Days 17-30 (10 – 23 June)
Ok… it’s been a while since I left Morocco, so I’m just going to finish up the diary part of my trip blog with a quick post that covers the second half of my time in Morocco.
I spent the Friday night in the forest getting the timelapses that can be seen in my showreel on the homepage. It was beautiful (if a little chilly) up in the hills with a really bright moon illuminating the landscape. I camped in my hammock with the stars above me. It was a really memorable experience, definitely worth doing even though the timelapses didn’t end up in the final film.
Room with a view!
That weekend was taken up with processing the timelapse images and a bit of logging too. I managed to escape for a walk around Azrou with Barbora and Neal. We ended up in the cage on top of the rock “Azrou” as the sun set.
Barbora on top of Azrou
The following week I made a focused effort on my sound recordings as they had been a bit neglected earlier in the trip. Surprisingly the macaques seemed unfazed by the fluffy microphone wind shield.
Interviewing the monkeys
This week also seemed to be the week of the insect. There was an emergence of hundreds of thousands of earwigs one afternoon at 4 o’clock. There were also lots of bitey insects and some shiny ones.
On the Thursday it was my Birthday so I decided to have a day off from the monkeys and instead I headed out before sunrise to get a timelapse of the sun moving up the mosque as it rose from behind the mountains. Apart from forgetting the tripod plate it all went well and I got three nice timelapses. Well, they would have been nice had the roost of egrets not woken up and circled the mosque. It would have been far too much photoshop work to remove them from each frame individually, so it wasn’t included in the final film.
Sunrise Timelapse at the mosque
As a birthday treat/reward for the early morning I went to the nicest cafe in Azrou and relaxed with a mint tea and a pain au chocolate. Parfait.
That evening we went out for my birthday to a nice restaurant. I had a lamb tagine that would have been delicious had it not been for the peanuts floating on the surface.
Birthday Breakfast
Birthday Dinner
The following day was rather relaxed. And here’s a picture to show it wasn’t just me who fell asleep in the field!
Sleeping Beauties!
The Friday evening was my last real day of shooting so I decided to go up to try to get some more timelapses and some footage of the macaques waking up in the morning. Barbora and Neal decided to come too. It would have been great, apart from the huge thunderstorm that threatened to soak us as soon as we were dropped off. A late night dash to an abandoned hut proved unnecessary as the rain never came. We found the monkeys in the morning and I got my last shots of the trip.
On the Sunday we headed to Ifrane for a nosey with Chris who had arrived the previous day. It’s a very wealthy town in comparison to Azrou. It felt a bit too clean, and after an extortionate mint tea we headed back to Azrou. That evening we had welcome back meal for Chris with the flat landlords and their family on the roof - The couscous had been prepared for hours in the traditional way. it was truly delicious (like just about everything I ate in Morocco)
I ended my time in Azrou the same way I started it – making the researchers late! I lost track of time while filming the Azrou skyline for the film introduction, I eventually realised the time and found Sandra’s car, only to be met with a few light-hearted scowls! I enjoyed my last day following the monkeys and chilling, taking in all the surroundings. That evening I took the night bus back to Marrakech. I spent 36 hours there at a fantastic little Riad with great hosts and a very nice jacuzzi. It was a great way to get back to civilization before returning to the real world.
And like all good things, this trip came to an end – Now the hard bit started… the edit!
How do you pack 3 bags in 30 seconds? Like this!
Chilling in the Jacuzzi