TRAVEL FEATURE - MOROCCO
ANTONIO FEMIA
A GUIDE TO FINDING YOUR SOUL
You don ’ t need an excuse for a motorcycle trip through Morocco . It ’ s the place full of symbols where Sahara ’ s sand ends insinuating through sharp rocks , just before the land itself dives into the Atlantic Ocean .
Here , at the end of known world , Hercules split a mountain in two columns on which he engraved “ Non plus ultra ”. Odysseus ignored this warning , thirsty for knowledge , paid for with death and eternal damnation his disregard for human limits . For us who grew up dreaming of great raids , the fascination of this boundary is still alive , not only because it smells like Africa ; Morocco , a land of passage and arrival , brings the signs of the many civilisations who crossed it for any reason . Conquerors and colonists , merchants , and caravans ; all of them left a piece of their knowledge along those sand and stone tracks that we dreamed to ride at least once in a lifetime .
Destination is an excuse to live the road and its experiences but takes on a real meaning when you give it a symbolic value . The guys from Off Road Passion glimpsed in the Festival International des Nomades the perfect excuse to cross Morocco headed to M ’ Hamid El Ghizlane , a small village lost in Erg Chegaga ’ s sand . Here , at the doors of Sahara , close to the Algerian border , this festival has been around for fifteen years , an event of pride and union for nomadic people of northern Sahara , embracing the cultures of Black Africa . As a photographer and travel journalist , I was invited to take part in this caravan of fifteen motorcycles crossing the Country . After landing in Marrakech and completing the necessary paperwork for bike rental , the caravan of Expérience Nomade was ready to leave urban chaos . The Yamaha 660cc single cylinder from the XT
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