Journey Beyond Travel...going beyond the destination

The cultural experiences combined with traditional Mediterranean climate year round provide residents and visitors with an eclectic mix of natural resources and old world charm. Wyndham resorts is capitalizing on this environment with the creation of the new Port Lixus Resort. This fabulous resort will be situated on the northern Atlantic coastline just 80 kilometers from Tangier and around the corner from Larache. (more…)

Madeline McCann is again in the Morocco news! Moroccan schools, supermarkets and medical centers have all been blitzed with thousands of pictures of the missing four year old girl. Remote parts of the country are being sent letters written in Arabic and French. The young girl vanished from Praia Da Luz, Portugal last May. Many reported sightings in Morocco have convinced the girl’s parents and private investigators that she is still in this country. Convinced that she was abducted by a pedophile ring and smuggled into north Africa, the team is redoubling its efforts. (more…)

Atlas Lions of Morocco are having a cakewalk to qualify for the Nation’s Cup. They have dominated the league in which they play. They had no problem with Malawi or Zimbabwe in recent competitons. (more…)

Josh Asen traveled to Morocco in search of uncovering hip-hop culture. This 2004 trip was courtesy of a Fulbright fellowship program. His initial intentions were to gather research for writing a paper on Morocco and the hip-hop culture. Upon arriving to Morocco, Asen was amazed to hear Puff Daddy and Eminem playing in conjunction with the traditional Morocco cultural and religious music. This changed his planned course of action. (more…)

Moroccan expats create a network. Fellow countrymen linked by common heritage and living abroad came together for three days to brainstorm ways to make foreign investors take a second look at Morocco. Using the theme Moroccan Investors of the World: Actors of Economic Diplomacy, the government held conference in hopes to stimulate Moroccan expats into helping their home country. (more…)

Hassan Hajjaj draws inspiration for his artwork from everyday life in Marrakech. Where others see young people blazing through the streets on motorcycles, Hajjaj sees youthful Moroccan culture springing into action. Capturing young people in action on the streets is a representation of Western stereotypes for North African people. Men wearing fezzes at the local cafes and smoking cigarettes is captured through his lens. It is among these Marrakech streets and cafes that Hassan Hajjaj brings urban culture and the old world together in Morocco. (more…)

The international film festival is underway in Marrakech. King Mohammed VI is sponsoring this year’s festival. Taking center stage at the Morocco festival is Moroccan director Mustapha Derkaoui and American actor Leondardo Di Caprio. Both individuals received distinct honors before a standing ovation crowd at the convention center. Festival directors bestowed awards upon directors Michelangelo Antonioni, Igmar Bergman and produce Ahmed Baha Attia. (more…)

A new, state of the art visual arts school opened this week amid the hustle and bustle of the nine day Marrakesh film festival. This new school hopes to provide Morocco with budding young cinematographers that will take Moroccan films into the next decade. Prince Moulay Rachid of Morocco, president of the Marrakesh International Film Festival Foundation, performed ribbon cutting ceremonial duties on Sunday. This marked the official opening of the Ecole Superieure des Arts Visuels (ESAV). (more…)

A first for Morocco! Racing teams in the 2008 Dakar Rally will have to compete with Moroccan drivers. Female race car driver, Saida Ibrahimi will be part of the first racing team to represent this country. Other Moroccan racers are motorcyclists, Harith Jabbari and Abdelkader Tiatia. For those not familiar with the Dakar Rally, it is an endurance race that will start in Lisbon on January 5th and end in Senegal on January 20th. (more…)

Marrakech kicked off its seventh film festival by honoring Leonardo De Caprio and Martin Scorcese. One hundred and ten films will be featured during the festivities. Fourteen films are up for the Golden Star representing Algeria, China, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Finland, Japan, Mexico, Morocco, the Netherlands, the Philippines, Russia, Serbia, and the United States. (more…)

Moroccan King Mohammed VI received thanks from Sierra Leone’s Foreign Minister, Zainab Bangura. Meeting with her Moroccan counterpart, Taieb Fassi Fihri, she expressed gratitude for Morocco’s support of Sierra Leone. Ms. Bangura expressed hope that the two countries would cooperate in bettering and strengthening South-South relations. (more…)

As the temps begin to plunge closer and closer to that omnipotent zero degrees, the last alternative we fellow hikers want is to stay indoors all winter. No, we will hike and freeze if we must in order to reach that trailblazer or peak! Of course, there are easy ways and hard ways to go about our hikes. With the proper gear, a hike, especially in a foreign country like Morocco, especially up a foreign mountain like Jbel (Mount) Toubkal, can be enjoyable and refreshing rather than painful and unbearable. When hiking in the High Atlas Mountains up Jbel Toubkal in Morocco, it’s imperative to pack gear that will see you to the top. (more…)

In the villages and towns that make up beautiful Morocco, you can find souks and outdoor markets displaying some of the finest Moroccan crafts and threadworks available. In the smaller countryside villages and towns, the same souks and markets display their offerings on a weekly basis. Each village or town in a particular region takes turns as to which day of the week its souks and markets occur. (more…)

Dress is a visual form of language. For language is purely a means by which one expresses a thought, feeling or belief. Therefore, dress is a way to convey these ideas without speaking a single word. For Morocco, fashion speaks a language of tradition mixed with the modern to create something as unique as the individual wearing the item does. Morocco fashion traces back to Northwest Africa. Today, Moroccan fashion designers find innovative ways to mix traditional Moroccan style with modern trends seen worldwide. Hard work coupled with worldwide recognition has lead to numerous awards by the fashion industry in places like Europe, the Middle East and North America. (more…)

The art of dance can tell a story. The beautiful movements are expressive forms of insight into thoughts and feelings as a story unfolds. This art form, also known as Moroccan Folklore, carries across tribal and language barriers throughout Morocco. (more…)

Morocco has been working to neutralize land mines placed in its southern provinces by the Polisario separatists. To all intents and purposes, not quite 66,000 land mines have been disarmed by the Kingdom. In this year alone, nearly 50,000 land mines and active projectiles have been neutralized. (more…)

Morocco planted twenty million trees as part of a drive sponsored by the United Nations and World Agroforestry Center to get one billion trees planted worldwide. Reaching the goal to have the trees planted by the international meeting on climate change scheduled for next month has been a milestone according to Achim Steiner, Executive Director of the UN Environment Progam. (more…)

King Mohammed VI went south. No, he didn’t run away. He went to a signing ceremony for the rehabilitation project of the southern city of Sidi Ifni. Projects costing more than fourteen million USD will be spent on roads, revamping public lighting and other updates and improvements. A new sports complex, a wastewater treatment plant and a water pumping station will all be built with the money. Rehabilitating the city dump and enhancing a liquid sanitation plant are also slated. Another project concerning Sidi Ifni is the program for generalizing drinking water supply for more than 21,000 residents costing more than $54 million USD. (more…)