High Atlas hold-your-breath road trip: Passing Col du Tichka
Living in the Netherlands has introduced me to the concept of ‘driving properly’. After all, coming from a country like the Philippines where traffic rules only exist on paper makes adjusting to the very basic and proper way of driving in the Netherlands not easy! Bad habits are hard to break. Very hard to break.
Driving woes
Anyway, what I’m trying to say is this—I’ve fought high and low to get my Dutch Drivers’ License in the Netherlands. I shed tears, howled, had nightmares, fired 2 instructors, and lost a couple thousand of Euros just to get this elusive pink paper. It is insane. And now, in this Moroccan holiday, I was brought back to my pre-Netherlands driving properly days.
The experience was quite an awakening as I didn’t realize—how naïve of me really—that lunatics on the road still exist. You can say I was pretty shaken. Welcome back to earth, haha, to the real world.
Our insane ADHD Moroccan driver
For our last excursion in Morocco, we took the Ouarzazate and Ait Benhaddou trip. The journey is longer than Essaouira, approximately 4 hours from Marrakech driving through the rugged and steep High Atlas mountains. We were in a mini-bus, 9 of us including the driver. Blondine and I, a Swiss couple from the French part of Switzerland, a Catalan couple from Barcelona, and a French (the guy) and Algerian (girl) couple.
Blondine and I were seated in the front passenger side. This excursion wasn’t an exception this time, like the rest of the side trips we’ve had in Morocco, the mini-bus didn’t leave on time.
The driver I reckon is quite young, between 27-29 years old and he seems to be suffering from full-blown ADHD. He cannot stop talking on his mobile phone while driving. After a phone call is finished, he begins with another one. He was loud as well who fidgets every now and then. This went on for an hour and a half. Non-stop. I thought for a moment he was going to eat his mobile phone from the constant yakking. He also honks a lot. He harasses other cars by tailgating them. We definitely have a (insert sarcasm) winner here.
Along the way, we stopped a couple of times to view some very old and primitive yet undeniably charming Moroccan mountain villages. That was nice.
The Tichka Pass
Then comes the challenging part of the journey, driving through the High Atlas Mountains on zigzagged roads and steep cliffs on the Tichka Pass. The Riad Manager warned us about this but I’ve driven through and around the Alps, the steep cliffs in the Greek Islands as well as in the Canary Islands so I am not a novice anymore when it comes to crisscrossed roads on high altitude. However, this time I am not driving. The ADHD driver sitting beside us controls the wheel.
As we drove on Tichka Pass, our stomachs went somersaulting. We realised this is going to be a real frightening drive if this ADHD driver will not slow down and stop munching his mobile phone. If he is not talking on the phone he is chatting with the Algerian girl and turning his head the whole time when we wanted him to concentrate on the road and his damn driving. He sometimes drove with only 1 hand as well. 80 km per hour on a 50 km per hour speed limit narrow road that allows only one car at a time to pass. Is he trying to impress us?
We so want to strangle him! GGRRRRR. The pass is so narrow and very steep that one miss and we will all be sent tumbling down the mountains. We will be super lucky if we survive.
He has also not buckled his seat intentionally as he only does this when he is approaching a checkpoint. What an idiot really.
We couldn’t take it anymore and with the help of the Algerian girl who speaks Arabic and French, we confronted the driver. We told him to PLEASE STOP chewing his mobile phone while driving, stop tailgating other cars and to please adhere to the right speed.
Algerian girl went berserk laughing. She said, ‘This is normal in Morocco! In Africa, even in Algeria, the way the driver drives is OK, very normal, just trust him, OK?!’
‘OF COURSE NOT!’ we chorused. We really put our foot down. We are frightened and we are his passengers. We are his damn customers, hello? He must drive accordingly to our wishes because our lives depend on him! That is why there are so many accidents and deaths on the road in developing countries because of disregard of the rules.
Anyway, after a very animated discussion... wait, can you imagine the reaction of this ADHD driver? Imagine his arms flying all over the place while he tries to explain. He does not speak English so we had to resort to mime body language and the Algerian girl as the intermediary. Well, eventually he obliged and he drove in silence without telephoning while maintaining the normal speed limit.
Hallelujah. Praise be to Allah. YES.
Here are the pictures of our stopover at Tichka Pass, well this was after the narrow roads.
Now on to Ouarzazate!
Travel Period: April 2009
Destination: Col du Tischka, High Atlas (Drâa-Tafilalet), Morocco
Keep in touch and follow me on Facebook: Travel & Lifestyle Diaries by Dutched Pinay Travels
Happy Travels! Enjoy Life =)
Driving woes
Anyway, what I’m trying to say is this—I’ve fought high and low to get my Dutch Drivers’ License in the Netherlands. I shed tears, howled, had nightmares, fired 2 instructors, and lost a couple thousand of Euros just to get this elusive pink paper. It is insane. And now, in this Moroccan holiday, I was brought back to my pre-Netherlands driving properly days.
