Campgrounds, Moroccan style!

We are now staying at our fifth campground location in Morocco, so we thought we’d give you a look around so you can see what they are like.

Before arriving in Morocco we put together a list of places we planned to visit. At the very least, it gave us something to put in the GPS on departure day. We mostly used the same apps that we use in Europe, Camper Contact and Park4Night, as well as recommendations from other travelers. As it turns out, we didn’t stay at the first two campgrounds on our list and we find that we are constantly re-evaluating others as we travel.

There are several elements that we look for in a campground:

Services
Is electricity available? Is it reliable? Is WIFI provided and can we connect to it? Is there someone on site who can assist with local information and/or transportation? Is it a guarded site?

Facilities
Is there a reasonably clean and well-located dump station for the black water cassette? Is the grey water dump easy to drive to? Is there a clean “sanitary block”, which includes bathrooms and showers? Do the toilets have seats? Is there TP available? Do they flush? Are there laundry facilities? Also, and this is very important, is there a dishwashing station with hot water?

Location
Is it easy to get to? What is there to do in the area?

Aesthetics
Is the campground quiet and peaceful? Is there a reasonable amount of space between rigs? Is it private and secure? And finally, does it have that elusive and hard-to-define IT factor.

Price
Most sites have a base price which includes use of the sanitary facilities as well as black and grey wastewater disposal. This is usually between 80 and 100 dirhams which is roughly 8-10 dollars. Electricity is nearly always listed as an extra item (typically between 20-30 dirhams). While price is probably our least important criteria because there’s not a big variation, it’s still something we consider.

Probably the most important criteria of all is our attitude. We’ve pulled into some pretty crappy places in our travels (yeah, I’m looking at you, Hesperia!) and still been giddy that we found a spot off the windy highway. At the end of the day, are we safe? Did we remember to chill a bottle of wine? If yes, then we are happy campers.

In Asilah, our first stop in Morocco, our GPS took us to the entry of our campground, but we found out the road had been blocked for some kind of cycling event, so we zipped around the roundabout and turned into what we thought was the secondary entrance. It wasn’t, it was the one next door! We only found this out the next day when Steven was trying to log on to their WIFI. He asked for the password and they informed him that the network he was trying to get on belonged to the neighboring campground. Oh.

The campground itself was “good enough”. It was a bit ratty, but if you squinted, it was shaded with some greenery and was quite peaceful. The showers were old and rusty, so it was hard to tell if they were clean or not. The floors were constantly wet and covered in sand and dirt from people just walking in. Still, the water was hot and constant. I wore my flipflops, so it was good enough. The main issue we had with this place was the electricity. It is well known that many campgrounds in Morocco supply only minimal electricity even though we pay a separate charge for it. It would seem logical that a dip would occur during high usage, like in the morning when folks put on the kettle and perhaps a small heater. But we had rolling “brown outs” all day long, including at night, when usage should have been minimal. Because of this, our fridge kept switching to gas!

As we’ve mentioned before, there is no propane for motorhomes in Morocco, so we need to use ours as sparingly as possible so we don’t run out before we are ready to leave. And since we plan to boondock at least a few days along our journey, we want to make sure we have enough propane to run our fridge when we do. So the rolling brown outs were a problem for us. We had planned two nights but were open to staying longer. Because of the electricity issue, we moved on. We give Camping Echrigui in Asilah 5 out of 10 Chouting Stars.

Our next stop was in Mohammedia, a northern suburb of Casablanca, where again we ended up at a campground not on our list. I can’t recall why we changed, but we’re glad we did. We had originally planned to visit Casablanca, but we just couldn’t get excited about it. It’s a huge city of millions and to be honest, the very visible pollution was off-putting. There was just nothing appealing about it, so we said, “Nah.” Plus, we were really excited about our upcoming visit to Marrakech, and figured one big city was enough. Instead, we spent two restful days at our campground surrounded by chickens, kitties and peacocks. We had great electricity and the best WIFI we’ve encountered so far.

I can’t tell you about the facilities other than the washing machine was located outside. I peaked inside the showers long enough to know I wasn’t going to use them and that was that. Also, the water did not taste very good, so we resorted to bottled water for teeth brushing. That’s kind of my litmus test. If I can brush my teeth with the local water, then we can fill our tank. We drink local water after we run it through our Britta.

The only real issue with this campground is that it is isolated and far from anything interesting. We did have a fun excursion to the local markets, but that was about all there was to do! So after two nights, we hit the road for Marrakech. Overall, we rate Camping Mimosas in Mohammedia 7 out of 10 Chouting Stars. (Oddly, they had no mimosas! What’s up with that?)

What can I say about our campground in Marrakech other than we loved it. It certainly wasn’t perfect. Every morning between 7:00 and 8:00, as folks fired up their kettles, our fridge flipped to gas and stayed that way until mid-morning. Argh. The pool and surrounding areas were beautiful, but the section for motorhomes was a little scrubby and neglected. The restaurant was mediocre. But the IT factory here was high, even if it wasn’t immediately apparent. We are not always the most social of travelers, but there are times we love being part of a community and we enjoyed the raucous crowd at Camping Le Relais.

