Postcard from Morocco
As well as being a rewarding place to visit last week for our work with Hitachi Construction Machinery (Europe) NV, Morocco also proved to be an interesting cultural experience.
My abiding memory of travelling for hours and hours between hotels and job sites across this beautiful country was the livestock! Farmers bring their animals out to graze in the most unusual of locations, including the side of roads, dual carriageways and even motorways – only a few feet away from speeding motorists, trucks, mopeds etc. The hundreds of sheep, goats, cows, horses, mules and the odd camel we saw seemed to be trained in the art of having their fill of grass safely on roadside verges.
Perhaps the biggest surprise of all came when they ventured in large groups of mainly sheep and goats on to the motorway project (see previous blog) we visited with the Moroccan Hitachi dealer. As you can see from this picture, the busy job site activities of the excavators, wheel loaders, cranes and trucks didn’t deter the hungry herds from seeking out the lush green fields beside the newly built highway.
However, the personal highlight was the Moroccan national mode of transport – the donkey! Not only did we see them towing trailers, carry obscure loads and generally being paraded around the countryside, but it seemed like there was one tied up every 500 metres across the hundreds of kilometres we covered during our five-day stay. This turned into a bit of a donkey-spotting competition (much to the amusement of our host – you had to be there!) to pass the time and add an extra dimension to our journeys!
Posted by Paul Directors on 14 May 2010 at 16:11