21st-29th March Oct 2011

21st-29th Mar 2011. A selection of photos avoiding near duplicates of Helen's photos which are better

A fuller account and Latin names of plants are on Helen's website. Moroccans generally seem to dislike being photographed and so photos were taken from the minibus through dusty windows. Click to enlarge a photo; "back" to return. "Ctrl ++" makes it even bigger!

MONDAY 21st March Our taxi set off for Heathrow by a civilized 11.50 with a silent Pakistani driver. No holdups, and so arrived in 30 mins. A 40 min flight to Schiphol where we met the others from our party and Paul our botanist, not looking much like his photo and waited around for the Air Maroc plane to Al Haceima. We took off at 20:10 local and had poor meal on the plane. There was a long wait on arrival for Immigration to fill in forms and we were checked three times to see that we had not got off the plane by mistake, as someone had, but eventually we were greeted by the tour leader Stefano and set off in a large and comfortable minibus on to the Mohammed V Hotel. We had a good room and a fine bath but no chair for overnight clothes or much else A salad meal was laid out for us in the room. The wind was strong and blew all night moaning and rattling.	Map of the Coast & Rif Mountains Hotel Mohammed V & our minibus. The hotel extends down the cliff face.	The development of the bay Al Hociema fishing fleet in Harbour
. Mohammed VI is watching you!	The avenue outside hotel	Looking left from Hotel
King's Residence in Al Hociema (back of, no photos allowed at the front!)	Early stroller Al Hociema	The beach, Plage Quemado. It was a Spanish base
TUESDAY 22nd March Day1 Breakfast was croissants etc, excellent orange juice and strong coffee. I had an omelet and a crepe, though I did not order the latter, both were freshly cooked in the dining room. We set off at 9.30 to get cash at the bank. I changed some money and helped a clerk fill in lots of forms and find the relevant stamp in my passport. We drove round the coast road to Al Hociema National Park, Talla Yousef, stopping to see plants, then on to Imzouren and beyond. We had lunch in an abandoned quarry by old lime kilns. We had a good lunch including olives and spiced mackerel. More flowers identified until it rained, hard enough to soak all but Margaret who had put on waterproof trousers. We had a last look at an impressive view, but were so blown about that we retreated into the van and came home. A Royal Moroccan Gendarme stopped us and took away Stephano's passport to inspect in detail, filling out a report and asking him lots of questions. Could we really be looking at flowers? Eventually after a small unofficial contribution we carried on (Anwar managed such things). Dinner was a spicy chick pea soup, chicken tagine and a synthetic roulade. We tried some expensive local wine.	Cliff top search Red Striped Oil Beetle Meloe majalis	Pink Dutchman' Pipe or Birthwort Aristolochia baetica Derelict Quarry Building
Fagonia cretica	Watch the traffic!	The coast west of Al Hociema
A village Mosque	Mirror Orchid Ophrys speculum	Daisy?
