Flamingos

0700 breakfast for 0800 departure. Went to the reservoir first whilst the morning was still cool. Saw flamingoes, geese and some lovely little yellow breasted birds.

A loo stop at a service station was a traumatic experience. Squat loos and no soap. Bought some water at 6dirham each.

Travelled on a bit and stopped for a group photo. Lunch was at a hotel in the middle of nowhere. Choice limited again - chicken skewers and chips for me. Rob shared an omelette with others. They put couscous and veg on plates to share. They gave us salad to share for starter and oranges and cinnamon for pudding.

Stopped by a police check.

Stopped to see an eagle.

Stopped by a river and walked through a plantation of many things - date palms, cereals and other crops. Bought some dates from a man by the road as I stood in the shade whilst the others walked across the road bridge that had no sides to it! John pointed out that the river flowed east into west Africa and then evaporated into nothing.

We stopped for a loo break and a drink. The toilets cost me 2 dirham, didn’t lock and I’m sure there was a turd glued to the wall!

We stopped for a viewpoint where there was a man with a lizard. He offered it to people to hold - obviously with the idea of having money.

Our hotel was the Karem Palace. It looked very grand and was obviously catering for quite a number of groups. The Wi-fi only worked in the lobby area. We tried to order half a bottle of white wine as on their bar menu but after several attempts managed to get two glasses of white wine. Despite us clearly stating it was vin bland and pointing to the menu - he keep trying to offer us a whole bottle of red! Rob signed for the two glasses.

At dinner they hadn’t reserved tables for us like other groups and the restaurant manager was a grumpy so and so. Slammed glasses down on the table and grudgingly rearranged a table so the group could sit together.

The food wasn’t great. Rob managed to have a bit of a choice as they had some sort of bean concoction. I had bread, beetroot, pasta, meatballs and a piece of meat I think was chicken but wasn’t sure. Pudding was pastries but not a great choice.