'The Geography Department has for the last four years taken the year 10 GSCE geographers to Morocco . All trips have been very successful from an academic and social point of view.

Last year our trip was based in urban Marrakech and the rural village of Imlil in the Atlas Mountains .

We compared the two faces of Marrakech. The ancient Medina (old city) with its traditional craft industries, old tannery and shanty towns with the more westernised part Gueliz (new city) where we saw large mansions, five star hotels and McDonald’s!

Just sixty kilometres away from Marrakech we entered the Atlas Mountains and our second destination, the small Berber village of Imlil . We stayed in the environmentally friendly Kasbah perched on top of a hill that can only be reached by walking or by donkey. Here we looked at traditional irrigation systems and measured the Rerayha River and studied the effects of flooding in the area. In order to compare our small village with other Berber villages we embarked on a 35KM hike across the Atlas Mountains to the adjacent valley. This was very scary stuff, but we did have a picnic at about 3000 metres and stayed in a traditional house for the night surrounded by the most gorgeous scenery!

Lots of written work is not the main aim of the trip. To live the Geography of a different place, to understand other people’s way of life, to get a feel for the case studies we were to write up when we got back and to have a safe and en jo yable time is what the Morocco trip is all about.’

E. Bloor, Head of Geography