles – one being a spare in case your primary mobile is lost or gets broken. Your mobile is important, as besides being your mobile, it’s also your camera, your navigator and your translator…
OTHER TOURISTS. Wherever you go in Morocco you will see many Dutch and German travellers but the majority are older French, especially on Campsites – and usually in large palatial motorhomes. I found the French were a bit stand-offish but would warm-up if you made the effort to talk to them. The Dutch and Germans were always happy to chat, but as for brits – they are very rare…
CAMPING: There are many campsites in Morocco, but rarely saw another tent. The cost for a man on a bike with a tent will be anywhere between 5eu (50 dms) and 10eu (100dms) a night depending on your location. The bigger sites will charge around 10eu a night. Sometimes you get a hot shower at a campsite, usually not. If there’s no shower then you have to get used to having an African shower – which is to fill a bucket with water, wet and soap yourself, then wash yourself down.
NAVIGATION. Google maps. It took me everywhere. If you use a Garmin you will have to buy a map for Morocco, which is about £90.
BIKE LOCK. I never used my bike-lock while I was in Morocco. If I had to stop during the daytime in a city or town when the bike was loaded-up, I always made sure my bike was nearby because that’s just how I am, but no one ever messed with my bike or kit. Never. Remember, they’re a Muslim country and the Moroccans appreciate you visiting their country.
LAUNDRY. As soon as I got my tent up, I would go for a shower or wash and also wash that day’s underwear and riding shirt – and then hang them out to dry overnight. I carry a small box with washing powder, and if I ran out I could always buy a small sachet of soap powder in any shop in Morocco for about 1eu a packet.
FERRY. I booked my ticket from Algeciras to Tangier Med the day beforehand. It cost 64eu. You get your visa during the crossing on the ferry – its free – and when you get into Tangier port, you get a ‘Passavant’ (temporary Import permit) at customs when you show your V5 and Licence. Your Passavant is small card. DO NOT LOOSE THIS CARD, because if you do loose it you will have some major snags trying to get your bike out of Morocco again.
BIKE INSURANCE. You have to buy insurance for your bike and you can get this at the Tangier-Med port, just outside the customs. It costs 96eu for a month, 80eu for two weeks or 68eu for a week. You can pay in Euro’s or Dirhams – cash. If you just take a week and decide to extend you can get more insurance in any large town from a SANLAM shop, and again you can pay in Euro’s or Dirhams. There is only one insurance company in Morocco – SANLAM – so Insurance is universal in and it’s one price for bikes.
WHAT BIKE FOR MOROCCO? As for the best bike to travel to Morocco… Any bike is an adventure bike because all rides are an adventure. As for Morocco, it doesn’t have to be a Paris/Dakar replica or a GS. It could even be a GSX or CBR if you’re that way inclined. It just depends on what you want to do. The main roads in Morocco are superb. Better than Scotland. The only time you will find poor tarmac or even run out of tarmac is when you intentionally leave the main roads and hit the P or R roads, or end up riding on dusty trails .
If you want to hit the dirt then there is lots of the ‘bumpy stuff’ and for that I would definitely advise 50/50 tyres and a bike you can pick up when you drop it – because you will. For everything else, then a normal road bike will suffice. You just have to be realistic with the kind of journey you want to make, and go with the appropriate bike. When I was in Marrakesh – I saw an Hyabusa and many Harleys, so needing a GS is a complete myth.
PANNIERS. If you are going to ride on the P or R roads or off tarmac altogether then I would definitely advise soft panniers. They’re easy to pack and more forgiving if you drop the bike. I’m now using the Adventure Spec Madigan 3’s and they’re brilliant. If you buy them, there is a bigger and cheaper selection of mollie pouches on Ebay.
If you are not a regular traveller and want to keep the costs down for panniers, look at the LOMO Panniers. They are very tough and very cheap. I would use one pannier for camping gear, one pannier for spares, food and extra stuff, my top-box for cooking gear, my tote bag for my personal gear and tank bag for camera, batteries and nick-nacks.
