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Dr.
Rashidi: Come to Morocco with me... For more than three decades now I have prided myself as an African historian in search of the global African heritage. My books and other publications, along with constant lectures and slide presentations, document much of the research. In addition to the research, writing, and lecturing though, over the past several years I have become the constant traveler, again, in search of the global African heritage. During 2006 I had my first taste of Morocco and fell in love with the place. I’ve been to Morocco twice so far this year. My initial visit came in late April. It was spring time in Morocco. The people were friendly and the country beautiful. The blooming flowers, lush countryside, green rolling hills, sandy beaches, and high mountains I remember vividly. I began my short stay in Casablanca and journeyed north to Rabat (where I visited the national archaeological museum ), Fes (where I spent a day in one of the most memorable medinas in Morocco), Volubilis (where a magnificent arch stands in commemoration to one of Imperial Rome’s African emperors and his mother), Moulay Idriss (a beautiful city perched on a mountainside and named after Morocco’s most revered saint), and the vibrant and high-energy city of Tangier. Tangier is one of the most fascinating cities in Morocco and the birthplace of one of history’s most storied travelers and writers--Ibn Battuta. Born in Tangier in 1304, Battuta’s journeys took him from West Africa to India, China, and Southeast Asia. Tangier is a city on the Mediterranean Sea and became
the launching site for my search for the African heritage in southern Spain, as Morocco is a wonderful base from which to visit many of the neighboring regions, including southern Europe and western Africa.In the case of southern Spain I was searching for the early Moors--the people that helped to reintroduce civilization to Europe after the long period known as the Dark Ages. But just who were the Moors anyway? Indeed, as early as the Middle Ages and as late as the seventeenth century, "The Moors were," according to the Oxford English Dictionary, "commonly supposed to be mostly black or very swarthy, and hence the word is often used for negro." Arab writers further buttress the Black identity of the Moors. The powerful Moorish emperor Yusuf ben-Tachfin, for example, is described by an Arab chronicler as "a brown man with wooly hair." Yusuf ben-Tachfin founded the city of Marrakesh.
Marrakesh is in the south central region of Morocco. I visited Marrakesh in July 2006. Marrakesh is one the imperial cities of Morocco. It has a population of about one and half million people. It was founded by the great Almoravides leader Yusuf ben-Tachfin in 1062 and became one of the most important cultural and artistic centers in the Islamic world. Yusuf ben-Tachfin must have been quite a man and, like Moulay Ismail in Meknes, utilized a great many Africans in his armies. The descriptions that we have of him leave no doubt that he was Black African. Indeed, my biggest highlight in Marrakesh was a visit to his tomb, which, perhaps like the man himself, was quietly splendid and yet simple and unassuming. Marrakesh is one of Morocco’s imperial cities. And, like Fes (an imperial city in the north) it is famous for its medina. Built within ancient city walls, the medina is crowded with people living in and walking through narrow streets and lanes and alleys. They are filled with a little of everything. Among the shops, stalls, and vendors are barber shops, banks, butcher shops, pharmacies, bakeries, restaurants, cafes, vegetable stands, fruit stands, mosques, jewelry stores with gold and silver, candy stalls, leather goods, cyber cafes, and just about anything conceivable. From Marrakesh, in search
of the African heritage, I journeyed to Zagora, southeast and deeper
into the Sahara, about sixty miles west of Algeria. To get to Zagora
we had to cross the breathtakingly beautiful High Atlas Mountains.
Along the way we passed through many Berber villages and then drove
through the Anti Atlas Mountains, just as beautiful but
Indeed, there was the most beautiful African woman cleaning my room as I checked into my hotel. I was tempted to ask her if I could take her photo but several of the people that I had asked to photograph turned me down flat and so that put a damper on things. You have to respect their wishes. Actually, she reluctantly allowed me to take a quick couple of photos of her the following day! In addition to the Black folk that I met in Ouarzazate, very interesting to me were the structures called kasbahs--the administrative, fortress like structures seen all over Morocco. The first stop on my last day in Ouarzazate was the eleventh century kasbah-fortress of the famous Yusuf ben-Tachfin. It is a magnificent monument and like much of Morocco it has to be seen to be fully appreciated. Indeed, you may have already seen it, as it was used for the background of such movies of Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator, and Kingdom of Heaven. It was just wonderful. Saharan Morocco was an exceptional area but it is not the only part of Morocco that stood out to me. Volubilis is just a short drive from Fes and is one of highlights for those searching for the African heritage in Morocco. It is really not a city in the modern sense but a collection of ancient Roman ruins. In 211 C.E. the African born emperor Septimius Severus was succeeded by his son Marcus Aurelius Antoninus aka Caracalla. The most significant event during his reign was the bestowal of Roman citizenship upon all free residents of the empire. In gratitude, a triumphal arch was erected in honor of Caracalla at Volubilis, Morocco.
