Destination Morocco: Five Cities You Must Visit

A country of 32 million people, Morocco is a part of the Maghreb region in addition to Tunisia, Algeria, Mauritania, and Libya, with which it shares cultural, historical and linguistic ties. Famous for its beaches and some of the best seaside towns, Morocco is also not short on natural beauty. You can hire a camel and trek through the Sahara; climb North Africa's highest peak in the Atlas Mountains; or stay in a traditional Kasbah in the fascinating Dades Valley. For those fragile at heart, and would not be able to stand the volatility of North African States still feeling the throes of the Arab Spring – Libya, Tunisia and Egypt; or Algeria which is still battling with Islamist rebellion, and Eritrea still suffering from a repressive rule, Morocco provides the perfect destination to feel the heat of the desert and the heart of its people.

Quite luckily, Morocco is well serviced by airlines from across Africa and Europe be it their final destinations or just making stop-overs before continuing to other destinations in or outside Africa. Thus, you have a rich list of airlines to choose from, if your preference is based on airfare, route, airline or visa requirements. Morocco is serviced by its national carrier – Royal Air Maroc and by atleast 35 other airlines including Air France, Turkish Airlines, Emirates, Lufthansa, Qatar Airways, Brussels Airlines, KLM, Delta, JetairFly, British Airways, Etihad Airways, Luxair, Libyan Arab Airlines, Iberia, Tunisair and Alitalia. I profile here, five cities you must see, whenever you are in Morocco – Casablanca, Fes, Marrakech, Essaouira and Rabat. Luckily Morocco is small enough and has a decent local transport network, so you're able to see a variety of towns and sights in just one week. This profile includes reviews and contributions on tour/travel sites like Lonely Planet, Places Online, SkyScanner, Go Africa, LexicOrient and Trip Advisor.

CASABLANCA

Boulevard King Mohammed V

The financial capital and an internationally expanding metropolis, Casablanca owes its name to the few white houses gently growing old along its ramparts. Completely rebuilt from 1920 onwards, it is now a perfect example of successful colonial urban development. The town centre, with its combination of art deco and neo-Moorish styles, is a paean to harmony and balance. From the enormous Hassan II mosque to the Zevaco cupola, United Nations Square, Morocco’s most contemporary town integrates modernity and tradition in a way that it has made its own. Its architecture, opting for straight lines and restrained shapes, has given it a trendy cosmopolitan aura, a city where fashions, ideas and new trends are constantly emerging. Attractive and so vital for the Kingdom, Casablanca is a town that you very quickly want to address by its nickname, Casa.

Hassan II Mosque

The architectural tradition of the city endures to this day with the inauguration of the Hassan II mosque on the 30^th of August, 1993. This 200m high mosque is one of the largest in the world. The hectic Maarif district exemplifies modern Casablanca. This previously impoverished area, just west of the Arab League Park, has gradually been transformed and is now one of the most prominent neighbourhoods in town. 

The young Moroccan jet set patronise its luxury shops and its trendy establishments in the shadow of the Twin Centre twin towers. You must also visit Anfa, Casablanca’s upmarket area. Boulevard Mohammed V, situated in the city centre, has kept its arcades under which shops and restaurants abound for almost 2km.

A section of the city in the horizon

In the evening, you can take the Ain-Diab coast road between the el Hank lighthouse and Sidi Bou Abderrahmane mausoleum, a small village only accessible at low tide. This coast is Casablanca’s seaside resort. It has swimming pools, public and private beaches. Coming here to admire the sun setting and to refresh oneself on a terrace is a classic outing. Every weekend, the inhabitants of Casa love to meet each other here. Later in the evening the discotheques keep things lively in this city which never sleeps.

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Gambia Increases Tourism Investment

The tourist industry in the country receives over 100,000 visitors a year and is the second biggest earner of foreign revenue. Visitors from the UK make up 50 percent of arrivals. Now the country is looking to increase these numbers to further boost the country’s economy, of which it is already one of the main drivers. Jobe-Nije is positive as to the impacts that increased tourism can have on the country, in spite of the fact that the sector has seen some turbulence recently.

Gambia is targeting a 5 percent increase on its tourist numbers, according to tourism minister Fatou Mas Jobe-Nije, and is upping investment to attract more visitors to the country.
“It is a real breadwinner, in terms of job creation, income generation and cultural interaction,” she said. “Gambian tourism has always been about people and their interaction with tourists within a limited geographic area, coupled with the proximity to most European destinations.”
“Tourism plays a key role in terms of the socio-economic development of the country. The vision is to diversify the scope and geographic spread of tourism to benefit our communities in terms of developing ecotourism and community-based tourism initiatives. At the same time, we want to diversify the product mix in terms of developing high quality facilities to appeal to the top end of the market and attract more high-spending tourists.”
Tourists have long been attracted to Gambia for its climate and great beaches, as well as its many species of bird and the River Gambia, which has 200 islands along it. Jobe-Nije said that the government was planning to invest in and further utilise these islands to attract more people to the country. The building of new resorts and hotels is central to this.
“The hotel industry has a two-pronged role – the development and consolidation of beach-based products into five- and four-star categories, with state-of-the-art facilities to attract high-end tourists, while at the same time developing inland tourism facilities for ecotourism,” she said. “New resort projects and eco-tourism facilities in the pipeline include: Kanuma Beach; resources and Game Park, to be located in south Gambia; Sanyang Sanctuary to be located in south Gambia and the Ndemban Community Eco-Tourism Project.”
The government hopes to attract investment in the sector to make it more appealing and worthwhile to foreign tourists, and is offering incentives to those looking to pour money inrto rejuvenating the sector.
“The opportunities for investors are immense, especially to high-end products such as golf course, marinas for river cruising, ecotourism, river transport, game parks, top-notch hotels and resort development,” she said. “Incentives for investors in tourism include: exemption from customs duties on capital equipment, spare parts, raw or semi-finished materials; exemption from withholding tax and tax on dividends for a period of five years; preferential allocation of land for the projects.”

