It’s always amazing to me, regardless of how many times I travel, that you can board an airplane and a number of hours later you’re in a totally different part of our world. One minute I’m walking down Broadway in Manhattan, the next…in shantytown, Casablanca, Morocco. I hope that feeling of amazement never goes away…
So here we are in Morocco…staying with a friend who just happens to have a studio/crash pad in Casablanca. But it just isn’t any place…it’s the guest suite at Dar Khalifa aka The Caliphs’s House located in the middle of shantytown.
Yes, THE Caliph’s House…the book written by Tahir Shah…one of his many New York Times best sellers…”the story of his family’s move from the gray skies of London to the sun-drenched city of Casablanca, where Islamic tradition and African folklore converge–and nothing is as easy as it seems….”
“An hour after landing, I found myself in a taxi cruising down a pleasant corniche lined with cafes and well-groomed palms. The sun was bright overhead, and the air tinged with the light scent of a salt breeze blowing in from the sea. The cab pulled away from the coast road and rolled down a palm-lined avenue. On both sides, dazzling white villas rose up like icebergs. In front of each, a large car was neatly parked, all shiny and new, a trophy of wealth. The taxi drove a little further, crossed an invisible boundary of some kind, and entered a sprawling shantytown.”
“There were donkey carts, chickens, cattle wandering aimlessly about, and a a herd of goats blocking the way. The afternoon muezzin, the call to prayer, was raining down from a modest whitewashed mosque at the side of the rutted track. A group of boys were kicking a homemade soccer ball about in the dusty alleys that ran between the low cinder-block shacks roofed in rusting tin.”
Hmmmm…It’s interesting, I’d read his book a couple of years ago, but returning to it and reading these passages it was if I’d experienced each and every word he had written…
“Since moving to Casablanca, I had secretly hoped that the shantytown that surrounded the oasis of Dar Khalifa (The Caliph’s House) would be bulldozed, and that upmarket villas would replace them. If there were villas, then there would be a new road, a supermarket, cafes, and shops. And if shantytown vanished, so would the stagnant pools of water, the mosquitoes, the plagues of biting flies, the braying donkeys, the raw sewage, and the mountains of festering trash.”
Well…the sledge hammers…the bulldozers…they arrived…the roads are beginning to take shape…and soon there will be more villas for the wealthy. It was amazing…from our arrival until our return a week later…there were big changes in shantytown. I found it all very fascinating.
“If they knock down the shantytown, then we will have nowhere to live…”
Back in 2003, Casablanca experienced their own 9/11 when the city was hit by a wave of suicide bombings killing 45 people. The attacks were linked to Al Qaeda, and it was noted that all of the bombers were drawn from shantytowns and had been motivated as much by poverty as by radical Islam. So in 2007, the government announced a $1 billion plan to demolish the shantytowns and replace them with affordable housing for the estimated half million inhabitants. So time will tell, but from my observation it looks like this particular shantytown is on its way out.
We were never bothered during our comings and goings through shantytown, and often a gift of a smile would bring more smiles…since we all know…everyone smiles in the same language!
Coming up…it all started with the Jinns…
“This is Morocco, and in Morocco everyone believes in Jinns.”
Simply great images of what seems to be an interesting place. So much more to see and learn when one leaves the well known tourist spots. Where will this people go when new houses will be build? As usual wonderful pictures …the boy with his happy smile playingfootball , pure joy.
Thanks Karen! I so agree that getting off the typical tourist routes will definitely open one’s eyes! Interesting, I’ve looked on the internet thinking someone should be doing a documentary when the shantytowns are destroyed and to see what does happen with these people! (But have found none.)
OMG, I had no idea… Thank you so much for sharing these photos. I am still in the process of reading The Caliph’s House book so seeing these images gives true meaning to the words I read… Can’t wait to hear more…! XoXo
This is the beauty of travel because we don’t have any idea how so many people in our world live! So glad you’re reading the book! Love you!!
I have such mixed emotions about seeing and reading this, Robin. Do you, too, I wonder? Or do you see the demise of shantytown a good thing…as long as the displaced people and animals will have a new, better place to live? So many questions….
I do as well Ginnie. Very mixed emotions. On one side they did “squat” so to speak, but then after years they’ve built such a sense of community over time… So many questions is right!
This story, photographs and you are amazing
Thanks Bill! You provide me with such inspiration!
What an amazing place to end up staying in, and again the pictures capture the colour and vibrancy of the place so well. You are so gifted at these shots
Thanks Ducky!! So appreciate your comments!
Your photography is a gift. Not everyone can travel the far reaches of the world, so I thank you for sharing your images and impressions. Because of your exquisite photos, we can witness first hand, from the comfort of our American silos, the plight of a large percentage of the global population. It’s a little tough to swallow but good to see how even in the mists of ruin, one can find beauty and joy. Let this be a lesson to us all when when we grumble because we had to wait in line for your favorite coffee blend.
Right on Abby. In general “we” know nothing about how others live and what they go through. This is what inspires me to travel and photograph and share! THANK YOU!!!
My first trip to Morocco was in 2010 and I had just bought (but not yet read) The Caliph’s House. I love that book, and I shared it with my husband’s cousin. When my husband asked me as we were en route from the airport in Casablanca to his family’s home in Sale, what I thought of Morocco, I asked him to ask me that question when I had slept a bit. But it really stemmed from seeing only the shantytowns along the highway so far. Over three weeks, I too fell in love with Morocco, read the book when I got home, and hope to return again soon. Your post made me miss my second family and my hope-to-retire-there home very much. Thank you for sharing.
Thanks Jackie so much for visiting and sharing!
Wonderful images, Robin, and it sounds like a most interesting crash pad to stay!
Most definitely an interesting crash pad…for sure! Thanks Susan…always!
Such pure captures, Robin.
My world is so small, I had no idea of the Caliph’s House book and the history of Shantytown. So much to take in and process.
I know you will never lose that amazement of being one place, hopping aboard a plane and in a few hours be in a whole different “world”. I always found that amazing, too. You are a deep and sensitive soul and truly embrace and respect the people you meet and cultural differences you experience. That will never get old.
Thank you so much for sharing and once again enlightening me on the plights of the rest of the world. Abby’s comment summed it up perfectly.
So very touching, I look forward to more….
xoxoxo
Thank you Lisa! It is so much to process and now after several weeks, I’m still trying to process it! xoxo
Amazing pictures, and for me, it’s always a miracle to board a plane and get off somewhere else. I never get used to it and I’m happy about it! And wow, what a story. You always manage to find astonishing places.
This is what I love about our world! So many astonishing places and speaking of…one day I’ll get to Germany! Thank you!!
I can imagine you being amazed by the different cultures within a few hours flight.
We can call our self very lucky to be able to travel the world and meet the ‘other’ world.
Absolute fabulous pictures. You are so lucky to be able to see this with your own eyes.
Hugs and love.
Oh Astrid…so lucky…so fortunate…and there isn’t a day that goes by that I don’t count my blessings! Thank you! xoxo
This is a topic of conversation, for sure. I have so many emotions and so many questions for you. Will look forward to sharing some wine and conversation about Morocco very soon. You are amazing!!!
Will look forward to it my dear! xoxo