Three months, one camera, and a lifetime of stories 📸🤍
Intro
I travelled through Morocco for 3 months at the beginning of this year — and I just want to say: whatever you hear about this country, ignore it until you’ve seen it yourself.
Morocco is a country that lives between contrasts: chaos and calm, sand, sea and snowy mountains, silence and song. I came here not knowing what to expect. Nervous about what I’d heard, full of questions and uncertain about anything. Three months later, I was crying at the airport when I had to leave. I left with more connection, perspective and a kind joy I hadn’t felt in a long time.
This is part 1 of a 4-part series documenting my time in Morocco as a solo female photographer, and I want to take you along on this journey of discovering a truly stunning country — and share the stories and tips I now give to anyone who asks.
My experience
I can’t even begin to explain my experience to be honest, except that I’ve fallen in love with this place.
I was very nervous coming here, but I got met with the utmost hospitality, warmth, and openness I could ever imagine.
I started out with a workaway for the first 1.5 to 2 weeks, which really helped me land into the country and the culture a little bit.
I remember my first day in the country, me and another volunteer went to the local souk together. It was full, busy and so insanely overwhelming, that when we got back to the place we were staying, I was terrified of the time to come, and vowed I would not leave that place again.
I was terrified of having to navigate Marrakech or just the country, on my own.
Anyways, I met some of my first friends there, and when I came to Marrakech later, I made new friends there immediately as well. I managed to surround myself with locals ( that I trusted ) for most of my time, which I feel very lucky about. If you want to know more about how I did this, keep reading.
The people are the most hospitable people I have ever met. There’s a hundred small stories I could tell, but if I had to sum it up — Moroccans truly make you feel at home.. You get included into the family in an instant.
The people of Morocco, moments of connection
I mentioned before how extremely warm and hospitable the people are, but I wanted to make a whole seperate section on this. – Including some tips on how I met people.
The whole culture is extremely different to what I grew up with – the coldness of the Netherlands & the dutch people and culture.
I really felt I was being greeted with open arms, which honestly, I was.
When I could only book 2 nights in a hostel in Marrakech because I was too late to book it, one of my friends (who I was lucky enough to meet my first night) offered for me to stay at his place for a couple of days. He lived about 40 mins down of Marrakech, so I was a bit hesitant. But his place ended up becoming my escape whenever I needed a breather or I was overwhelmed – I ended up going back there a total of about 3 times.
Another friend of mine (that I met through the first friend), would insist to drive me from there to Marrakech whenever I came or left again, he told me I shouldn’t have to use public transport with my bags. I can keep going.
(Street) photography in a Muslim country
As you know if you know my work, you know I love street photography. I had no idea how this would look like in a country like Morocco. It is a Muslim country after all. I wanted to be respectful and not shove my camera in everyone’s face.
Honestly I don’t think I managed to get the answer on how to do so in the end, but I did learn and observe some things I wanna share.
Generally, people don’t like to be photographed. I already feel quite shy with street photography, but in Morocco the vibes only made it worse. As a photographer, I always struggle with feeling like a tourist when I walk around with my camera, and I didn’t want to invade anyone’s privacy.
In bigger cities like Marrakech it’s relatively easier since it’s busy, and people care less + might not notice because of the crowds. However it does make it harder as a photographer because of the crowds as well. I found myself quite overstimulated and overwhelmed, without the space to really think of photography.
There were alot of scenes I saw in my head, that in the end I didn’t capture. I tried to put myself in their shoes – if I was hanging the laundry in the morning, would I want some white girl to take a picture of me? No.
I tried to respect people’s privacy, so making sure I capture them without them being recognisable, like I did with a mother with her daughters in the countryside. My friend even told her afterwards that I took a photo of her but she wasn’t recognisable.
On the coast, I met another photographer who made videos while asking people. The coast is way more chill, and there’s a lot of travellers and surfers who won’t mind. He was a local, which made it easier with locals, since he knew the language.
With EID I ended up going out with a girl who also spoke the language and helped me ask people – in this way, most people will say yes (though this was a national holiday, everyone is dressed up and WANTS photos). I found as someone who doesn’t speak the language, it’s a lot harder.
Despite the language barriers and sometimes not knowing what I could capture and what I couldn’t, my camera caused some really cool connections. For example in Sti Fadma, where I had this crazy idea to get a picture in the middle of a waterfall on top of a rock, only to come to the conclusion it wasn’t a good idea – yet my friends had decided I was gonna get that picture. After this, a group of Moroccans decided that it was a great idea and also wanted me to take a picture of them like that hahaha. Or while doing street photography in Taghazout, and getting into conversations with the most interesting people.
If you want to see what I captured in my time there – feel free to take a look here!
Helpful tools
Obviously you will meet people as you go, but when meeting people on the street it’s not always easy to know who has what intentions. The next part in this series will be about my experience travelling as a solo woman Morocco, and about the safety, but here’s a list that could apply to anyone, of helpful ways and tools you can use to meet people. This doesn’t just count for Morocco, it’s for anyone who loves travelling and backpacking in general!
– Workaway/worldpackers.
For me, this is the best way to discover a country. For anyone that doesn’t know what it is or has never heard of it – basically, you volunteer at a place, in exchange for accomodation and food. The work can be anything. From hostels, to families, to NGO’s. The work also varies, you can find almost anything. People looking for a language exchange, families needing childcare, teaching, social media help, help on a farm, with building, etc etc.
For me it really allows me to settle into the culture, the place and the people without having to worry about many things. You get to know people, you get accomodation, and in most cases get food as well.
– Couchsurfing.
I didn’t do much actual couchsurfing in Morocco, but I used the hangouts tool – through here I met one of my best friends in Morocco that’s like a brother to me. The plus of couchsurfing is that people have reviews, so you can look through those, and choose who you want to meet up with and who is a creep hahah
– Travel ladies.
For my ladies out there! I didn’t use this app too much, yet I met a girl on here way before I started travelling that had almost the exact ideas for her travels, so we ended up travelling together for about a month, which I’m so grateful for!
– Travel bff.
Another app I didn’t use tooo much, but it’s definitely a good tool to meet people. I met a german guy travelling with his van, and ended up meeting him and hanging out with him a few days as well.
What’s next
In the next post, I’ll dive into my experience travelling solo as a woman in Morocco — the safety, the challenges, and the tools and tips I’d recommend if you’re planning your own trip.
In the meantime — have you been to Morocco? I’d love to hear your stories or questions in the comments! 😊