A Grand Taxi is a popular form of transport in Morocco.

They’re a bit different to the Taxis westerners are used to, such as the interesting shennanigans that occur with New York Taxis, but a Grand Taxi can be a good option if you don’t like riding around in barely roadworthy buses.

Grand Taxis are mostly used for city-to-city or village transport.

Like many other transport options, Grand Taxis only depart when full.  Full is defined as 4 passengers on the rear seat, and two on the front passenger chair – meaning 7 people are squashed into a car designed to transport 5, including the driver.

But if you ride in a Grand Taxi, chances are that you will only ride in one brand of car – an old Mercedez Benz.

The entire country of Morocco is littered with old, diesel powered Mercedez Benz vehicles, which are often found in large car parks like this, ready to transport people from point A to B.

These Grand Taxi car parks usually form a symmetrical pattern throughout many town centres, and will drive a fixed route to a set destination.

While a Grand Taxi is usually cheap, it may not be necessarily comfy – long trips in summer without airconditioning convince many travellers to charter a taxi to themselves!

Especially if you’ve just had a big feed of Morocco Meat!

I wondered if Morocco was the end-point of the Mercedes-Benz recycling scheme, or if this northern African country actually was clapped-out Mercedes-Benz heaven.

I guess there’s no shortage of parts going around.

The ultimate in world recycling!

Now you can add the Grand Taxi to the list of World Transport Options!

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Rock For Sale.

Some people are so poor in Morocco, that they’ve decided to become geologists and entrepreneurs at the same time.

Anyone who has undertaken a minibus trip to the Sahara Desert Dunes would have come across this scene in the Atlas Mountains, which is on the way.

That’s right, it’s benches full of rocks, that people are trying to sell to tourists.  But there are no signs saying Rock For Sale.

The journey itself is an interesting one as the landscape ranges from red, flat and rocky terrain, to fingers of ground that jut straight-up into the crisp blue sky.  Against this barren backdrop was scattered the odd mud brick village with its robed inhabitants.

But it was here that with each mile passed, it seemed the poorer the people became.  The sole aim of life out this way was putting food on the table.  Anything else was a bonus in rural Morocco.

Enterprising locals resorted to selling an assortment of rocks from every possible geological age, displaying them on shoddy wooden stands that were about to collapse.

So if you’re having a crap day at work – think of these poor sods out in the middle of nowhere, trying to make a living by trying to flog off their Rock For Sale to tourists who don’t want to buy them because they’ll exceed their baggage limits.

If you’re interested, you can climb the Rock For Sale – check out Rock Climbing Atlas – South Western Europe and Morocco

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Morocco Meat.

It’s a main ingredient that forms a part of the very declicious Moroccan Cuisine.  I love feasting on the numerous tagines that are available there, and the rich, complex flavours become addictive.

However, anyone who has travelled to Morocco would have probably noticed an abundance of open-air meat displays, proudly hung outside local butcher shops.

After passing numerous such shops, I devised my own Code of Practice for this occupation of preparing Certified Moroccan Meat; surely mirroring the laws passed down between generations, father to son, in the Moroccan Butcher Apprenticeship Scheme.

A photo of one of these butcher shops is shown below, and the Unwritten Laws follow:

Unwritten Law One: Meat must always hang outside in the sun, so it can be covered in flies. It must never, ever be refrigerated – even if one possesses a refrigerator that is working.

Unwritten Law Two: Cow tongue is a delicacy, not offal.  It’s not relevant pondering where this tongue has actually been, even if the tongue’s destination was the smelly arse of another cow.

Unwritten Law Three: A high-pressure hose, or a bucket and mop, are way too hard to operate to clean up meat scraps, and should be avoided at all costs. Domestic animals such as cats and dogs are automatic and efficient cleaners.

Unwritten Law Four: The quality of the meat is proportional to the number of cats drooling on the street.

Unwritten Law Five: Sheep and/or goat heads are also a delicacy and must be displayed in full view to attract prospective customers – and flies.

But don’t let that put you off Moroccan Food.

If you want to see the great recipes where Morocco Meat ends up, check out Cooking at the Kasbah: Recipes from My Moroccan Kitchen.

I don’t have a feeling this photo made The Travel Guide to the Jetset scene in Marrakech!

Get stuck into it!

Other things to do in North Africa – check out the large Legoland at Abu Simbel in Egypt.

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