Announcements

**markharf** · #1 15 Jun 2020

Michael, are you back in Toronto, or still stuck in Tunisia? I've been feeling guilty for months now about downplaying your concerns, then added a portion of survivor's guilt when I baled on my own trip and narrowly escaped getting stuck myself.

Mark

**Jay_Benson** · #2 16 Jun 2020

Quote:

Originally Posted by markharf

Michael, are you back in Toronto, or still stuck in Tunisia? I've been feeling guilty for months now about downplaying your concerns, then added a portion of survivor's guilt when I baled on my own trip and narrowly escaped getting stuck myself.

Mark

I was in contact with Michael the other day and he is back home.

As you said you were feeling guilty I was sorely tempted to say that he was still there and he just been thrown in gaol and having to do hard labour but I am a good person. Sometimes.

**markharf** · #3 16 Jun 2020

Thanks for the update. I will release my guilt to the universe (which, by some accounts, could use a boost), at least until I hear details involving significant suffering and deserved, proportional blame.

**PanEuropean** · #4 17 Jun 2020

Quote:

Originally Posted by markharf

Michael, are you back in Toronto, or still stuck in Tunisia?

Hi Mark:

I escaped Tunisia on April 4th, after passing about 3 weeks' time in lockdown in hotels in Djerba.

The Tunisians arranged one repatriation flight (only!) from Tunis to Canada - I was able to get a ticket on it.

All things considered, I was very, very impressed with how Tunisia coped with this pandemic. Their lockdown was swift and brutal - as a result, the country of 11 million has only suffered 1,000 infections since the pandemic began. On the 500 km ride from Djerba up to Tunis, I think I saw less than a dozen other vehicles on the motorway - I did the whole motorway trip at wide open throttle, about 190 km/h.

Tunisian customs were very kind and understanding - normally, you have to take your vehicle out when you leave, but due to the pandemic, all they asked was that you leave your name, contact information, and the vehicle key with the customs office at the airport. The vehicle itself could be left anywhere in the country, you didn't have to tell customs where you left it. I left my bike in a diplomatic compound, and hope to go back and continue my ride in Tunisia sometime this fall.

Michael

**markharf** · #5 17 Jun 2020

Excellent news, thanks! Any remnant feelings of guilt have now been expunged. Enjoy!

**Tim Cullis** · #6 21 Jun 2020

Churchill, speaking to the House of Commons in 1942 about the victory at the Battle of Alamein and what it meant for the war is recorded as saying, "Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning."

And so it is with Morocco.

From Thursday 25 June Fez, Casablanca and some other regions will move into the zone 1 (less affected) category leaving ONLY Marrakech and the northern section of the Atlantic Coast (Tanger, Asilah, Larache, Kenitra) in more restricted zone 2.

Also from 25 June, domestic life is restarting. Many of the zone 1 restrictions are being released. Hotels, cafes, restaurants, hammams, beaches and gyms will be allowed to operate at 50% capacity. Domestic flights will resume and travel will be allowed on autoroutes and main roads between cities without the need for authorisation documents. You can read more about this here: https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/202...ls-on-june-24/

We still don't know when we, as visitors, will be allowed back in the country. But with the relaxation of Spain's borders we can hope that those motorhome and 4x4 owners still stuck in Morocco can at last bid farewell and join their friends and families back home.

Morocco still has a way to go in fighting the pandemic. There's been a major spike in new infections this week, but the country is working to contain these and still seems well positioned. All patients across Morocco needing hospitalisation are now being treated in two specialist locations, one to the east of Casablanca at Benslimane, the other to the north of Marrakech at Ben Guerir, freeing up other hospitals to resume their normal caseloads. Fatalities have thankfully been extremely low, with only 13 announced in the last three weeks.

**Tim Cullis** · #7 22 Jun 2020

At the moment the Moroccan authorities are focused on bringing home an estimated 30,000 citizens still stranded overseas. On their return the travellers are undergoing mandatory 14-day isolation in holiday apartments close to airports such as Tetouan and Oujda.

Next month the annual Operation Marharba will start, welcoming ex-pat Moroccans back for their annual summer holidays. Most of these will travel overland and 23 ferry boats have been identified landing ex-pats in Tanger Med, Tanger Ville, Nador and Al Hoceima. This year's traffic volumes is expected to be lower than the 2.5 million passengers in 600,000 vehicles of normal years.

Various dates have been bandied about for the start with most plumping for 15 July. In previous years, arrivals have peaked in the last week of July, with return traffic peaking towards the end of August. Clearly this second group of travellers can't be expected to self-isolate for 14 days.

This *may* give some indication as to when Morocco will start to allow foreign visitors to enter the country. On the other hand, the authorities may decide to only allow Moroccan citizens and families to enter.

**Tim Cullis** · #8 22 Jun 2020

Well that glow of hope didn't last well.

Despite planning going on for the past few weeks, Operation Marharba 2020 has now been cancelled.

It was decided that the current health protocols couldn't be bypassed and these would have required placing Moroccans coming from abroad in a nine-day quarantine period. And in order to leave quarantine, the person concerned would have to take two consecutive COVID-19 screening tests that both yield negative results.