Emily Wright, Laura & Mark Brooks, Emmie Kelly, Becky Partlett, Dan Robson & Ms Hannis from Beaufort Community School, along with 9 staff and pupils from Colne-Primet School.
After extensive planning and preparation the departure date finally arrived. We gathered, somewhat tired already at midnight on 23 July for the journey to Todra Gorge, High Atlas Mountains, Morocco.
On arrival the first thing to hit us was the heat, temperatures rose to more than 50 degrees in the desert and mountainside – apparently reaching 57 degrees C or – 134F! Boy, that’s hot! We drove over 8 hours to reach our campsite, along the ‘Road of a thousand Kasbahs’ (traditional Berber houses) and saw amazing views over the mountain landscape.
Phase 1 – Trek.
This first phase was a trek along the Todra Gorge trek, using mules to carry the bulk of our kit, whilst we carried our day sacks with 3 litres of water and emergency group kit. We set out through rows of palm trees and olive groves, winding our way through Berber villages as the route skirted up through the hills.
A typical day was to wake at 6 am, trek for about 4 hours, sit out the heat of midday sun and invent ways to entertain ourselves; splashing in a river, playing cards, fashioning long poking devices, making up songs or snoozing. We would then recommence trekking at about 5 pm when the temperature was a mere 43 degrees, trek for 3 more hours to the top of a hill and pitch our tents in the mountains in the dark. Food consisted of bread, stewed veg and chicken.
Becky was in charge of morale and we joined in a sing-song as we strode along the hills and schemed of ways for Colne-Primet students to become honorary Beaufort Babes! We showered in a waterfall, ventured into a village in the evening and had great fun playing football and ‘rock, paper, scissors’ with local children.
Phase 2 – Project – 6 days.
The project involved painting a local school classroom, which was headed by our resident artists, Becky and Emily who designed the themes, Laura who braved the rickety ladder to roller paint the whole room, Emmie who dabbed paint on to anything she could, and Dan and Mark sanded the desks, steadied the ladder and fashioned long rolling devices. We were all vary pleased with the results and as were the school children, who added their handprints to our handiwork.
Phase 3 – Rest and Relaxation
We visited the UNESCO World Heritage site at Ait Ben Haddou – of Gladiator film fame, and marvelled at the views. We practised our haggling skills here and left feeling happy with our bargains; but Dan and Becky had more than they bargained for and climbed on to camels for the obligatory Kodak moment! Finally, we ventured into the local town, Ouarzazate, to see the locals celebrate after their Ramadan fasting, so we joined in and ate some much needed pizza!
In all, the trip was very successful with everyone completing all phases of the expedition and making some firm friends along the way. Well done to all – you are all indeed a credit to Beaufort. J