Culled from Ventures Africa

SLIDING GURARA

Little wonder, Nigeria's largest state by land mass, Niger is christened, the "Power State". It not only account for around 40% of  total power production output to the national grid, but hosts two past Heads of State - Gen. Ibrahim Badamosi Babangida, and Gen. Abdulsalami Abubakar. It is also the birthplace of Nigeria's only indigenous Governor-General, Nnamdi Azikiwe, and secessionist leader, Col. Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu who were both born in the sleepy town of Zungeru.

It is a well drained area, with countless tributaries, emptying in to the Niger river at various points, or first entering the Kaduna river, which is itself, a major tributary of the Niger. Thus, it is hard to say Niger State is not the geotourist's haven. But when the topic of tourism is associated with the state, just the magnificent Zuma rock and the Bida blacksmith district come to mind. However, the discovery of a beau, and the subsequent interest in developing it in to a tourist delight, urged me to pay a recco visit, but not without company.

Thus, in line with taking a tour of Tswata Mukun -  the blacksmith district at Bida, even though we were not allowed to take pictures, I took four Chinese and one Vietnamese tourists to visit the Gurara waterfalls. Characterized by features which still make African rivers unnavigable - rapids, the waterfall is a gigantic stampede of water, slaloming over granitic rocks cut in beautiful formations to form a collection of small falls, and a colossal waterfall which plunges off a cliff, and then proceed through Gurara Local Government to empty in to river Kaduna.

We spent about 45 minutes at the site, taking pictures, and playing at the bank, where I was able to engage with the only local tour guide, who briefed me about the vision of turning the place in to a truly pro-poor tourist destination in Nigeria. While he talked, I kept dreaming, drawing up imaginary structures of how the place could be transformed, but now, I pictured myself as a holder of a 99year BOT tenure.

We got to the site around the time the sun was about to descend beyond the horizon, so, we were able to avoid the heat of the day, but we couldn't help folding up our pants, and feeling the coldness of the water with out feet. The tourists were delighted, and wanted to stay much longer, but we had not bought enough time on the day. We thus, left for the capital, Minna, where I plot my return in grand style, to Gurara Waterfalls.

CATCH THE FRENZY

Liberia has been better known for conflict than tourism the past couple of decades. But in April , a group of 150 tourists, many of them Americans, arrived for a brief stay in the small nation on Africa's West Coast. When their cruise liner docked in the capital of Monrovia, they became the largest group of tourists to visit the country in many years, probably since the 1970s.

Tamasin Ford for NPR

The 150 passengers aboard the National Geographic Explorer cruise ship arrive in Monrovia, the Liberian capital, on April 16. It's reportedly the largest group of tourists to visit the country since the 1970s.

Dock workers in Monrovia usually unload cargo ships full of secondhand clothes or rice — not a cruise ship full of American tourists. That's why the visitors on the National Geographic Explorer cruise liner Monday attracted so much attention. A dance troupe performed for them, officials from the ministries waved from the docks, and Vice President Joseph Boikai joined them for dinner.

"I just came from the United States a couple of days ago, speaking to a group of people, encouraging them to invest," Boikai told the tourists. "Little did I know that I would have a captive audience right here." The cruise began in Cape Town, South Africa, in March. It was Day 26 for the tourists when they reached Liberia, and they had less than 24 hours before getting back onboard to head along the coast to Marrakech, Morocco.

Ralph Hammelbacher, director at Lindblad Expeditions, which organized the cruise in conjunction with National Geographic, says piracy and terrorism in other parts of Africa are making places like Liberia much more desirable. "In a perverse kind of way, the Somali pirates have done West African tourism a bit of a favor," Hammelbacher says. "It's strange to put it that way, but a number of ships that would otherwise be in the Indian Ocean are now on the West African coast because of piracy."

But for Liberia, a country that suffered two civil wars from 1989 to 2003, this was a special visit.
"Even after 14 years of civil war, we still have something to show, and we would like for these tourists to take advantage of this visit to Liberia, and just let the sky be the limit," said Elizabeth Hoff, Liberia's deputy tourism minister. Peace finally came to Liberia in 2003. And then Ellen Johnson Sirleaf made history by becoming the first democratically elected female head of state on the continent. She began by clearing Liberia's crippling foreign debt, building new roads and strengthening the security forces. For her efforts, she was awarded a Nobel Peace Prize in 2011.

Tamasin Ford for NPR

A cultural troupe dances for tourists arriving on the 
National Geographic Explorer in Monrovia, Liberia, this week.

A cultural troupe dances for tourists arriving on the National Geographic Explorer in Monrovia, Liberia, this week. But there is still a long way to go. Less than 1 percent of the country is connected to the national electricity grid; unemployment is alarmingly high; and access to justice is a challenge.

Peggy Williams — a tour guide with Barefoot Safari, one of only two tour operators in the country — had a busy day of sightseeing planned for the visitors. Dressed in their khaki safari gear, the eager tourists explored Monrovia. Some, like 80-year-old Jerry Harrington, had even been to Liberia before — in his case, more than 40 years ago. There has been a lot of change between then and now. "There's a lot of traffic, all these burnt-out buildings," Harrington said. "You know, they went through a lot here. I guess it was a free-fire zone for several war periods, but I guess we'll see more of that as our tour continues."

Liberia still resembles a war-torn country, and the U.N. still has 8,000 peacekeepers stationed here.
But there's been significant development in recent years, and the government said the visit by the tourists signaled that the country is moving in the right direction.

By Tamasin Ford for NPR