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Alice Morrison was so determined to step into an ancient world that still has so much to reveal. The British journalist and adventurer went on a trip with a film crew of the BBC 2 across Morocco taking the same road that salt traders took 500 years ago. Throughout her journey Alice explored nature, the culture and had an insider look at the lost cities, mines and mountains that she transformed into a book that she called «Morocco to Timbuktu : An Arabian Adventure, The Book of the BBC2 Series».
A few hours before flying to the UK, Yabiladi had the chance to reach Alice Morrison. Speaking about her trip to Timbuktu, Alice told us that her journey will be broadcasted tomorrow on the BBC 2. The brave traveler had a lot to say about her extraordinary experience.
Why did you choose to travel along the old salt route ?
I have always dreamt of going to Timbuktu. I live in Morocco and decided to follow the ancient salt route for the BBC 2. I wanted to see if we could go in the direction of the traders during the Sahara trade when they used to come with salt, gold and slaves from Timbuktu up to Tangier. I was determined to mimic their journey.
What can you say about this journey ?
It was an amazing and incredible trip for I met some fantastic people. We managed to spend a bit of time living life like how traders would have lived it. It was an extraordinary experience with some great difficulties but finally we reached our goal and got to the city of gold.
They say traveling makes people grow up, did walking all the way down to Timbuktu change you ?
Traveling has been my childhood dream, so reaching that at the age of 53 is wonderful. However, I think traveling across Morocco did not change me yet it increased my knowledge and made me love Morocco even more. I love the country and the people and the trip enriched my understanding of Morocco and gave me an insight to what life would have been 500 years ago.
Tourists come frequently to Morocco and few of them manage to do what you have done, what do you think of Morocco now that you have discovered an ancient part of it ?
I think Morocco is a wonderful and tolerant country. The mixture of Berber and Arab and foreigners all living together in harmony is a lesson to the rest of the world. It is a developing nation, you see the economy growing, children going to school and improvement in healthcare but at the same time history and traditions are still there. What I love the most is the people and their hospitality, you never get worried about what to eat because somebody would bring you food, give you shelter and water.
