Fiche de renseignements - Go-South

10.04. Essaouria surroundings, Oualidia
After a long day (21 hours) the previous day we treated ourselves to a lie-in and slept until 7
a.m. After breakfast we spent until midday exploring the surroundings of Essaouira including
the beach, which produced a dark-morph Western Reef Heron, a rare bird in Morocco, and
a male Cirl Bunting but little else. It was too early for the most famous bird attraction of the
town, Eleonora’s Falcon, which breeds in huge numbers on the offshore islands. Despite a
careful search we were not able to locate any of the rare Shags of race riggenbachi.
Birding on Essaouria beach, 10.04.2010
After a nice lunch in the fascinating scenery of the old part of Essaouria and wonderful views
of very tame House Buntings we continued north to Oualidia, where we birded for a couple
of hours and added a few species such as Blue Rock Thrush to our trip list. We slept at
Motel-Restaurant A L’Aragnée Gourmande and paid 250 MD for a double room. Our
sleeping rooms were situated next to the restaurant on the southwest edge of the lagoon
rather than in the centre of town. To reach the hotel, drive along the road towards the beach.
The hotel is on the right of the road opposite a kiosk. It can be highly recommended because
of its friendly owner and because of the pleasant rooms.
11.04. Oualidia surroundings, Marrakesh
On the following morning we explored the lagoons south of Oualidia, finding a second
calendar year Grey Phalarope together with good numbers of waterfowl. After a late
breakfast in the restaurant, where we kept an eye on the gull and tern roost in the lagoon of
Oualidia, we made our way towards Marrakesh, finding an impressive density of Calandra
Larks and Corn Buntings on the way, many of which were already feeding chicks, along with
several Collared Pratincoles and Little Owls. As the roads were pretty bad and we had no
reason to hurry we did not arrive in Marrakesh until fairly late in the afternoon. We stayed at
a hotel at the southern end of Marrakesh on the main road to Oukaimeden to have a good
strategic position for an early-morning start to the famous ski resort the next day. We took a
taxi back into Marrakesh and spent the evening around the famous square Djemaa el-Fna
wandering through the souks. Another attempt to find Maghreb Tawny Owl failed because of
the incredibly noisy nightlife in this fascinating town.
12.04. Oukaimeden, Toufliath Forest House, Tizi n’Tichka Pass, Boumalne de
Dades
An early-morning start (4 a.m.) was necessary to reach Oukaimeden ski resort at first light.
The area is situated in the High Atlas at an altitude of 2600 metres.
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