Morocco, the land of blue skies, has begun to feel more like Wales!

This winter’s weather in Morocco has been very unusual. Back in December, there had been so little rain that the Berber shepherds were having to go up to the summer pastures to find grazing for their flocks. That could have turned bad if they had eaten out all the grass reserved for the coming summer, but fortunately the weather has now reversed so much that we have had rain almost every day for the past week.

Overcast skies, drizzle, and mountain summits without views… This isn’t what we came here for, and it’s probably not why you might book a break here for either! Whatever happened to the sun?

However, this unseasonable weather has been really good for the local wildlife and for the villager’s crops. Flowers are blooming everywhere, their colours vibrant in the dappled light. If flowers had feelings, I’d guess they would be pretty happy now that the relentless sun is not wilting them.

Small birds are everywhere, as well as larger ones. Yesterday I saw a woodchat shrike, but without a decent camera only got a terrible picture of it from my phone. And unlike in the UK where kestrels are sharply declining in number, kestrels seem to be doing very well here. There are at least two pairs which i regularly see on my early morning runs, and more higher up in the hills.

Since the rain, there is a lot of sign of wild boar in the foothills and forests too. They have been digging up the soft mud to get at food under the ground, and generally making the typical mess that boars make. Hopefully soon I shall see one. (Or not, depending on if they are as scary as the locals make them out to be!)

The most surprising thing for us is how much bigger the hills look when they have clouds covering their peaks. The hill in the picture below normally looks like a minor peak compared to the mountains behind it which tower over 2600m altitude. But when those high ones are hidden, things change and we realise how big these “minor” summits really are!

Don’t miss the spring flowers – please get in touch if you want us to take you trekking or walking in the beautiful Atlas Mountains! A daywalk here just 50mins from Marrakech is great for reviving the senses and being refreshed in the beauty of nature. You may even get to experience that rarest of things, Moroccan rain!