Morocco: Visiting a Nomad Family, a Fossil Factory, a Divorced Berber Woman and More..

This nomad (our host) is 75 years old and no longer goes out with his herds.  Instead his son now does the work. He and his wife (deceased) built their home where he now lives with his son, daughter-in-law and three grandchildren. As far as we could see there were no other families anywhere nearby.  His grandchildren do not go to school and are illiterate.  When questioned about their future he said he is waiting to go to Allah and what they do with their lives is up to them. 

The grandfather was constantly praying. 

The daughter-in-law with her youngest child. 


The family hides their food in here so no one will steal it. 

A nomad “pizza” and tea was prepared for us.  The pizza is two flat breads cooked with a stuffing inside.  It looked delicious. You can see the oven used to bake their daily bread. 

We had tea and a nomad pizza in animal hide covered tent. 

Grandfather and grandson.  The grandfather is disappointed that his grandson refuses to go to school.

The nomad’s home with his granddaughter playing outside.

During our long bus drives we had regular stops to admire and photograph the scenery. 

We visited a fossil factory where we learned about the geology and history of fossils. 

The fossil factory we visited was fascinating. Here you see the detailed work as the ancient fossils are painstakingly brought out of the stone where they have been frozen in time for 320,000,000 years.  

Crynoids were embedded in this stone and slowly

brought into relief. It will make a spectacular table top.  In case you were wondering, we bought a new dining table for Rabelo. It isn’t anything like what you’re seeing here.  It has a few ammonites and one other type of fossil scattered across the top.  

Some fossils in a piece of stone. 

We visited a divorced Berber woman living in the Arab community of Meknès-Tafilalet.  She and her children are ostracized by the rest of the community. 

The maze we went through to enter the Berber’s home where we had tea and the opportunity to discuss her life. 

Entering the home of the Berber woman.  She has many strikes against her making it difficult for her to live in this community of Arabs. Besides being divorced, and being a Berber, another issue they have with her is the fact that she allows OAT visitors into her home. 

Inside the divorced Berber woman’s home. She did not want to have her face on Facebook. She had heard that people would use her face and put it on the body of a naked woman to post on Facebook. 

We were offered mint tea by our hostess. Her brightly decorated caftan shows she is a Berber. At each home visit we brought gifts 

We were greeted by this band when we arrived at a hotel. 

Tom and Bruce got into the rhythm of the music.

We saw a herd of camels as we were driving along and stopped for pictures.

Ouarzazate-Tinghir…another photo stop

The Miller family have always liked snakes.