Come on a Photo Tour of Morocco

I wanted to share some of my images from the recent Morocco photo tour with you. I had limited mobility but still managed to take almost 2000 images. We had a great bunch of people, an amazing guide, and we all had a lot of fun.

One year previous, in 2016, I took my first journey to this exotic land as I led my first Morocco photography tour. We did it all again just recently and because of my ankle (the Colombian incident), I brought along a co-leader, Daniel Korzeniewski. You’ll be hearing a lot more about him as he will be leading the tour for us in 2018 as well as one to India that we’re working on.

If this magical place is on your bucket list – this is also the official launch for registrations which are now opened for the 2018 Morocco photo tour. The waiting list had the first crack at it a week ago, and now it’s up for grabs.

With only 10 spots this year, this photo tour sold out in less than a week.

If you’re interested in being notified first when a tour is available, we encourage you to put your name on our waiting list. We offer tours to wait list members first, before opening it up to the general public.

Put your name on our photo tour waiting list here.

Here’s how this year’s tour went down:

Casablanca and Rabat

Spices at the market in Casablanca

Fruit and vegetable vendor at the market in Casablanca and a man waiting.


The Hassan II Mosque. This was actually taken last year but it’s so pretty at night I had to share it again.

After leaving Casablanca we made a short stop in Rabat, the capital of Morocco. Our stops included the Chelleh (a fortified metropolis) to see the ancient ruins and storks nesting and the mausoleum. I share photos of the latter from last year so I decided to show you the neat fellow we met there instead. He’s a water seller. Locals pay him and he pours a cup of water for them to drink. And he sure was happy to pose for us, SO HAPPY.

Storks at the Chelleh.

The happy water seller in Rabat

Chefchaouen

Chefchaouen is the blue city of Morocco. It’s up in the Rif mountains in the northern part of the country and is a bit of the way to get to – but SO worth it. Many tours do not visit there due to the distance but among our tour participants, it’s always a favorite. One lady with us on this trip has waited many years to get to return to Morocco and was looking forward to finally seeing Chefchaouen – she was not disappointed and bought some local art to take home with her to remember it.

Our first view of Chefchaouen from a high point overlooking the city.

Paint! They buy it like this and mix it up sort of like a white wash.

Daniel decided to purchase this leather bag. Just guess how much he paid for it (Hint: it was a really good price!)? He plans to put an insert inside and use it as a camera bag.

These guys were funny. The language in Morocco is Arabic but many people speak French as well. In Chefchaouen they’re in the Spanish part of the country so I spoke that with these kids. They wanted me to give them money for taking a photo so I gave them a Dirham each (like 10 cents) and they ran off to buy a candy.

En route to Fes and Fes

From Chefchaouen we continued our journey on towards Fes. As one of the oldest cities in Africa and the world, Fes dates back to the eighth century! Inside the Medina walls, life continues as it has for hundreds of years.
There are over 9500 tiny alleyways in Fes, none of which are labeled or named that I could see and no one single person knows them all. There are no maps of them either. Needless to say, we were guided through the Medina and out, and we sent guides with our tour participants in smaller groups when they wanted to wander and explore. We lose nobody on our tours!

Olives, dates, and figs as far as the eye can see! You get olives with pretty much every meal in Morocco, sometimes even breakfast, and they are so good.

Freshly grilled meatballs (kafta). Yummy!

Our Riad in Fes. This is how we roll on our tours! 4-star that sure feels like 5!

I wanted to try and capture the sense of how tight some of the alleyways in Fes really are. I think you get the idea here right? And a donkey could come the other way any moment!

The market in Fes was just opening when we got there and it was bustling shortly thereafter. We learned how to say and understand “Look out!” in Arabic as we frequently needed to do just that or get run over by a cart or donkey laden with goods.

The Madrasa (or Medersa) in Fes dates to the 14th century. The architectural detail is amazing!

Models we arranged for our own private visit to a palace in Fes.

The famous tannery in Fes

At the Chouara tannery, They still use the same technique they have for 100s of years. A toxic mixture of cow urine, quicklime, water, and salt is used to remove hair and excess fat from the hides. After they are scraped they are then soaked in another mixture of pigeon poop and water to soften the hides. These steps are done in the white wells you can see below.
Sprigs of mint are given to visitors which you can use if you find the smell overwhelming. I didn’t use it but it is pungent that’s for sure.