Diane |
May 2nd, 2001 02:23 PM |
Karen -- I went on a 14-day adventure travel trip to Morocco with Wilderness Travel in October 1999. It was this trip, "Camels to Casbahs": <BR> <BR> http://www.wildernesstravel.com/itins/morcamel.html <BR> <BR>The main "active" feature was a 3.5 day/3 night "camel safari" into the Sahara -- camping, camel riding/hiking, etc. I'd say we walked/rode about 6-7 hours a day? To be honest, sometimes it felt awfully long, because camels have BROAD backs! I was 37 at the time and reasonably fit, and the activity level was about right (though did I mention that camels have BROAD backs?). <BR> <BR>In retrospect, I wonder if I should have chosen the Atlas Trek itinerary instead of the Camel Trek, since the Atlas Mountain areas were what I liked best on the trip. But since the Camel Trek was about my speed physically, the Atlas Trek might have been too tough. <BR> <BR>The desert heat wasn't bad at all (provided you do the sunscreen & hat thing properly). I thought I wasn't sweating, until I looked at the inside of my waistband at the end of the first day -- it was so dry that perspiration evaporated instantly, leaving only the salt! <BR> <BR>Our group was very small -- 5 women, ages late thirties through fifties, plus the same very competent & nice leader, Mark Gordon, who still leads the trip. Everything was well-done and well-organized -- almost too well-organized (see below!). <BR> <BR>I enjoyed the trip. Candidly, it wasn't the best travel experience I ever had, but that had nothing to do with the trip and everything to do with (a) never having done group travel before, and discovering that I really missed the fun of coping on my own (very little free time exploring on your own, very few choices to make for yourself) and (b) some basic characteristics of Morocco -- hotels, certainly hotels where adventure-travel groups stay, tend not to be actually in the old parts of cities (which are too cramped for them), and I think culturally it's difficult for outsiders (particularly women) to get a sense of really being *in* Morocco in only two weeks. <BR> <BR>I realize you may have already made your trip decisions. Let me know if I can be of more help! <BR> <BR>fyi -- see my recent post on the Big Book of Adventure Travel in the special-interests forum for information on some great coupons! Wilderness Travel gave me 5% off my trip with one of these.
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