The experience was quite an awakening as I didn’t realize—how naïve of me really—that lunatics on the road still exist. You can say I was pretty shaken. Welcome back to earth, haha, to the real world.
The High Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Did you know that Morocco has its own Ski Resort? In Oukaimeden you can enjoy up to 3,200 meters altitude of skiing pleasure. The owner of the Riad invited us to go there but I've just been skiing in the Alps last January and snow is the last thing I want to see in this holiday.
Convoying with the other 4x4's.
Our insane ADHD Moroccan driver
For our last excursion in Morocco, we took the Ouarzazate and Ait Benhaddou trip. The journey is longer than Essaouira, approximately 4 hours from Marrakech driving through the rugged and steep High Atlas mountains. We were in a mini-bus, 9 of us including the driver. Blondine and I, a Swiss couple from the French part of Switzerland, a Catalan couple from Barcelona, and a French (the guy) and Algerian (girl) couple.
Blondine and I were seated in the front passenger side. This excursion wasn’t an exception this time, like the rest of the side trips we’ve had in Morocco, the mini-bus didn’t leave on time.
The driver I reckon is quite young, between 27-29 years old and he seems to be suffering from full-blown ADHD. He cannot stop talking on his mobile phone while driving. After a phone call is finished, he begins with another one. He was loud as well who fidgets every now and then. This went on for an hour and a half. Non-stop. I thought for a moment he was going to eat his mobile phone from the constant yakking. He also honks a lot. He harasses other cars by tailgating them. We definitely have a (insert sarcasm) winner here.
Along the way, we stopped a couple of times to view some very old and primitive yet undeniably charming Moroccan mountain villages. That was nice.
Here is one of the villages we saw. Someone said its a one big family that lives here.
Interesting mountain scenery.
The Tichka Pass
Then comes the challenging part of the journey, driving through the High Atlas Mountains on zigzagged roads and steep cliffs on the Tichka Pass. The Riad Manager warned us about this but I’ve driven through and around the Alps, the steep cliffs in the Greek Islands as well as in the Canary Islands so I am not a novice anymore when it comes to crisscrossed roads on high altitude. However, this time I am not driving. The ADHD driver sitting beside us controls the wheel.
As we drove on Tichka Pass, our stomachs went somersaulting. We realised this is going to be a real frightening drive if this ADHD driver will not slow down and stop munching his mobile phone. If he is not talking on the phone he is chatting with the Algerian girl and turning his head the whole time when we wanted him to concentrate on the road and his damn driving. He sometimes drove with only 1 hand as well. 80 km per hour on a 50 km per hour speed limit narrow road that allows only one car at a time to pass. Is he trying to impress us?
The scenery changed upon arriving near the Tichka Pass.
We so want to strangle him! GGRRRRR. The pass is so narrow and very steep that one miss and we will all be sent tumbling down the mountains. We will be super lucky if we survive.
He has also not buckled his seat intentionally as he only does this when he is approaching a checkpoint. What an idiot really.
We couldn’t take it anymore and with the help of the Algerian girl who speaks Arabic and French, we confronted the driver. We told him to PLEASE STOP chewing his mobile phone while driving, stop tailgating other cars and to please adhere to the right speed.
Algerian girl went berserk laughing. She said, ‘This is normal in Morocco! In Africa, even in Algeria, the way the driver drives is OK, very normal, just trust him, OK?!’
‘OF COURSE NOT!’ we chorused. We really put our foot down. We are frightened and we are his passengers. We are his damn customers, hello? He must drive accordingly to our wishes because our lives depend on him! That is why there are so many accidents and deaths on the road in developing countries because of disregard of the rules.
Anyway, after a very animated discussion... wait, can you imagine the reaction of this ADHD driver? Imagine his arms flying all over the place while he tries to explain. He does not speak English so we had to resort to mime body language and the Algerian girl as the intermediary. Well, eventually he obliged and he drove in silence without telephoning while maintaining the normal speed limit.
Hallelujah. Praise be to Allah. YES.
Here are the pictures of our stopover at Tichka Pass, well this was after the narrow roads.
Yup, its 2,260 metres altitude here. Our ears were popping every now and then.
Now on to Ouarzazate!
Travel Period: April 2009
Destination: Col du Tischka, High Atlas (Drâa-Tafilalet), Morocco
Keep in touch and follow me on Facebook: Travel & Lifestyle Diaries by Dutched Pinay Travels
Happy Travels! Enjoy Life =)
