we arrived at KHENIFRA around 11:00 am the Father of our actual host Hamid received us on the street and helped us bring our stuff up to the first floor of the family house.. Hamid Our actual host his not gonna be here until 09:00 Pm.
Abdulhaq Hamid’s younger brother came and brought tea and coffee this was the start of an amazing food program day.
we took a shower cleaned the stuff had an amazing launch with Abdulhak and his Father, wich both the father worked in the military and Now Abdul Haq.

the father was making a joke most of the time about the stick we use to support the bike standing and sometimes against dog attack as we got it as a gift from Miloud in Rabat”this is a weapon” he said.

after having a midday long nap in the afternoon we had a walk in KHENIFRA.
KHENIFRA is a very Modern Huge City, you could see girls walking in modern clothes. young people everywhere.
what was noticeable was some young people asking for money which is totally not normal in big cities.

Ziz River still has water and flows beautifully with greenery on both sides. the city is full of lives and Strokes birds.
we asked Abdulhaq about his favourite coffee, and we went to one to order (nos-Nos) somehow they didn’t understand and brought the wrong coffee which we didn’t finish.

Khenifra’s proximity to wetlands and natural reserves, like the Khenifra National Park, makes it an ideal stopover for Stroke birds, on their migrating route.

we went basic shopping with Abdulhaq, and he went patiently with us to find Oat flocks the finest one.
we bought some dates and didn’t manage to find the fine oats.

we went back by taxi cause somehow the Bus Service doesn’t work after 09 pm.
we arrived at Abdulhaq’s home to find that huge meal waiting for us.
Hamid our Actual host arrived from Rabat with his Mom and Sisters.
Hamid loves to cycle long tours mostly alone on the mountain of Atlas for few days.
we chatted for some time and decided to stay the next day there to get to know Hamid a bit more and to try to find bike mechanics that could fix the gear shifter problem.
we had a pleasant sleep

We started the day at Hamid’s favourite coffee shop, which is extremely good and close to their home. They live at the other end of khuneifra.
Good Espresso costs in average 6 Dirhams around 60 Cent.

We went to a bike mechanic who was really trying his best to help us but insisted on putting more and more oil everywhere, even ignoring Hamid when he told him to please stop. We returned and bought some diesel so I could do the weekly maintenance myself.

Then we went on a long tour with Hamid to visit Zaouiat Cheikh. Many people suggested we take this route, but we somehow haven’t decided which direction we should go. We drove to Zaouiat Cheikh with Hamid to get an idea of what this part of the route could look like. We drove for an hour and went to a national park. The weather was hot, but it was nice inside.

We tried Nabaq cider, small dried fruits from the cider tree that tasted like hot chocolate. They told us it’s good for an upset stomach. 

We walked further into the park towards the water source, where there were supposed to be some waterfalls. We arrived at the source, where many young men were jumping irrationally into the 50 cm deep water from almost 3 meters high.

we didn’t manage to see the waterfalls and went back and sat in a small café by the river and had some delicious tea while talking with Hamid about how the younger generation sees life and changes between generations in Morocco and the challenges they are facing. We drove back on a different road, which was amazing.

As the sun was setting, suddenly, far away on the left side, a horse with a rider was running with the wind. We all looked and saw the joy on the faces of the rider and the horse as they rode extremely fast. It was like a scene from a movie, how they crossed the street and kept riding. I saw the joy in the horse’s eyes.

We arrived at Hamid’s home and had Alsifa for dinner, which was extremely delicious and full of energy for the next few days.
we had a very good sleep in Hamid Family and felt very welcome in their.

We said goodbye to Hamid and headed to Lake Tiguelmamine, at 1650m altitude. From afar, we saw the mountain we had to climb, and the weather was beautiful.

We reached the nationally protected park; the road was scenic and almost empty. The Berber monkeys were present again.

We arrived at Lake Tiguelmamine around 5 pm and decided to camp there. Hamid had warned us about a possible thunderstorm, but we ignored him since we checked four weather apps.

here is a 3 km unpaved side road leading to the lake. The trees were full of monkeys, but they didn’t come closer because of two homes with dogs on the other side. The road was full of men, so we went to the second lake and climbed the cliffs, where a family was having a picnic. They soon left, and we wanted to pitch the tent. Suddenly, the wind picked up, and within five minutes, the sky darkened, and it started to rain. Putting up the tarp in the 70 km/h wind was nearly impossible. Water gathered, washing everything down to the lake from the 60 m cliffs. We tied the bikes to trees and sat at the root of a large tree, trying not to panic under a useless tarp. Then, a man appeared out of nowhere and invited us to his small tent, where he was with his panicked girlfriend.
The tent was warmer than outside and well tied to the ground but full of water. We tried calling the police, but 170 never worked, and at 15, they just said to wait.

Suddenly, we heard Hamid shouting, “Omar! Sanda!” We went out, overjoyed to see him. We transported the bikes down through the mud until the wheels got clogged. We had to carry the 45-50 kg bikes to the house of Moukadam, the “informant” sent by the police to help.

He invited us to his simple home, apologizing for the conditions and the outdoor toilet. We told him his invitation meant more to us than being in a palace. We put the bags in Hamid’s car, which was stuck on the road, and went to sleep at Moukadam’s house. It rained heavily that night.

We woke up to a clear sky and realized how bad the storm had been. Large parts of the roads were closed. Our clothes, bags, and bikes were all covered in mud. We decided to cycle back 50 km to Khénifra to spend the day with Hamid, wash all our clothes, make repairs, and clean the bikes.

The next day, we planned to continue on a different route, a national road, because the road we wanted to take was partly closed after the storm. The national roads are of better quality but full of reckless drivers who overtake us with just 1 cm of space, driving at 140 km/h.