One night participants in the 2020 Budapest to Bamako Charity Race, the poor man’s Dakar Rally, pulled into the campground. There were Toyota 4 x 4s, giant MAN overlanders (which are awesome) and other types of vehicles equipped (or not) for such a grueling race through the Sahara. The two contestants that settled in next to us were driving a beat up little Peugot. They were in the “Spirit” category. Their little beater car was barely breathing when they arrived and so they set about working on it. It was way overloaded and all of the names of the sponsors were written on the car with a sharpie. Both the guys are engineers and they had it going in no time. They were great fun to talk with, and I hope they make it to the end, they still have a week to go! What adventurers they are to take on such a challenge!

Another thing about our Marrakech campground is that it just felt good to be there, particularly after a long day in the city. We give Camping Le Relais 8.5 Chouting Stars!

We were so unsure of our next stop, we couldn’t decide how long we would stay. Location-wise, it was in a little dusty town about 15 kilometers from Essaouria, or as we say in Texas, out in the big middle of nowhere. If we were to base our stay on the town where the campground was, one night would have been plenty. But as soon as we drove through the gates, I said, “We’re staying three nights.” It just had such a peaceful feel to it and it is my favorite campground to date. We had a level concrete slab to park on and a grassy area around us for our chairs and table. This really helped keep the dust down. Also, the entire campground was walled, which kept out the noise of the highway, literally right outside the front gate. It had all the facilities we needed, great electricity and hot water for dishwashing and showers. It was just lovely.

Alas, the WIFI was so-so, the showers were ancient, and the toilets were locked at night and well into the morning! We still haven’t figured that one out. But those are minor complaints! It’s because of its far away location and the need for a taxi that knocks this place down a bit, so for Camping des Olivier, 8.5 Chouting Stars!

While we were there, the staff arranged a taxi into Essaouira for Steven and a few others, which was great. I stayed home and did laundry and cooked some meals (which is my happy place when I am tired of yomping all over the place) while Steven got a dedicated photography day in a very picturesque town. Win, win!

The next town we wanted to visit was Taghazout, which is Morocco’s answer to Surf City. Situated right on the Atlantic and opened long ago to foreign property buyers, the population of Taghazout is as much surfer as it is Sahara. It’s a fascinating melting pot of all nationalities and the shore is lined with coffee shops, cafes, surf shops, and yoga and art studios. On the beach you can rent a surfboard or a camel, whichever suits you. And it’s a small enough place that you can walk from one end to the other in 15 minutes, but you can walk on the beach endlessly. Obviously, this is a place we had to visit, unfortunately, there are no campgrounds in the town.

The closest one is nearly five kilometers north, so that’s where we went. Thing is, it’s a popular campsite overlooking the Atlantic Ocean with sunsets to die for (see banner image above). So it’s filled with campers who come here for months at a time, making it the most crowded campsite we’ve stayed at thus far. We rolled in and lucked into one of the last spots available and signed up for three nights.

There is nothing around the immediate area, but inside the campground walls is a very good restaurant (serving delicious Moroccan wine!) a small store, an awning guy and staff that will order a very, very expensive taxi into town. It is typical in Moroccan campgrounds that vendors selling an array of goods and services will wander through and offer you something or other. Yesterday it was almond cookies, today the fish man arrived. He was immediately surrounded by French campers. The fish is right out of the ocean, so as fresh as it comes, and he did a brisk business. Once purchased, he will gut it and fillet it for you, so he makes it easy. If we were staying longer, I would buy from him next time.

We are hoping the camping rug man comes by as we are wanting to buy a rug for our campsites that is made of recycled plastic. As you can see in the photos, we need one. As we get further into the desert environs, it will come in handy and help keep the dust and sand to a minimum. If not here, he will be along soon at another place, I’m sure.

The electricity is fabulous considering how many rigs are here. Since it is quite warm, we are able to run a fan and that has been a blessing. We have water at our site, which is a real treat. The bathrooms and showers are fine, though as usual, hot for the women and cool for the men. There are areas for dishwashing and handwashing of laundry if one so desires. I am currently caught up, so I do not desire. 🙂

Perhaps not surprising given the seasonal nature of the campers, the community here is mostly cliques. We got put with the French and German. The French ignore us, even though they think we are French and the Germans only started speaking to us when they learned we are not French. I was going to put up our little Irish and American flags when we arrived, but the French group having their lunch in front of us were watching and I told Steven it felt a little passive-aggressive, so we closed our shades instead. It’s all a very interesting dynamic. Mostly, we’re happy to be incognito, in other words, mistaken for French. 🙂 For Camping Terre d’ Ocean, 7 Chouting Stars.

So that’s it, a little flavor of camping in Morocco!

NEXT UP: Maybe some stuff about food shopping?

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