HOTEL STOPS. If I stopped at a Hotel or Auberge, I could just take off my tote and tank bag and leave the rest on the bike – but I would ask the reception about leaving my luggage on the bike. I some places I left the luggage on, and at some places they advised taking off the luggage. It just depends on the town or city. If in doubt – ask.
WATER. Because I like to wild-camp, I had two crash-bar bags (LOMO) and had a 5 ltr water bag in each. I dropped the bike on each side quite early on, popping the water bags, and ended up carrying two 1.5 ltr bottles of water in each crash-bar bag. The water is clean in Morocco, and I actually stared to wean myself onto their water – without any affect – but generally I would use tap-water for cooking and tea, and bottled water for drinking. I would drink about 2.5 to 3ltr of water a day.
TOOLS/SPARES. If you are tubeless then take a puncture outfit (plug) and compressor. If you are tubed, then take a spare inner for each wheel, and besides having a puncture outfit, have tyre levers and a swing-arm prop if you don’t have a main-stand. Unless you are travelling to the Western Sahara then you won’t need to carry extra air filters but I would advise fitting an in-line fuel filter and having a few spares if you’re going further. Most of the fuel in Morocco is clean, but it does get a bit sketchy as you travel south in the Western Sahara.
- Have one spanner/allen key that fits every nut or socket. Don’t take spanners you don’t need.
- Spare spark-plug(s) and a plug spanner.
- Axle-nut spanners.
- Mole grips/pliers.
- Cable-ties, duct tape and WD40.
As for oil, I carried 1 litre of oil, which I use for my engine and Scottoiler. For 12k miles I used 250ml of oil for the engine and 400ml for my Scottoiler. Look after your chain if you have one. Either use an chain oiler or take a tin or chain-lube with you – as it does get dusty and your chain will suffer.
If you do have any snags with your bike, there is always a bike mechanic in every town. You will only find dealers in big cities like Agadir, Casablanca, Tangier and Marrakesh. If you need some help anywhere else, its usually a guy in a dusty lean-to who will be able to get you back on the road again. I never had to do that as fortunately I’m good with spanners, but if you’re not, at least learn how to change a wheel, remove a tyre and fix a puncture.
Carry a needle and cotton. I had to sew things several times, and found it very handy. Also have a multi-tool knife. I used mine during cooking and also fixing things.
POLICE STOPS. There are police checkpoints before or after every large town or city. As you approach the checkpoint there is a stop sign. Stop and wait to be waved forwards. When you get to the checkpoint, as soon as they see you are a foreigner, they will usually wave you through. If they do stop you, they will only want to see your passport – so always have it handy. Very rarely will they want to see your insurance. Sometimes, as you approach a town or city, they will also have a speed-camera so keep your speed down. If you get caught speeding, it can cost about £40 for a fine and I got caught once.
When I ever got waved through a checkpoint, I would salute – and they would always return the salute…! There are state police (grey uniform) and local police (dark blue uniform). The state police are generally more forgiving, whereas the local police will be looking to fine you if they can (to generate revenue like the UK) so ride safely and slowly. There is folklore that the police will want a bribe. Rubbish. I have never been asked for a bribe in Morocco. In Senegal and Gambia its common practise and happens on every stop, but in Morocco I always found the police helpful, friendly and honest.
DODGY TOWNS…? When you are riding through some small towns or villages you may immediately think it looks a bit sketchy. It’s just the way some of the towns and villages look when you get into the interior. There is still a lot of people who live on the breadline in Morocco and some towns or villages don’t benefit much form tourist money, so they may look a bit run down. But wherever you stop, people will be friendly and will try to say hello. Don’t be put off by first looks. Many times I would stop for a quick break to rest my bum and have a quick drink of water, and very soon someone would wander by to say hello or try out their Engleesh…
All I can say is – go do it. GO MOROCCO. It’s easy, the people are friendly and ultimately – it’s a safe and happy country.