Pink Pea Lathyrus clymenum or pisum sativum ?	Shoppers	Lavender
Still in use!	Founded by the Spanish as Villa Sanjuro, Al Hociema was built as a garrison after the Rif Wars in the early 20th century; rebel Abd al-Krim operated nearby. Moroccan independence brought the name-change to Al-Hoceima, but Spanish influence remains strong in language, architecture and business.	Thistle Galactites tomentosa
Silene Silene colorata	Hibiscus Rosa-Sinensis	Echium Echium plantagineum
Purple Iris Iris filifolia	A row of shops	Gladiola Gladiolus italicus
Cactus, an import?	Across the Oued (wadi)	Moroccan Police
Typical Countryside	Convolvulus althaeoides	Watchers from the hill
An Outcrop	Curious animals come for a look at us	Asters Astericus maritimus
Lime Kilns	Curious farmers come for a look at us	Chemists Shop
A bee Visiting	Caterpillar Grass Eggar, Lasiocampa trifolii	Moving Luggage
Snail	Local Sheep	Tulip
Thyme?	Anthericum liliago	Countryside with erosion
Raffenaldia primuloides	Wet and windy Hillside	Nosed Grasshopper Acrida ungarica
WEDNESDAY 23rd March Day 2 Another trip to the Al Hociema National Park. We met a local guide, Louarsi, who lead us cross country down a gully to a wadi, Rio San Anado? that lead eventually to the Spanish enclave of La Gomera and a visit the women’s co-operative at Bades. On the way we stopped for a brief chat with two girl goatherds who snapped us on their mobiles and we them. Later we passed “savages”, as Louarsi called them, illegally ploughing in the NP. What would they plant? Probably hashish and be hung for a sheep as a lamb if anyone bothered. Then a long drive to a traditional rooming house, or Gite Rurale, at Jnane where we had an excellent very late lunch, Moroccan style. The owner proudly showed us round and told of his improvements. Some people could not face the evening meal at the hotel after that, treading in dog poo probably did not help! We bought another bottle of wine which helped sleeping.	Fried egg daisy plus bee and bug Guide Louarsi	Water delivery boy Poppy Papaver hybridum
Modern Flats	Teucrium Teucrium polium	Grocer and butcher
Yellow Pea Ononis natrix	Hay stack, partially eaten	Cistus albidus
Silene Armeria	Cow girl	Cistus
Farmhouses	Fast goat herding	Prickly pear plus climber
Paranichia	A new roof is required every year	Tolpis Barbata
Fennel Thapsia transtagana	In the cliff face	Pretty parasite on Cistus, Cytinus hypocistus
Grasshoppers Mating	Green Hairstreak	Astericus
Strange rock Intrusions looking like a growth.	The group surveys a valley	Just hanging out, miles from anywhere.
Thyme	Nora, Stefano and Margaret	Scarlet Pimpernel anagallis arvensis and anagallis monellii (blue)
A Local Cow	Lone tree	Hawkweed plus bug
White Butterfly on Lavender	Hide Beetle	Common Blue
Marsh frog	Goat family climb out of a gully	Acacias have invaded everywhere
Violet in the cliff face Viola arborea	Wall Brown	Moon Daisies Bellis sylvestris
Convolvulus on the cliff	Oued Rio San Anado	Squatters in the National Park ploughing
Tortoise wandering in the Wadi	Double Oxalis	Firebug
Nosed Grasshopper Acrida ungarica	Sonchus masguindalii	Lavatera Maritima
Jolly Goatherd lady	Tabacco Plant Nicotiana glauca	Cockerel
Water Erosion	Spanish enclave of Al Gomera which is supplied by helicopter	A closer view.
Gite Central Area	Gite Dining Area	Gite Bedroom One
Gite Bedroom Two, cosy?	Gite Sitting Room	Gite Family Bedroom
Son of the house	The Chef in the kitchen	Washing area
Moroccan Salad	Chicken Tagine and chips	Spiced Broad Beans curry
Grandparents' House and foundation trench	Building material, n.b. mud bricks	External view at dusk
THURSDAY 24th Mar. Day 3 We set off at 9 am after I had explored around the hotel area. Anwar had cleaned the van windows to enable photographs. It took all day driving to the “Blue town” of Chefchaouen, via Targuist and Ketama, which had markets full of people, mainly men, ambling about having arrived in communal taxis, on tractors or donkeys. We made many stops to look at plants on the way. The views were impressive with much more farmed land and better houses. We stopped for lunch above a slope with Romulea and Gagea in a pine forest. There were some processional caterpillars and some nests in the trees, which they sometimes succeeded in killing. Our traditional Moroccan hotel had local pots and decorative work in profusion. Our shower was warm enough initially, but suddenly went cold, an unpleasant shock! We had couscous for dinner after soup. The couscous was not very appetizing.	Potentilla Hirta Tripodium tetraphyllum	Yellow gorse? Village from the hills
More Shops	Tulip Tulipa sylvestris	Old shoes for sale
Leucanthemum vulgare	Cement Shop	Anagalis monellii
Oxalis Pes Caprae Bermuda Buttercup, an immigrant.	Moulay Ali ben Rachid founded Chaouen in 1471 as a base for Riffian Berber tribes to launch attacks on the Portuguese in Ceuta. The town expanded with the arrival of Muslim and Jewish refugees from Granada in 1494, who built the whitewashed houses, with tiny balconies, tiled roofs and patios (often with a citrus tree in the centre), that give the town its distinctive Spanish flavour. The pale-blue wash prevalent today was introduced in the 1930s by the Jewish refugees – previously windows and doors had been painted a traditional Muslim green. The town remained isolated and xenophobic– Christians were forbidden to enter on pain of death – until occupied by Spanish troops in 1920. When the Spanish arrived they were surprised to hear the Jewish inhabitants still speaking a variant of medieval Castilian. The Spanish were briefly thrown out by Abd al-Krim during the Rif War in the 1920s, but they soon returned and remained until independence in 1956.
