Southern Morocco, November 2022. (1 Viewer)

[laszlo111]

I've decided to start this thread in order not only to show you some pictures but also as a challenge to me to write story in English. A week ago I back from my second trip to Morocco. First time I have been there 10 years ago. It wasn't typicall birdwatching trip with GPS locationns and collecting as many species as it is possible. Just family trip but with constant care obout seeing birds nearby.

I don't want to mention every spot and adding list of birds. I will just write you a few thoughts and attach some pictures.

I was with my girl and our two kids - two and five years old. We spent few nights in the tent but mostly we used accomodations from booking.com which were very cheap in that period of year. We paid 12-30 Euro per night for a cosy room and breakfest for all our team.

I have to mention, that I'm still lerning English and I write that without checking out so tell me please if you have any troubels with understending.

Ten years ago we circled Morroco mostly by hitchhiking during 4 weeks. This November we flew into Agadir and rented a car. I can recommend you nice company www.car-rental-agadir.com.
They gave us 4x4 Duster, no deposit, no credit card need, pay possible by cash in Dirham or Euro. We returned car full of sand inside and it was not a problem for the company.

During two weeks we drove from Agadir to Merzouga and back with many stops, especially in the mountains. We tried to drive 3-5 hours a day to don't worry our children too much.

Ten years ago, we accidentaly found a great lake near Merzouga, which was full of wintering birds. We was very excited approaching to them now and very dissapointed when we realized, that the lake has gone. It has disappead. That was only one unpleasant and sad story during all trip. Residents of Merzouga told us that it happend tree years ago. The climate is going warmer and there is no rain in this part of Morocco.

The first day we spent in Inezgane, near the National Park border and we moved to Tamri looking for the Bald Ibis. We saw them in Tamri in 2013. Now We saw them also but only single birds and only flying. My goal was to photograph them on the ground. Not this time yet...

This is end of part one. Writing in English isn't as difficult as I thought.

 

[davercox]

Very good read laszlo. Your English is fine.

 

[laszlo111]

On that trip we experienced that Moroccan people have significant different attitude to tourists in compare to 10 years ago. In the past we felt like a potential source of money in almost every daily situation. In the hotel, taxi, shop, on the street, all the time they forced us to give them as much money as it is possible. We had not pleasant memories with Moroccan people. On this trip it was deffinitelly the other way round. During two weeks we had only few situations when we had to pay a bit more than local people, but the difference was quite small. The Moroccans attidute was very friendy and frankly, with no attempts to take ours money. Now, it happened they asked if I gave them a tip aware, not by my mistake. Such situations shocked us totally. We have a few ideas how to explain this. Maybe our children had a good influence on them, maybe Covid restrictions showed them the vallue of tourists or maybe we are just more confident and better prepared for tricks after 10 years of travelling. Or all that issues together. At this time I can tell that Moroccan people are very friendly and honest. I write about the people from places that aren't such popular like a famous squere in Marrakesh. You should be still careful visiting the most popular tourist destinations.

From the village of Tamri we drove to Oukaimeden - a small village in the Atlas Mountains. We spent two nights in our tent on the level of 2700 m asl. That is beautifull place for hiking, birding and camping with almost no tourists in that part of the year.

 

[Muppit17]

I've decided to start this thread in order not only to show you some pictures but also as a challenge to me to write story in English. A week ago I back from my second trip to Morocco. First time I have been there 10 years ago. It wasn't typicall birdwatching trip with GPS locationns and collecting as many species as it is possible. Just family trip but with constant care obout seeing birds nearby.

I don't want to mention every spot and adding list of birds. I will just write you a few thoughts and attach some pictures.

I was with my girl and our two kids - two and five years old. We spent few nights in the tent but mostly we used accomodations from booking.com which were very cheap in that period of year. We paid 12-30 Euro per night for a cosy room and breakfest for all our team.

I have to mention, that I'm still lerning English and I write that without checking out so tell me please if you have any troubels with understending.


Ten years ago, we accidentaly found a great lake near Merzouga, which was full of wintering birds. We was very excited approaching to them now and very dissapointed when we realized, that the lake has gone. It has disappead.

The lake you refer to is Dayet Srij. It dried out in 2020, only a few puddles were there in March. Although in September 2019 it was about 1km long and 500m wide. I agree it was a great place, with waders, ducks and other water birds and a long list of rarities.

It will reform if it rains, but the current drought has been continuing for 4 years and now all the vegetation is in poor condition. Even the heavily adapted Halfa grass is showing signs of thermal stress.

 

[Muppit17]

The lake you refer to is Dayet Srij. It dried out in 2020, only a few puddles were there in March. Although in September 2019 it was about 1km long and 500m wide. I agree it was a great place, with waders, ducks and other water birds and a long list of rarities.

It will reform if it rains, but the current drought has been continuing for 4 years and now all the vegetation is in poor condition. Even the heavily adapted Halfa grass is showing signs of thermal stress.

I thought I would also add a few comments regarding Bald Ibis at Tamri, as there is a suggestion (probably me over-reading) here that the population is low.

Overall the population in the Souss-Massa NP is the highest it has been since monitoring and regular counts were undertaken., with over 700 present (the highest count in Morocco as a whole was 1500 birds but this included many birds away from the coast in areas they no longer inhabit).

It is also the case that the cliffs near Tamri (note, not at Tamri) hold the largest single breeding colony. However this northern group hold c40% of the total population. I have noticed that at times (especially the non-breeding season when they are not drawn to the cliffs) nearly all of the northern birds will on occasion fly south of the Souss estuary and join the southern group. This makes finding them at Tamri very difficult indeed (and sometimes impossible).

With the ongoing local drought - much of the local heath is is poor condition and I suspect that it is the lack of local food that takes them south. It used to be the case that parking at the estuary car park on the coast and scanning the local hillsides would almost guarantee a sighting, failing that heading north of Tamri village (the northern fields) would surely find them if the first stop failed. This may still be the case, but later in the year they now seem to be more regular around the expanding villas a bit further to the south (GPS 30.7115116,-9.8551226). The locals this autumn (oct) told me that they came every day and were very proud that they did so.

If they have headed south then they are far more difficult to find as the places they can hide are more numerous and access is more tricky. It is often a case of taking any minor road that runs from the main N1 to the sea anywhere between Inezgane and Massa, and hoping you make contact. They are not limited to the coast or the coastal heath - I have even seen them perching on the power lines themselves (not just the posts but the cables themselves) or in the farm fields outside of the NP

 

[laszlo111]

I can confirm that the Tamri area is not good for ibises in winter. Finally We found a flock of about 60 birds on the South of Agadir - between the villages of Sidi Rbat and Douira. They were totally not afraid of people and I had great oportunity to take many pictures. My dream came true.

 

[laszlo111]

My report is going a bit chaotic way, but I hope you'll forgive me.

As I mentioned about the ibises I have to add, that the south part of Souss Massa National Park turned out to be one of the best birdwatching site in Morocco. Especially the vicinity of Sidi R'bat village. This is deffinitelly worth to visit and spend at last one full day if you going to Morocco. The area near the Massa river Delta is fenced and protected by National Park guards and guides. Firstly, they tried to decieve us and said, that we can go inside only with a quide. It's not my cup of tea, to be led for the wildlife, so I didn't consent. When they realised, that we wouldn't pay them, they changed attidute and allowed as to go inside for free and without any of them.

The Massa Delta was good for birding, but there were no ibises. Also the Sibi R'bat village was verry good place with some nice species like Little Owl, Spotless Starling, Moussier's Redstart and more.