Column: The mountains and deserts of Morocco captivate the Howard family

Adventure awaits as coast-walking Dad Chris Howard and his family are bound for magical Morocco

Another family adventure rolled around and saw the Howard tribe jetting off to Morocco for a trip into the Atlas Mountains and across the desert of Aga Fe. As always when travelling with children you must ensure the necessary precautions are taken; the list is long! Always double check what they’ve packed especially if you’re taking carry-on bags only, a challenge in itself. Cue the squishing and squashing of flipflops, swimsuits, scarves, pencil cases, cuddly toys and let’s not forget the 90’s DJ-style headphones.

We leave Blighty in the middle of a freezing night, aboard a typically delayed flight where a bizarre blue and yellow blur of air hostess theatre unfolds. Cabin safety procedures are performed with smiles that last the entire flight even as they collect rubbish from the aisle into clear sacks. The hours pass without any problems as the cubs lay awkwardly sleeping across each other; it seems like the easiest thing we’ve done so far apart from losing a boarding pass at the gate and realising we’d left a phone at security. Then as the sunrise splits the sky and a dust cloud delays our landing, Thing Two looks up at me all sleepy and talks excitedly about how we’re nearly there. Only a few moments later we’re on the tarmac almost at a complete stop when she’s sick; thankfully we’ve learnt to have easily accessible plastic bags for such occasions.

We disembark into a bright warm sunny day, now on African soil, the airport of Marrakesh like a honeycomb sculpture that wows the cubs immediately. We’ve not felt the sun like this for months back home and smiles and laughter appear as we stand in line at Passport Control. Through Customs and into the big yellow taxi to our hotel. If the flight was uneventful the taxi ride was the absolute opposite, hurtling through dusty streets into the path of oncoming lorries, families with goats on mopeds and people praying at the side of the road, it’s an attack on the senses that Thing One can’t stop listing out loud. The taxi driver giggles at her amazement!

We sling our backpacks over our shoulders as we stand at the front of the enormous hotel lobby; there’s marble floors and the walls are adorned with Arabic. We say thank you and hello in Arabic and Youngest Thing speaks to the desk lady in French (pride fills me, although I’m unsure what she actually said!). All three cubs are super excited for the waterpark and swimming pool so we head straight there after checking in. They’re even more excited to realise they can have fizzy drinks and snacks on tap and that there’s a big buffet to choose dinner from. Youngest Thing even has a meltdown as she’s worried that she won’t get to try everything. . .

After a relaxing first day we go exploring into the snow-capped mountains. We visit the Berber tribes that predate Arabisation and make everything from carpets to nut butters using traditional methods. Then we head into the desert for a night of Moroccan food, music and dancing. I’m not sure which the cubs enjoy more - the fire breathing belly dancing entertainment or the camel ride at sunset - but what I do know is we’ve made more memories they’ll never forget. This is the importance of family adventures, it may not be measured and marked or examined by a governing body, it may not provide a qualification for future employment but the gains in humility, compassion, understanding of the world and humans in it is insurmountable. Knowing that the cubs and I have heard the call to prayer and looked up at the stars as a family are things you cannot learn in a textbook, for to travel the breadth of a foreign land and marvel in all its majesty is true privilege.

Read more about Chris’s adventures at thecoastwalker.com