River Valley	Meadow Brown butterfly	Tiny Silver Studded Blue, front and and back (click either)
Buttercup Ranunculus	Purple Iris	Echium plantagineum
Yellow Orchid Ophrys lutea	"My friend"	Erodium cicutarium
Countryside Mosque	Small copper butterfly	Buds
Strawberry Tree Arbutus unedo	Bees drunk on pollen	Valley view from our lunch stop
Caterpillar Nest	Processional Caterpillars	Lead Caterpillar
Hand digging field with mattocks	Pine Forest	Romulea
More old shoes for sale	Borrage Borago officinalis	"It has gone dark!"
Green Lizard, Whiptail?	Chefchaouan from hotel	By the "Spanish Reservoir"
Star of Bethlehem Ornithogalum umbellatum	Butterfly Moroccan Hairstreak	Field of daisies
FRIDAY 25th March. Day 4 At 4.50 the muezzin bellowed and the cocks crowed. After 10 mins or so it quietened down and only the dogs barked. We got up and went down to breakfast early. Coffee, crumpets, muffins and pancakes on offer with olives, tapenade, jam, honey, goat cheese and cream .(And our private supply of Marmite) also excellent orange juice. We met our local guide Mohammed who told how he faked kidney stones to avoid National Service. Set off to the reservoir and walked around it; then on to the gorge with hydroelectric plant at Akchour which had been damaged by a landslip. No one died in the disaster. We had lunch, a tomato, lettuce and goat's cheese “sandwich” - very young and mild; followed by fruit. In the afternoon we went down by the river; Oued Laou, then finally, by the beach, we saw some stone curlews and a marsh harrier. We did not point the cameras towards the Moroccan Coast Guard post they are very security minded!	Horizontal fir tree Fumitory Fumitory capriolata	Above the gorge River above the Hydroelectric Plant
Yellow Birthwort Aristolochia baetica	The Gorge side	Hawkweed Hieracium pilosella
Peach blossom	Fritillary Fritillaria lusitanica	The gorge Afardon
Prasium majus And furry bee?	Fumaria capreolata	Old Man in the rock
Erosion at the side of the wadi	Violet Viola Jaubertiana or riviana	Troll Scarecrow
Here be Whales!	Rock face garden	Umbilicus erectus
Polygala webbiana	Washday at the river	White Onion Allium subvillosum
Different field poppies Papaver apulum	Serious observers	Centaurea pullata
Orobanche cernua	Dutchman's Pipe or Birthwort Aristolochia baetica	Bonjour!
Reeds Oued Laou	Photographing Waves at Laou Beach	Flag Iris
Phoning for a Taxi?	Plumber?	Jellaba (hoody?)