Meknes, the third of Morocco’s imperial cities (Rabat is the other besides Fes and Marrakesh) is principally the city of Moulay Ismail and has been referred to as the "Versailles of Morocco." Moulay Ismail came to power in 1672 and remained firmly in control for fifty-five years. The key to his reign was his military. And the core of the military was the near-legendary Black Guard. Early during his rule Ismail brought in from the interior of Africa sixteen thousand unmixed African soldiers. They were loyal soldiers and Moulay Ismail provided them with wives,. By the end of his reign they had grown ten times in number. I was told that many of the Black people that I saw on the streets of Meknes were the direct descendants of Moulay Ismail’s original Black Guard. So journey back to Morocco with me and share the African heritage. See the wonders of Morocco, the Imperial Cities and the Sahara. See the mosques and kasbahs, visit the medinas and the holy tombs. Drive through gorges in the High Atlas and Anti Atlas Mountains. Talk with Almoravids and ride a camel over sand dunes. Spend a day at the beach and attend a folklorist show. Stay in the best hotels and even spend a night under the Saharan stars. Shop until you drop and listen to lectures by Runoko Rashidi. Come to Morocco with me. *Runoko Rashidi’s first group tour to Morocco is scheduled for April 7 to April 22, 2007. It is called "The Wonders of Morocco: Imperial Cities and Sahara with Runoko Rashidi." The cost is $2995.00 double occupancy. For tour details contact:
DAY 0: JFK to CASABLANCA Flying Royal Air Maroc, is like starting your foreign vacation as soon as you take off. In addition to superb Moroccan service and friendliness, you will enjoy beverage service, delicious dinner and a complimentary movie. Your professional and experienced Moroccan escort will give you every possible assistance.
DAY 1 , CASABLANCA /RABAT Optional sea food lunch at the Corniche in Ain Diab (coast line). Afternoon departure to Rabat, the capital of the nation. This city in many ways is what you would expect: elegant in its spacious European in self conscious in Its very civilized modern ways. Our visit begins in the Medina with the Kasbah of the Oudayas. Visit the venerated Mohamed V Mausoleum, the Hassan Tower, the Mosque, and the ramparts and walls of the Mechouar surrounding the Royal dinner and over night in Rabat After breakfast, Departure to Meknes via Volubilis and Moulay Idris. his excursion embodies much of Morocco's early history - Volubilis as Its Roman provincial capital, Moulay Idris in the creation of the country's first Arab dynasty then continue to Fez . Dinner and overnight at your scheduled hotel. Full-day tour of the city of Fes, The Holy City of Fes is a jewel of Spanish-Arabic civilization. Fes does not reveal its secrets easily. Secretive, shadowy, they need to be discovered little by little, with reverence. Only in this way can the splendors of Medrsa architecture be fully appreciated. Only in this way will the call of the medina tempt you. Bustling with artisans and merchants, its captivating sounds, fragrances and colors mesmerize the visitor with a constant swirl of activity. The city of Moulay Idriss 1st, sanctuary of human and moral sciences. The great À Karaouiyne University bas for eleven centuries been a religions and intellectual center whose influence bas spread far beyond the Kingdom's boundaries. In 789, a pick-axe of silver and gold -"fas" in Arabic - was presented to Idriss 1st to use in tracing the outlines of the city. Hence the name of the city, which lies at the far eastern end of the plain of Saïss, bordered to the south by the hills outlying the Atlas Mountains. Cradle of religions, cultural and artistic traditions, Fes, the double city, is the kingdom's spiritual capital. The Andalusia mosque, dating from the 9th century, and further embellished by successive rulers, is accessed through a mighty door of sculpted cedar. An imposing minaret decorated with green faiences crowns the Rsif Mosque. The Medersas around the Karaouiyne Mosque, former lodging houses for students coming from outside the city, attest the importance of its thousand years of history. In the Medina, a labyrinth of sloping, winding alleyways are crammed full of stalls and workshops. This is the famed Kissaria -the commercial center. A multitude of locally produced goods are on sale in this incredible maze-cotton fabric, silk, brocade work, slippers, and many more. The craftsmen of the El Attarine souks offer the visitor a non-stop spectacle. For hundreds of years such work bas been regulated by traditional guilds, ensuring that its quality is worthy of the city. Each district has its own specialty : cobalt blue enameled pottery, carpets, wrought iron ... one looks on as the dyer stirs his yarns, steeped in their multitude of colors, as the tanner tramples his skins under an open sky -skins that the leather-worker will eventually adorn with fine gilt for book-binding . Leaving the souks through the Boujeloud gate with its decoration of green and blue faiences, the riches contained in the wonderful Museum of Moroccan Art await one Optional lunch at the Medina and shopping in the afternoon. Dinner and overnight at the hotel DAY 4, FES / AZROU / MIDELT / ERFOUD. After breakfast In the morning an enjoyable drive across The atlas maintains, the first hills you see of the Middle Atlas seem surprisingly un-Moroccan. There