Journey Beyond Travel, LLC - Morocco Tours

Talks on the future of the West Sahara are to resume in August. Morocco holds the diplomatic initiative in its meetings with the Polisario. The two met in the United States earlier this month to try to reach an agreement in resolving the oldest territorial conflict in Africa. Algerian backed, Polisario, wants full independence while Morocco has offered to make the area an autonomous region. Morocco’s plan would give the Sahrawi people control over their own affairs through legislative, judicial, and executive institutions while Rabat would hold sovereignty. The United Nations has sponsored and encouraged such talks to be held without preconditions for self determination. (more…)

Take a prestigious company, add a charity event, flavor with Moroccan mountains and what do you have? You have trekkers climbing Jbel Toubkal, a 4167m peak, in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Ten volunteers from Martin Ward Anderson’s UK and Netherlands offices made the trip up to the top. Each participant has set a goal of raising 1000 pounds each towards the charity event. Martin Ward Anderson Company will match up to 10,000 pounds. The recipient of the funds is Cancer Research, UK. (more…)

Morocco came out on top of a football match played in Malawi. By doing so the Moroccans became the first team to qualify for a trip to Ghana to play in the African Nations Cup in 2008. Striker Bouchaib al-Moubaraki sent the ball into an unguarded net that gave the Atlas Lions a 1-0 victory over the home team. Morocco’s team has a seven point advantage in Group 12. They have beaten Malawi and Zimbabwe, both, at home and away. (more…)

Calais to Casablanca! Racers will come in beat up old cars.Vehicles racing in this event cannot be worth more than 100 pounds. Morocco will be the final leg of this unique race. Drivers and crews are dressed in costumes such as Scooby Doo and the Tasmanian Devil. The race begins in Calais on Sunday. If all goes well, the five cars should arrive in Casablanca on Thursday evening. Their route takes them from France, through Andorra and Spain before ending in Morocco. This race has been organized by StreetSafari. While similar races have been run before in Europe, it is an African first. (more…)

Picturesque Moroccan town of Essaouira is having a festival, the 10th Gnaoua music festival to be exact. People come from far away places to hear music inspired by the Gnaouis, or descendants of former African slaves. This year music, from all around the globe, will be featured. Artists from the US, Cuba and Latin America along with the West African and Moroccan players will entertain festival goers as well as stars from Algeria and Senegal. While this gathering has been compared to Woodstock, it has a definite different flavor. Woodstock was about counter-culture. Gnaoua is about glorifying God and the Prophet Mohammed. (more…)

Little Madeline McCann has been missing for more than 40 days. She was kidnapped in Praia da Luz, Portugal. Her parents, Kate and Gerry McCann were met by Moroccan children carrying pictures of their daughter, during their visit. The McCann’s are in Morocco to bring attention to their daughter’s plight. Madeline was seen in Marrakech six days ago. (more…)

Morocco’s achievements in re-integration of girls into the education system were highlighted by a visit from Jordan’s Queen Rania Al Abdullah . She came in her official role as UNICEF’s First Eminent Advocate for Children. She and Princess Lalla Salma of Morocco, visited two UNICEF sponsored projects in Fez.
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Moroccan farmers will soon have to change from their antiquated ways of farming to more modern ones. Independent think tank Centre Marocain de Conjoncture suggests that farmers, here, need to ready themselves for the climate changes and the coming change in the markets. Severe droughts have happened in the past and will continue to be a problem with shifting weather patterns. Yield from crops this year will be less than half of last years because of the drought situation. This put emphasis on the need to update Morocco’s agriculture practices. About half of Morocco’s farms are five hectares or smaller in size. Main crops have historically been cereal grains. Cereal grains use a great amount of water. Farmable land and water are not plentiful in Morocco. Water, especially, needs to be rationed and land use planned.
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