Shop?	Load of Alfalfa	Another load of Alfalfa
A thinker	Waking home	A Discussion group
SATURDAY 26th March. Day 5 We drove to the Talassenijane National Park. Lunch of fresh sardines cooked over wood fire; walked through the snow and then walked through the woods encrusted with moss; found peonies. Some members saw the Barbary apes before they disappeared. I slipped and cracked my head and somehow cut my thumb. I am told I fainted a couple of times, but after first aid managed to get into the 4 wheel drive. I regret I worried everyone so much. The landrover had some transmission problems on the journey so we transferred to a taxi which delivered us swiftly and excitingly (Moroccan driving!) to Accident and Emergency in Chefchouan. Helen visited an interesting loo. We were seen quickly, stitches put in and back to the hotel ahead of the rest who had found a Peony flowering. Mohammed's Brother, a travel agent, was waiting at the hospital and was very helpful, especially as he spoke good English, he also kindly brought the prescription to the hotel. Everyone was very efficient and I felt hurt but not too bad. The wounds needed to be seen on Monday and stitches out in 10 days. The charge was about 50p!	Nora's Joke Dining Room	Hotel Lounge Hotel Garden
Rough garden path!	Little Owl in the mist	Street Protest
Scarabs fighting for the dung ball	I won, and I'm off fast; backwards.	Helen in hollow Cork Oak
Long-Leaved Helleborine Cephalanthera longifolia	Mountain Village, Dissouka?	Aristolochia paucinervis
Saponaria calabrica?	Building materials roadblock	Tipper Driver
Goat Boy	Goat and Kid	Talassenijane National Park.
Pistacia lentiscus	Thuja	White Nacissus narcissus cantabricus
Snow too deep that way!	Pine Forest	Searching the scree
Daphne Laureola	Clearing up with help from village dogs	Peony Buds
Forest Glade	White Nacissus narcissus cantabricus	Long Moss/Lichen on trees
I fell over, photo by Nora	Peony coriacea , photo by Nora	Roadwork chicane
SUNDAY 27th March. Day 6 We visited a couple of locations that had been browsed by goats so had fewer flowers. No luck with peonies or barbary apes in the Bouhacem Forest, but we did see a narcissus that had been first discovered in 1986, and Paul saw some Barbary Apes. Home to Chefchaouen early and took a tour led by Mohammed through the old town. The blue colour was provided by indigo before synthetic dyes. He lead us to Berber carpet salesroom but we resisted the sales pitch. Nora bought beers secretly behind a brown door and so back to the Hotel for our last evening there.	Hotel Gate and Mohammed	Chefchouan at firstlight Cork Stacks drying
New Town Chefchouan	Aroid Arisarum vulgare	Cistus salvifolius
Road to Old Town Chefchouan	Gladiolas by the Spanish Reservoir	Erodium cicutarium
Our Guide Mohammed (enlargement)	Sun Spurge Euphorbia helioscopia	A Field of Daisies.
Star of Bethlehem Ornithogalum umbellatum	Gorse	Hairstreak
Bread Shop	Cliff face	Road workers camp, they stay for the season
Salaam	No peonies here, goat cropped	Bee in Cistus
Ranunculus macrophyllus	Bouhacem Forest, no apes spotted.	Buds Cistus populifolius
Today's Driver	Cork Oak with cork removed	Violet Viola munbyana
Primroses, rare in Morocco	Leucogeum aestivum pulchellum?	Only Paul saw the Barbary Apes
Narcissus discovered in 1986 Narcissus albimarginatus	Una, Nora, Margaret, Helen scramble to snap the narcissus	Symbolic Gate to Chechaouan
Roadside stalls, did they live there?	A posh front wall	A lizard on a wall
Town Laundry House at Ras El-Maa	Old Town Gate	Blue Street
		Shopkeeper Resting
Washing	Bits and pieces	Hotel Alhambra
Knitting shop	Old mates	Another town gate
Mirror shop	Wooden Spoon Shop	Blankets
Jewellery	A small square	Another town gate
Door ajar and cat	Transaction?	Backlit Geri and Nora
Pigments?	Tailor	Window Shopping
Drinking Fountain	A Piazza	Carpet Loom
Man who unrolled carpets	Smart Dresses	Hat Shop
Street Corner	Paul	Weaving a carpet
Main Square, Plaza Uta el-Hammam	Old Master?	Olives
MONDAY 28th March. Day 7 We went to hospital for my dressings to be changed. The Taxi was not there, but Anwar was, and so the minibus took us. After checking the dressing, which should have been done elsewhere and so they could not charge, we picked up the others and set off for Tangier via the city of Tetouan. We looked down on the town, took panoramic shots; climbed up the cliff for more photographs of plants and on to lunch. We walk along a stream with thorny Acacia, Barbary nuts and alliums and then by the shore two more orchids and an aroid. Wonderful cliffs with wind carved patterns. Gibraltar was dimly visible on the horizon and a flock of Bee-eaters flew above. In Tangier our bags were delivered by a “bellhop” in traditional Turkish dress and we later had an poor dinner at the hotel, the Intercontinental, but the room was comfortable. I tried the local beer, 30p, a mild larger.	Roadside Pot Shop Countryside	City of Tetouan Boy on a mule
Small Mosque, sponsored by Coca Cola	Lads	Les Routiers Hotel, Tetouan
Tetouan	Our road	Hanging Hawkweed
Snapdragons Antirrhinum majus	Allium Triquetrum	Muscari comosum??
