For the second time, Project Qafila has organised (though Marsad Drâa and Caravane Tighmert) a caravan with artists and researchers. While we prepare all the material to be integrated on the website, you can have a look to some videos.
The first one is a discussion on geography. We tried to find the route we made from the beginning, which was easy for the first days but more complicated once we arrived to open spaces and specially sand landscapes, where there are no references on plans we had.
You can find more plans of Morocco on this link from the University of Texas at Austin.
The second video is a kind of epilogue where each participant tell their impressions after this experience. These are some of the comments:
Driss Benabdallah
I wanted to come back to the earth, the elements ... also to find a space to see things differently.
Ahmed Dabah
This is my first time doing the caravan on foot, it is really a beautiful experience, especially to know another place outside the region of the wadi Noun. I also wanted to develop my knowledge as a guide.
Souad El Maysour
It was important to experience a physical and emotional ordeal that was so far unknown to me. It's a trip with the others too ...
Laila Hida
It was unimaginable to lose myself ... my landmarks were people, while in town my landmarks are elsewhere; this space forces you to rethink your priorities, or at least rethink how you navigate in space and in life.
Abdeljalil Saouli
For me, walking is trying to understand my space for reflection. When I walk I think more, when I walk I see more. Leave a river (oued Ouarga) and look for another (oued Drâa), it marks me.
Youssef Titou
These people are very simple, minimalist, they do not complicate their lifes... I would like, one day, to arrive at that, sincerely.
The video is in French, but you can activate the automatic translation in English, Spanish… so you can have a better idea of the conversation.
In the video there is a key element of the desert; darkness. It is synonymous with danger in our cities. We have been taught to be always under a light and to be afraid of the dark. However, in the desert (during different caravans) we always sought the darkness, we always wanted to move away from cities, villages, bivouacs, roads, tracks ... Ultimately, we flew the artificiality of the light because it hides us different dimensions that only are perceptible in the darkness.
It is only a proof of the contradictions to which the cities force us and that the desert highlights.