africa

Moroccan dreams

Morocco, the land of light, in an under-served travel slogan for a majority of its tourists who visit this North African nation lining the Mediterranean and the Atlantic. It is more known for its cities such as Casablanca and Marrakech, which inspire visions of historical romance and spy-thriller-esque environs. But far in the interior of the country, lays a landscape with varied geology that would give even the US a run for its money. Fault lines that cris-cross the Atlas mountain have folded the landscape over like crumpled paper, pushing multiple layers that were hidden deep below high into the sky.

It is not a forgiving landscape. Wind-swept plains intersperse the lowlands between the ranges, with poor soil and arid conditions leaving very little room for sustenance. The blue line of the paved road that traverses this landscape carries the lifeblood to remote settlements that dot this region. And provided me with an opportunity to explore this remote hinterland of Morocco.

Atlas mountains
Morocco

The Medina

My heart goes out to the people of Morocco who have been affected by the terrible tragedy that occurred last week. During my travel there, I was struck by the kindness and hospitality, the richness of their history, and their way of life rooted in tradition. Walking around the medina was an experience where all my senses got overwhelmed: the fragrant smells of spices, the dine of the street hawkers, the colorful fabrics, carpets and leather goods and so much more. I can only imagine how terribly these places were impacted.

The people of Morocco are resilient. I hope they pull through this difficult time.

Marrakech
Morocco

Deserted Alleys

With travel now opening up generally, where are you planning to go next? What are your fondest travel memories?
I still fondly remember walking down narrow alleyways of the walled city in Chefchaouen where every door, walk, step and adornment was dunked in a rich blue color. After immersing myself in the hustle and bustle of a working medina during the day, I returned back early the following morning to capture the place in silence, where the only sounds were those of a barking dog and a crowing rooster.

Chefchaouen
Morocco

The Lone Monument

The landscape around me was a grand spectacle, towering red sandstone cliffs with a little dusting of snow rising from the dry desert landscape. Yet what the photo doesn't capture the communal culture of rural Morocco. Apart from the Bedouin herders, the villages and towns surrounded by a palm fringed desert are perhaps the only places of respite in the harsh landscape. And in these oases, you can find solace in the airy riads with a glass of ice-cold mint tea, and meet the community in the farmers markets that attract crowds for miles.

But the vast desert doesn't really give that away.

Dades Gorge
Morocco

Highway to the Danger Zone

I was revving up the engine of the tiny Hyundai up the inner edge of a sharp hair-pin bend, struggling to time the gear change just right so that I wouldn't lose momentum and stall on the steep ascent. This was my first solo road trip in a foriegn country with chaotic traffic in a car with manual transmission (aka a stick shift), and this location which looked intimidating from the air, was a place where I was pushed to the limits of my driving skills.

I had spotted this sinuous segment of tarmac years ago while scouting Google Earth for strange places on the planet. I had parked this location in my mind, not giving it a second thought until I was planning a trip to the very location, the Dades Gorge. The drive up to it had been fairly smooth, and apart from dealing with the unpredictable traffic, with pedestrians and animals using the road as their personal highway, wasn't too challenging.

But once the vertical walls of the canyon closed in, leaving no room for the road to straddle the fast flowing river, it was forced to climb up the red sandstone to higher grounds. And that was where I found myself on that fateful day. Thankfully, I pulled through, praying that my path downhill wouldn't be so nerve wracking.

When I did reach the top, I turned back to capture the scale of this deep scar on the earths surface, with the tiny remnant of human civilization winding through it.

Dades Gorge
Morocco

Life on the Dunes

The sand dunes of the Sahara desert represented a clash in anachronism: ancient nomadic Bedouin lifestyles adapted to modern living, the ship of the desert ferrying people alongside 4x4 zooming across the dunes, berber desert camps nestled side by side with modern hotels replete with pools and air-conditioning. It was, therefore, hard to capture the true essence of the desert that I had come to seek here. This scene was one such attempt at capturing that figment of a nomadic life.

Erg Chebbi

Morocco

The High Atlas

The descent of winter onto the Pacific Northwest brings with it short gloomy days often accompanied by rain. This would have normally been the time to socialize indoors, but it is our duty to be responsible and reduce social interactions to slow down the spread of the pandemic gripping the nation. That, however, does not come without consequences.

To help ease the stress of the dark winters, I use my photography to escape to the furthest places I have photographed. This time around, I relived my memories from driving through the high Atlas mountains of Morocco. While spending a night in the rocky spine of Morocco, I found a vast windswept plain between Lac Islit and Tislit, two surreal bodies of water surrounded by snow-capped peaks.

Life is harsh in this area, and even the arrival of roads, motor vehicles, electricity, and the internet, have only slightly eased the difficulty of living here. Subsistence living with meager livestock still remains the predominant form of sustenance. Two donkeys from one such herd graze on the sparse vegetation in the high Atlas

Imilchil

Morocco

Cats of Chefchaouen

During the downtime of the winter days, I often go back to clean my archives and find interesting photos from them. In trying to juggle different priorities in the summer, I hardly get time to do this, and hence, I get perennially backlogged, to the point that I am editing photos from more than 3 years ago.

I discovered this group of images of cats in a medina while editing photos from my travels to Morocco. I was wandering around the narrow alleyways that wound through the blue-washed walls of Chefchaouen when I noticed that there were cats everywhere. Having grown up in human presence, they were completely unperturbed by the thronging crowds of the medina, and were hard to photograph. Hence I returned to those locations early in the morning, and found the cats to be far more active and playful. Here are few that caught my attention and became strong memories of my travels to Chefchaouen.

Chefchaouen

Morocco

A Blue Oasis

I stepped away from the main thoroughfare of Chefchaouen, a long wide alley lined with shops selling tourist curios and colorful spices that wound its way through the dense hillside town. The alleys were crowded with early spring tourists and residents going about their daily routines, and I wanted to explore the more remote parts of this village. The blues continued on however, a never-ending fabric of paint that coated the city.

Chefchaouen was this magical oasis of blue in the brown dusty hill-slopes in north-eastern Morocco. The medina had gained its blue hues in the late 15th century as it received its first influx of Jewish migrants, and it stuck to this ever since. And the blues doesn't feel overwhelming, as the subtleties in the different shades of blue ensure that one alley looks different from the other. One would be hard-pressed to escape from the blue until you step out of the medina, but there are spots where the underlying brown bricks become visible, as it was in this narrow residential alleyway, complete with a tall ladder also painted blue.

Chefchaouen

Morocco

The High Atlas

"Two roads diverged in a wood, and I, I took the one less traveled by, and that had made all the difference"

The spring of 2017 found me driving on one of the most remote roads in the heart of Morocco. That lonely highway crossed the high Atlas that formed the spine of Morocco. It cut through spectacular montane terrain, deep river canyons and antiquated mud-brick villages. Every new turn in the road brought about more unforgettable imagery.

This was one such amazing scene that awaited me on that memorable journey.

Tislite

Morocco