Was the assignment to Morocco the most unfortunate this year? Or the most exciting? I would say: both. The weather in February was close to natural catastrophe. It was stormy and rainy, the countryside roads were deteriorated, and there were very few opportunities to photograph what I was supposed to — the strawberry plantations surrounding the national park of Merja Zerga, which is a wonderful lagoon at the Atlantic coast.
Flooded countryside of North-West Morocco
But the weather was not the only problem. As I can conclude now, several months after the trip, that I did not achieve the most important precondition I always needed for good shots: “to come into equilibrium with the environment”. It always takes a few days to settle down, but in the Arabic world it obviously takes mush longer. There the warm personal hospitality is framed by unwritten rules of conventionality, which you need to get used to slowly. A good example was the local fixer. He was provided by a local NGO and was supposed to arrange shooting in certain strawberry farms. He was very friendly, very welcoming and he never said no. During the days under his guidance I drove hundreds of kilometres in the flooded lowlands, from one place to another.
Young guard of a strawberry field
I saw colourful fields with beautiful workers in national dresses; shiny strawberries which I was kindly offered to eat; nature-friendly ecological production. But I was not allowed to photograph. Impossible — was a short word in French. There were several explanations, which I can all accept, like not possible to photograph women, no permission from the owner — and almost always the option to come back tomorrow, when it should be possible! But my guide never told me there was a problem, he never refused, never argued. It just was not possible by the end of the day. I finally got what I needed for my assignment and could continue towards the ancient town of Meknes. Drove through the diverse, spectacular hilly landscape to spend a couple of nights in a nice riad in the very centre of the town, at a narrow street of the ancient medina. Fabulous.
Weaving in the old town of Meknes
Most of my travels last year were because of preparing a book about small businesses in nature areas, the project of WWF International called One Europe More Nature. The book is by now ready and its PDF version can be seen here (Size 16 MB).
