Rocking the kasbah

Marrakech went from overtourism to empty streets as two years of Covid-19 lockdowns took their toll. With visitors now returning, is it time to ponder how the future of travel here should look?

- Alice Morrison

Having strapped my helmet on and set my Biggles googles firmly on my nose, I looked up at Felix, my guide from Insiders Experience, and yelled, "Let's go!". With a satisfying roar, the Second World War-era Russian motorbike took off to cheers from the assembled audience and with me sat snugly in the sidecar. As we zoomed past Marrakech's National Theatre and up the wide French boulevards of the new town, the air scented with orange blossom and the roses for which the city is famous, I righted my helmet and clung on.

I have lived in Morocco for eight years now and am always looking for new ways to experience it, as well as reliving old favourites. That is especially true of late. Morocco managed the Covid-19 pandemic well in many ways, keeping death rates relatively low and instituting an excellent vaccination scheme - the best in Africa. However, it has suffered horribly from the two-year hiatus in tourism, especially in and around Marrakech.

Before the pandemic hit, travellers flocked to the city and you would often face long queues for famous sights such as the Majorelle Gardens. They are well worth visiting, but there is also so much more to explore here. As well as ticking off the major sights, there are a host of non-mainstream experiences that can offer a different view of the country, put a few dirhams in the right pockets or even help a worthy cause.

It was the first of these that I considered as our bike blasted on to the Palmeraie, the extensive palm groves on the edge of the city where you can still see people living the traditional life of the countryside. Kids played Subbuteo in mud-built cafés while their mothers milked goats and churned cheese and fresh buttermilk. It was another side to Marrakech entirely.