Rabat, Morocco

We now have a grand total of 8 passengers after picking up Dave in Fes.  From Fes we headed towards Rabat.  We would be bush camping every night in Rabat due to the lack The funds which means that we have to find a place to camp just before dark and then pack up the next morning.  Rabat is the capital of Morocco so it's the place to get visas.  We rocked up at the Mauritanian embassy just before 9 in hope of submitting our application and getting the visa as quickly as possible so we could then submit for Mali.  Steve wore a tie for the occasion and we successfully got the two visas by the end of the day.  Whilst waiting we had a wander around the city walking through the market and a huge cemetery to the beach.  Morocco so far has been great for coffee and cakes so I'm making sure I'm fitting lots of them in.

The last visa we need to get is the Cote d'Ivoire which we couldn't submit when we wanted to due to a public holiday.  Tyson and Dave headed on the train to Casablanca and the girls went for a shower in town and then on to find a beach to spend the day on.  It wasn't the cleanest of beaches but the views were good.

We had a morning in the Cote d'voire embassy getting fingerprints and photos taken.  Its a good job that there weren't more of us otherwise it would have taken all day.  The man in the embassy didn't really know when they would be ready.  Most likely the day after next but possibly then next day.  In the afternoon most of us headed out for pizza and wifi. 

The following day we had another day in the city.  First stop was the Chellah.  This is an old walled city.  Originally a Roman site and then, in the 13th century the sultan built a mosque and maulosleum.  Now everything is in ruins.  It was nice to walk around and the gardens were well kept with nice plants and fruit trees.  We also spent some time walking around the half of the Medina that we hadn't seen and taking another shower.  We now also have a truck pet.  A tiny tortoise named Mertyl which we bought from the market.  We decided that it would be easy to look after and more likely to survive that the other options of fish, chameleons, hamsters of a ferret!  Hopefully she will survive the journey and will go to a happy family in Harare, Zimbabwe where the truck is headed after this trip.

Our visas were granted quicker than we thought so we were all very happy to be leaving Rabat and our cork forest bushcamp after 5 nights.  We are now headed in to the Atlas mountains for stop at Todra gorge.