I think they had been better off staying at the camping ground, yes.
If you have local knowledge, or if you have a lot of experience with free camping then maybe ok.
As I see it, you have two choices, you either stay close to other good people, or you hide yourself well so you can be left alone and not woken up in the night. It is very unpleasant when there are headlights or torches coming close in the night, even if it is just the gendarmes looking after you. If they can find you, so can others.
So I am 100% with Chris on this one.

The idea of these boys coming up with their own tent on the mountain, armed with knives, it is as if they were looking for tourists to go after. Crazy. The Sun is happy to provide all the gruesome details
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/803331...tims-families/

It is quite possible they were targeted already in Marrakech, and followed from there, after staying there one week at a budget hotel.

Trouble is the nearest formal campground is Marrakech or Taliouine. The area in question is well frequented with hikers and tourists.

Personally I think is very wrong to suggest that this was a result of camping in the wrong location. While we are still waiting for more details (and more accuracy in reporting) it would appear that the perpetrators were probably actively looking for easy targets.

Since the first report surfaced early in the week Ive spent a lot of time reading the different media reports and ill informed online comment, but I don't recall seeing any suggestion that the victims were followed from Marrakech.

I agree with the general rules for wild camping and regularly get frustrated by free loading tourists trying to wild camp in the wrong places (like the hippy encampment currently growing in the Todra Gorgea a few km from proper camping)

I'm terrible sorry for those women. I've been a lot of times in that area. I only can say that Morocco is an absolutely safe country. Being in the wrong place at the wrong time can put you in trouble in Morocco as in your home. It seems to be a terrorist attack. People involved in sirias war are returning to their countries and trying to continue their cause. Insane but real. Be careful out there but don't stop travelling.

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Here a Norwegian report from Marrakech hope google can translate it
https://www.vg.no/nyheter/utenriks/i...or-dobbeltdrap

There must be plenty places to put up a tent if one insists on not having a room. How about the French Alpine Club if you want to be further up the mountain? €13.

The report adds nothing that hasn't been reported already elsewhere, the facts are still not completely known

A friend of mine and fellow traveller in Morocco lives close to the family of one of the victims and will be visiting them in the coming weeks

If you think Morocco is unsafe then its clear you have little knowledge of the country. 3 terrorist attacks on tourists in the last 15 years is a lot less than the UK has had

Myself Trail ride 2000 miles for the last 3 years, traveling off road staying in small villages with no issues,

My wife and i lived in Jakarta during the years of the appauling Bali bombings.We saw the subsequent devastation the events brought to the livelihood of the local people as tourists stayed away.
We shall be wild camping as usual during the coming months and buying the usual crop of fossils etc that we dont really need and will think of these girls as we do our meager bit to help the local people through what are now going to be tough times for them.

We hope most forum members will be able to do the same.

With the discovery of social media postings prior to the murders, in which the suspected attackers declared their allegiance to Isis, there seems no doubt that the attack was premeditated.

According to a Norwegian report the girls had been camping at Les Mouflons refuge (at 3,200m below the Toubkal summit) and for some reason halted their descent to Imlil to camp near a cabin next to the track. This was totally isolated, several kilometres from the refuges and over 1km from Sidi Chamrouse further down the track.

A mountain guide had previously advised the girls not the camp alone, saying, "They were in a good mood when they were at our guide office. We went through their equipment to see that they had everything they needed. Then we advised them to bring a local guide, but they said they wanted to go on their own."

The same guide subsequently also met the four men who have now been arrested, see https://www.nrk.no/urix/motte-bade-m...kte-1.14351747

The three suspects arrested on a bus in Marrakech had shaved off their beards. They were on their way to Agadir armed with several long knives and there is a strong suspicion that a second attack on tourists was prevented by their arrest.

Since then, nine more men suspected of being involved in Monday's murders and of being ISIS members have been arrested in Morocco in areas including Chtouka Ait Baha (south of Agadir--note the paragraph above), Marrakech, Essaouira, Tanger and Sidi Bennour (near Casablanca).

https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/201...thern-morocco/

A petition has been started by Moroccans asking for the death sentence for the murderers per the Moroccan Penal Code as the murders were premeditated (article 393) and used acts of barbarism (article 399). Morocco still has the death penalty but hasn't used it in more than twenty years.

https://www.change.org/p/bcij-dgsn-a...avian-tourists

The biggest danger at the moment is copycat attacks and I guess the BCIJ will be sweeping up every suspect on their radar.

__________________
"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

It seems such a tragedy that these Scandinavian women were murdered. I've never met a Scandinavian traveller who wasn't full of joy at visiting another country, coming from such peace loving countries.


Not that it will in any way put me off visiting Maroc next year without worry. I've always had the impression that the population at large are incredibly incensed by extremism and are always keen to show friendliness to strangers which I think is just about as much to do with being Moroccan than any religious inclination to do so!

You need to compare apples with apples. In the UK are 67 million people, while maybe only a few thousand will be out travelling. Thus the probability of being subject to a terrorist attack is considerably higher abroad. Especially if you factor in which part of the world, as not all other places carry the same risk.

I'm not saying don't travel, just be aware you as a foreign traveller are at more risk in certain parts of the world than others, so behave and take precautions accordingly. As I guess we all know.

After 20 years in Morocco I’m very familiar with the country, it’s people and any slight risks

I don’t think population levels has anything to do with the issue. My post was in repose to a post that has now been deleted (good work mods).

Hopefully I’ll be back in March for another 6 months in a country that is as safe as anywhere


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The odds are still greater of dying from an allergic reaction to a bee sting, so I'm with TheWarden on this.

I've just this minute booked flight to Spain for early January, I will then pack up the KTM 690 Enduro and set off to Morocco for six weeks.

__________________
"For sheer delight there is nothing like altitude; it gives one the thrill of adventure
and enlarges the world in which you live," Irving Mather (1892-1966)

FYI, this is the latest statement put out by the Australian Government's Dept of Foreign Affairs and Trade for Morocco:



Saturday, 22 December 2018

Latest update
Two foreign nationals were murdered by suspected terrorists while hiking in December 2018. Moroccan authorities have arrested four individuals in connection with the murders, including one they say had links to “an extremist group”. The level of our advice has not changed. Exercise a high degree of caution in Morocco overall. Higher levels apply in some parts of the country.

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» “What do you expect to find there? Well, if I knew, I wouldn’t go there!” — Jacques Cousteau

Like previous replies, I'm off again in January, only got back 2wks ago, I love Morocco.

But as a bloke I don't get the unwanted hassle of female travellers, which I know has, and does happen in far too many parts of this world still.



While I agree about their wild camping "location", these were "prepared" travellers who had taken precautions, sadly just in the wrong place at the wrong time. IMHO


What could any of us do against 3/4 men with knives?! Just sad it happen in Morocco, of all places.


Safe travels all!