New year in Marrakesh and Morocco

New year in Marrakesh and Morocco
For those people who have not yet arranged their new year’e eve and day, Morocco and Marrakesh in particular represents a great destination, only a few hours from the UK and Europe, and offering sun, clear skies (usually!) and a party atmosphere!

Most riads and hotels stay open for the Christmas and New Year season, and some of these have interesting special offers for their remaining rooms – you can read more about there in our recent article on special offers here. Remember that most of these special offers have been negotiated by Morocco Gateway and are therefore only available through ourselves.



For those people who want to get away but for peace and quiet, there are a number of riads and hotels on the outskirts of Marrakesh such as La Palmeraie area, which are always popular over the Festive season. We have listed these in a selection called “Marrakesh Borders”



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The Barbary Macaque of Morocco

The Barbary Macaque of Morocco
The Barbary Macaque (Macaca sylvanus) resides chiefly in Morocco and in the mountains of Algeria, with a much smaller population making their home in Gibraltar. The species is considered one of the Old World monkeys and are the only free living primates in Europe, with the exception of humans. Often referred to as the Barbary Ape they are however true monkeys.

Morocco’s Barbary Macaque measures somewhere between 38 and 76 cm in length and has a mass between 5 to 13 kg. They are tailless macaques and their front limbs are longer than the hind limbs. The fur of the Barbary Macaque is yellow-brown to grayish with paler undersides. Their faces are a dark pink color. In general, they are recorded to live for approximately 22 years.

So where will you find Barbary Macaques in Morocco? They are typically found at elevations between 1 600 and 2 100 m or higher, in the Atlas Mountains. They prefer forests consisting of oak, cedar and pine trees. Their waking hours, which are during the day, are spent both in the trees and on the ground. They are an herbivorous species and thus feed on fruit, leaves and roots, but are also known to nibble on insects.




Barbary Macaques are gregarious and live in troops of between 10 to 30 monkeys. It is a matriarchal system, which means that the head female leads the group. However the troop is generally a blend of males and females. The lead female is determined through family lineage and the entire troop hierarchy is also run according to lineage. Barbary’s are unique amongst the macaques in that the males play a vital role in rearing and caring for offspring. They participate in grooming and playing with the young monkeys and thus form close social bonds. They have even been noted to have favorite youngsters with whom they spend more time. It appears the females prefer to select males which show greater parental ability and willingness.

Mating season for the Barbary Macaques is between November and March. Following conception, the gestation period lasts 196 days. The female will give birth to a single offspring. These young monkeys will only reach maturity at around 3 to 4 years of age.

Sadly, the Barbary Macaque is under threat due to habitat loss and ignorance. The IUCN Red List has added the species to the “Vulnerable” list.


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about morocco

about morocco
With thousands of kilometres of undeveloped Mediterranean and Atlantic coastline, and land borders with Algeria and Mauritania, Morocco is a rugged land of mountains, plains and desert. It's home to Africa's highest range of mountains north of the equator, a portion of the Sahara desert and is approximately twice the size of the UK, but with only half of the population. It's the most western of the North African "Maghreb" countries and lies just across the Straits of Gibraltor from Spain, just a three to four hour flight from the UK.

Morocco is an up and coming tourist destination with infrastructure and attractions to cater for a range of styles of tourism, but at the same time vast tracts of the country remain almost totally undiscovered. With a culture largely definied by religion (Islam) and geography, it has become widely recognised as the closest true "culture shock" to Europe. Whether in the ancient medinas of Fez or Marrakech where metal workers ply their trade in cave-like holes in the wall, or in remote villages where cloaked figures shuffle into tiny mountainside mosques, this difference in culture can be experienced in equal measure. Indeed Morocco is as much about atmosphere as anything else.

Of course there's more to it than that, like the heady exoticism and vernacular moorish architecture of Marrakech and Fez, the dreamy valleys, adobe villages and crisp snow-capped mountains of the High Atlas, the encroaching dunes of the Sahara desert, the virgin surf beaches of the Atlantic coast, weathered 11th century desert kasbahs rising out of date palm oases, rolling plains of wheat and high pastures of wild flowers where nomads roam, crumbling remains of ancient civilisations.......... and so on.

What's more you'll always be welcome in Morocco, something abundantly clear when you arrive in any town or village across the country. Most Moroccans judge people on their individual merits and are delighted to share a cup of mint tea with any visitor regardless of colour or creed. Indeed the Atlas mountains, already quite exceptionally picturesque, are made all the more beautiful by their inhabitants. In addition, these mountains offer visitors the luxury of space - something becoming more and more difficult to find in more developed countries - throwing up virtually limitless possibilities for discovery and adventure. And all this across a landscape as varied and enthralling as any country the size of Morocco can offer.

Whatever you decide to do in Morocco, enjoy your trip.


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