Scilla peruviana	Firewood on mules	Portuguese Squill Scilla peruviana
Yellow Orchid Ophrys Lutea	Marigold Calendula arvensis	Donkey
Mountain Village	Aristocratic Sheep	Growing in a Crevice
Alert Donkey	Lark	Village House and dogs
Girls at the well	Large Green Lizard	Village Kids
Butterfly	Who are you?	Cafe
Red pea Tetragonolobus purpureus	Anwar and the spring	Acacia thorns
Heavy Load?	Ornithogalum umbellatum	Bee-eater
Iris Gynandriris sisyrinchium	Eight legs	Eating Acacia Capra aegagrus hircus
Oued Aliane	Wind eroded cliff	Gibraltar seen dimly
Erosion	Woodcock Orchid Ophrys sphegifera	Cliff
Orchid Ophrys sphegifera	Shrike	Cowman
TUESDAY 29th March Day 8 We were swept in to breakfast at 0700 by a flood of Germans who disappeared at 0720, thank goodness, Fried eggs and “Wieners” were available plus all the usual croissants. Off at 0900 for drive along the coast then inland looking for Great Bustards, no luck, may be because of the drizzle. Back towards Tangier where a different sort of police, checked out Anwar and counted us. After much shouting we went on for lunch at the Hercules Grotto (a cave we did not enter) two people had "feesh",(large sardines), the rest a tasty Kefta. We had three or four cats in attendance and when we left they jumped on the table and cleaned up. We visited the lighthouse and I used our remaining dirhams to buy a stone plate with fossils from a street trader. I probably paid too much but it was convenient as they all have to be changed back.. We paid a quick visit to some camels and then on the airport. We were probably the only passengers as early as requested. Two hours wait, then a 2hr 45min flight to Heathrow. Unfortunately there were “severe delays” on the Piccadilly Line and then we had to be shown how to buy tickets on the machine covering all lines by a helpful porter. We took a taxi from the station and arrived home about 1230 with both cats away somewhere so no welcome.	Bellhop Turkish Style Lamp No one wears a helmet, must be a robber.	Plain with no sign of Great Bustards Poppy They are still building a lot in Tangier
Lupin lupinus angustifolius	Oxen and wooden plough	Pheasants eye Adonis annua
Hotentot Fig, Imported	Sheltering from the wind	Friendly guard dogs
Geri studying Dune Formation	It needed a big push to start moving	Cooking Lunch
Copied from the Internet Copyright Creative Commons	Sand dweller	Sand dweller Arctotheca calendula
Colour Co-ordination	A Camel Singing	Geri plus a friendly dog
Hercules Grotto Car Park	Substitutes for Tagines (aluminium foil)	Hercules Grotto entrance and glimpse of painting of Hercules
Salad that came with the Kefta	Local Crafts for sale	Cap Spartel Lighthouse
No sign of the owner	Stefano ignores street traders	Taking a rest
Spanish Gorse Genista lydia	Broomrape Orobanche densiflora.	Convolvulus tricolor
Una Exploring	Parasite and host	Paul