EDITOR'S NOTE: When he isn't tending to business at the racetrack, Milwaukee Mile Chairman Craig Stoehr is an avid traveler who regularly visits exotic lands like Morocco (pictured) and has agreed to share his adventures with OnMilwaukee.com readers. During this installment, Stoehr and some friends ring in 2007 with an African safari.

MY NEW YEAR'S TRIP TO AFRICA started out with a bang -- literally. While waiting in the Madrid airport for my connecting flight to Morocco on December 30, I felt the entire airport shake violently. My first thought was that a plane had crashed into the airport. Then, after 15 minutes of bewilderment, chaos erupted, with people stampeding onto the tarmac via the departure gates. Outside, a rising plume of black smoke was visible; a car bomb had exploded, killing two. The responsible group was ETA, the Basque separatist group. After five hours on the tarmac, I was on my way to Morocco, where I met up with my German travel companions, Kolja and his wife, Nina. Months earlier, we had planned to drive Kolja's Range Rover through West Africa.

On New Year's Eve, we arrived in Fes, one of the oldest medieval cities in the world and long the cultural and religious center of Morocco, where we walked through the endless maze of narrow alleys that make up the medina ('Old City'), stepping over numerous hides taken from those unfortunate sheep slaughtered earlier in the day to celebrate a local holiday. We explored the various shops, purchasing three djellabas (traditional garments) for $60 after hard bargaining. We then returned to our hotel and rang in the New Year in traditional Moroccan style.

Eastern & Central Morocco

On New Year's Day, we drove to Merzouga in eastern Morocco, stopping to hire Abdul, a guide who would lead us over the correct piste or dirt road to the Erg Chebbi sand dunes (advisable so as not to stray near the Algerian border, where numerous land mines are buried). The evening was marked by a sunset camel trek through the drifting sand dunes, which at times rise to almost 1,000 feet. Early the next morning, we set off for two hours of off-road driving on part of the infamous Paris-Dakar Rally route. After our limited sojourn, we wondered aloud how the drivers who would follow us in a week could endure two weeks of such intense pounding.

After saying goodbye to Abdul, we headed for the High Atlas. Bouncing through the many Berber towns, we were accosted by children asking for stylos (pens) and bon bons (candy). Although the drive took six hours, the experience was worth it. We spent the evening in Ouarzazate, visiting the Atlas movie studios the next morning, which have played host to films such as Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven. From Ouarzazate, it was on to Ait Benhaddou, an 11th century kasbah still home to 700 residents featured in over 20 films, including Lawrence of Arabia and Gladiator. From there, we headed for Marrakech, one of the most vibrant and cosmopolitan cities in the Muslim world.

Much of the activity in Marrakech takes place at the city's central square, the Djemma-al-Fna. Here, you can be entertained by snake charmers and storytellers, as well as enter the souqs, where you can bargain for just about anything. After taking in the excitement, we dined at Bo Zin, a new restaurant frequented by Marrakech's 'scenesters.' After an enjoyable meal and several bottles of wine, we headed for a nightclub close to our hotel, where we were entertained by women dancing with plates full of candles on top of their heads -- an impressive display of balance.

The Real Adventure Begins

On January 4, we drove to Agadir, a tourist haven on the Atlantic, breaking up the day with a stop at Sir Richard Branson's Kasbah Tamadot resort. The highlight of the day, however, was crossing the Tizi-n-Test mountain pass. Accounting for the most annual auto fatalities in Morocco, it was loaded with blind corners, drops of thousands of feet with no guardrails, and locals who drive with absolutely no fear; a mangled car we saw on the way down that must have plummeted thousands of feet was a testament to the dangers we encountered.

After a stop in Taroudannt, where I purchased a 'Hand of Fatima' necklace (worn by Moroccan men for good luck), we turned in for the evening in Agadir. There, Kolja and I pondered a possible dilemma for the following days -- whether we would be able to find unleaded gas on our drive south. Kolja's Range Rover dealer in Munich had told him using leaded gas would ruin the engine, thereby prematurely ending our trip.

With this in mind, we headed for Layounne. As fate would have it, we could not find unleaded gas. Dangerously close to empty, we found a local in Tarfaya with a 1950's tow-truck, arranging for him to follow us. After 25 miles, we required his services (as Kolja stated, this was likely the best-planned 'running out of gas' in the Sahara's history). After tanking up with unleaded gas in Layounne, I phoned a friend in Milwaukee, who told us we could use leaded gas for years before ruining the engine. Armed with this information, we turned in for the night, heading for the Mauritanian border the next morning.

We spent the next evening in a town comprised of only a gas station and hotel. Truly, it felt as though we were at the end of the world, with a smattering of locals as well as European adventure travelers. It was here that I tasted a Moroccan delicacy -- camel meatballs in a traditional tajine. The meal was excellent, and the camel well worth trying.

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Posted by Nick on May 24, 2007 at 12:19 a.m. (report)

thanks for the suggestions. i am headed to morocco myself next week, however i have opted to take a ship across the mediterranean into the northern port city of melilla to get into morocco. from there, i'll hit many of the same places you mentioned as well...

Posted by Weichei on May 15, 2007 at 9:47 a.m. (report)

Great Story! A long way from Milwaukee Mile - Racing to Dune Bashing in the Sahara. Had to look up those weird places on Google. The man has guts.