Wed-Thu, January 28-29, 2026 — Agadir to Marrakech
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| Meg and I, with Margaret and Marcus |
On Wednesday, our last full day in Agadir, we signed up for a “safari” into the nearby Souss-Massa National Park. Actually, we had been there the day before because our “buggy” excursion was actually just inside the park! We did get some wildlife shots, but the highlight was our chance meeting of Margaret and Marcus from Brighton, on a similar tour with a different guide.
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| Our guide |
Our Mitsubishi SUV was full with six guests and our guide/driver. Maiya and Martin from Poland, and Skye and Christian from Manchester, England. Fresh-faced all, they could have easily been our kids, and, like everyone else it seemed, they were there in Agadir escaping the winter cold.
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| Traditional tea at lunch |
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| Looking for wildlife |
Although it had rained earlier in the day and was overcast, we did see dozens of ostriches, lots of small gazelles, and a few larger white addax.
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| Male Ostrich |
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| Female Ostrich |
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| Addax in the distance |
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| Small gazelle |
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| My best shot of an addax |
At one point our guide pointed out a small bird in a tree, which I dutifully took a picture of. We all laughed when we realized that was the extent of the information he had to offer — “look small bird.”
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| Look, small bird! |
Having now done three tours — a tour of the city, a “buggy” tour, and, a “safari” — none were particularly well done. But they did give us something to do and allowed us to see a bit more of the area. Communication was pretty limited, plus the guides really didn’t seem all that interested in the whole affair. C’est la vie!
At one point in the tour we spent twenty minutes racing along sand dunes until we parked on one so we could walk out toward the beach. It was clear our guide was having fun as we bounced along the sand. I hit my head in the roof three times! I only wish we’d been able to race along like that during our buggy tour!
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| Racing along the sand |
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| The Atlantic |
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| Bouncing around in the SUV |
I’ve also not been feeling 100%, or “not in my plate” (pas dans mon assiette) as they would say in France! My stomach just isn’t quite right.
Today, Thursday, our only plan was to take the morning bus back to Marakesh. Neither of us were particularly interested in walking through the Medina and I decided the less I ate the better.
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| Luxury bus back to Marrakech |
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| Busy Marrakech |
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| Into the Medina |
We did get to talk to Kylie (WhatsApp works incredibly well). She is swamped with homework, problem sets, and midterms. Arrgh. She talks to the surgeon on Feb 5. We’ve also talked to Dex a ton. He has been struggling with his car. On his birthday, he and Freddy decided to tackle replacing the valve cover gasket, which was leaking and therefore making a mess in the garage and on the driveway. Dex has never been interested in mechanics, but I encouraged him to do this “simple repair,” and besides, I thought, Freddy would be by his side! So, primed with a Youtube video and a few reminders (don’t drop anything into the spark plug holes and clockwise tightens, counterclockwise loosens), he got to work. Unfortunately, the clockwise/counterclockwise thing got him — this is the digital age after all. A stripped bolt head meant it had to be taken to the shop anyway.
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| Stripped bolt head |
Probably the oil should have changed and water added to the car over the last 16 months, but nevertheless, it is a 25 year old car with 160,000 miles so there was a laundry list of repairs on the report. Sigh. Nothing money can’t fix, and Zelle makes that pretty easy as well.
Our last riad in Morocco was nice, and gave us place to hunker down for the day.
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| Our riad |
But I do have one question. Who decided a glass shower door would be a good idea to separate the bedroom from the bathroom?
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| Who thought this was a good idea? |
Au revoir!
Yeehar! Another adventure! Can’t wait to follow you guys. What’s the plan??
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