Marrakech

I often travel with two of my closest girlfriends and one of the "must dos" when you find yourself in Marrakech is to visit a real hammam. We had the full treatment, where we were stripped naked and scrubbed down, rinsed and then allowed to relax in a steam bath. Once we were all loosened up, we had a full body massage, then had some henna tattooed on our bodies. Voila!

This hammam was found in the heart of a labyrinthian souq. I'm not even sure how we navigated our way to the area and managed to come out okay.

Jamaa el Fnaa at night. During the daytime, the square is bustling with vendors and snake charmers. But at night, the real enterainment comes alive with fire and live music. The smell is intoxicating. People-watching from the top of a cafe in the medina, while nursing a soothing cup of Turkish coffee.

Volubilis

We took a fabulous half-day excursion from Meknes. Volubilis is well-known for having the largest and most well-preserved Roman ruins in Morocco. Although most of the structures have crumbled from the many centuries of neglect, the mosaics remain absolutely stunning.

In the Sahara....

One night in the desert. It was tranquility with not a single city light to be seen. There must have been a billion stars that came out that night. We stayed in a Touareg's tent where they served us tagine and sang songs of love and nature. We drank mint tea and stayed up as long as we could.

A sandstorm on the way to the Sahara. The tiny bits of sand can really cut through skin in no time. My lower legs were exposed so I suffered the sting. Luckily I had my scarf to protect my face.

Ryad Bahia

In Meknes, I met an incredibly fascinating woman named Bouchra Jamai who together with her husband, ran this ryad within the medina. She was not only highly-educated, speaking 5 languages, but she was also very well-travelled. This is her ryad, the Ryad Bahia. When you are in Morocco, you must stay in one of these traditional style town houses. They are beautiful and give you a sense of being in an Arabic country. I'm afraid my photos probably do not do justice to the splendour of this dwelling but at least you get the picture.

Overcast morning in Tangier

I will never forget the first morning I found myself in Morocco. I was awoken to the blair of sirens: A call to prayer at dawn. It was still dark outside and my friends and I were recovering still from a turbulent ferry ride across the Strait of Gibraltar the night before. We came by way of Tarifa in Spain. This used to be a conduit reserved only for EU passport holders so we had the privilege of being one of the first few non-EU tourists to make the crossing. This photo was taken from the terrace of Hotel Continental, perched high above the port.

AGO - King Tut's Treasures

I just love how much light this place allows because of all the big windows. I wish I could do this for my new house!

This was supposedly a piece of art. Not sure of what though.

I recently visited the AGO for King Tut's Treasures. I couldn't take any photos inside so I took photos of the outside instead. Even then, I had to be careful of what images I could snap. I had not been to the AGO since Frank Ghery's makeover but it was a nice treat. Reminded me of the interior of the Guggenheim Museum in Bilbao, except of course, no titanium walls.

Rare Sightings

Who says lightning doesn't strike the same place twice? Some people who come to Tanzania never see all of the "Big 5". Most of the time, people do not see the black rhinos in the Ngorongoro crater. There are only about 20 of these magnificent animals roaming freely in the wild. On two occasions, we saw the black rhinos, once just a lone male, and the top photo, a female with her young in tow.