are evergreen pines. tall cedar trees on the peaks and poplars on the foot hills. The road across is almost ceremonial. Azrou, the first real town of the Middle Atlas stands at a major junction of routes. It is an important market center, and has long held a strategic role in controlling the Berbers of the mountains. Midelt: you have left the Middle Atlas behind. Suddenly, through the haze, appear the much greater peaks of the High Atlas rising sheer behind the town to a massive range, the Dgebel Ayashi at over 12000ft. The drama of that sight, tremendous in the clear, cool noon, is the most compelling reason to stop over for lunch. Dinner and overnight at the hotel in Erfoud. DAY 5, ERFOUD / MARZOUGA. Morning at leisure, then depart to Marzouga, one of the most pleasing of all southern routes, a dry, red band of desert, and then suddenly, a drop into the valley filled with date palm trees. Check in with the Touarge host, lunch and dinner and over night under nomad tents. DAY 6, MARZOUGA / OUARZAZATE. An early wake up call for sunrise excursion to Dunes. An experience not to be missed is to watch the sun as it rises from the top of the golden dunes, a spectacular view of the Sahara which no words can describe. Back to the tent for special Breakfast with the Touargees people, then continue on to explore the holy ancient city of Rissani by your 4X4 Land Rover. Early afternoon depart to Tinghir ,The highest and the narrowest gorges in the region are Todra's, only 15 km from Tinghir. Traveling through the Dades valley in spring you will find the bloom of thousands of Persian roses - cultivated as hedgerows dividing the plots. Thousands of Kasbahs scattered along the Dades river through El Kalaa Del Mgouna and Boumaine. Lunch at a local restaurant located at the feet of cayons. Continuation to Ouarzazate. Dinner and overnight at the hotel in Ouarzazate. DAY 7, OUARZAZATE / ZAGORA / OUARZAZATE After a relaxing breakfast, visit to the carefully TAOURIRT KASBAH, where outstanding views of the fortified town and valley can be seen from the terrace. Dinner and over night at the hotel DAY 8, OUARZAZATE/ MARRAKECH After breakfast, tour of Ouarzazate. Continue on to Marrakech with a visit to AIT BENHADDOU. Dinner and overnight in Marrakech. DAY 9, MARRAKECH After
breakfast, full-day tour of Marrakech. Historic visit of Marrakech
will include the Menara, a magnificent pool surrounded by flowers,
reflecting the image of a beautiful Moorish construction built in
1866 for the dignitaries. See glorious sunsets with the Atlas mountains
as a backdrop. Also, the pool is a functional irrigation system
to the surrounding areas. The tour will see several impressive sights:
The Koutoubia Minaret (the twin tower of la Giralda in Sevilla,
Spain), the Saadian tombs demonstrating Moorish architecture in
its perfection. The tombs, consisting of splendid mausoleums built
in the sixteenth century, were walled for some time, not to be discovered
until 1917. Morning devoted to discovering the rest of historical sights. Shopping Dinner and over night at the Hotel. DAY 11, MARRAKECH / OURIKA / MARRAKECH : Excursion to the Ourika Valley where we will visit Berber souks and Jewish Shrines. Lunch, then an afternoon of shopping. Return to Marrakech for dinner and overnight at the hotel. DAY 12, MARRAKECH / ESSAOUIRA: Departure to Essaouira (Mogador), a part from the immediate impact of sea air and the friendly animation of the town, the predominant images of Essaouira are of the Atlantic - of the rugged coast and offshore islands, the vast expense of empty sands trailing back along the promontory to the south, and the almost gothic scenery of the eighteen century fortifications. Lunch at Chalet de la Mer. Dinner and overnight at the Hotel DAY 13, ESSAOUIRA / EL JADIDA / CASABLANCA : After breakfast departure to Casablanca via El Jadida stop at El Oualidia. Relay and seafood lunch . Departure along the coastline to El Jadida - visit of the citadel. vestige of the Portuguese occupation during the 11th century. Continuation to Casablanca. Dinner and overnight at the Hotel. DAY 14, CASABLANCA / AIRPORT MOHAMMED V : Morning departure to Mohammed V Airport with a memorable trip of a life time
Hotel accommodations: · 01 night Rabat : Chellah hotel · 03 nights Fes : Menzeh Zalagh hotel · 01 night Erfoud: Kasbah Xaluca · 01 night Merzouga : under tent · 02 nights Ouarzazate : Belere hotel · 03 nights in Marrakech : Tikida garden · 01 night Essaouira : Les iles hotel · 01 night Casablanca : Sheraton hotel Meals Our tours are based on half Board according to the program: daily breakfast and choice in between lunch or dinner at the hotel.
1. Round trip air fare from JFK to Casablanca via Royal Air Maroc. 2. Our full assistance from arrival to departure. 3. Ground Transportation by deluxe motor coach with A/C 4. Camel trek Optional 5. 4X4 drive for the sunrise in Marzouga 6. Tips at the hotels 7. Luggage handling. 8. All applicable taxes
9.
Our full assistance 1. Single supplement: 345.00 2. Optional Lunch in Casablanca, Midelt, Tinghir and Essaouira. 3. Tips to guides and drivers, 4. Phone calls from the hotel , 5. Room service charges, Laundry and all other charges beyond our tour package. 6. Travel Insurance: Casablanca Travel and tours recommend strongly use of travel insurance: Please ask us about one
With Dr. Rashidi, you will fall in love with Morocco |
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