Listen to Africa is a 24,000-kilometre cycling expedition, recording African sounds and voices.
More »
Seven days in the Sahara Well, we’ve had dust storms and drizzle, suspected dehydration and sunburnt toes, a smashed laptop screen and a broken front rack bracket, stunning landscapes and more stars than either of us has seen in a long time.
Gallery: Southern Morocco (Essaouira to Sidi Ifni) Photographs from southern Morocco, taken in May and June 2009, during our cycling journey across Africa. (Photos from the far south of Morocco will go into a separate Sahara gallery.) Photographs by Huw and Bex.
Thoughts from Sidi Ifni: tourism, climate change and roadside encounters We’re now in a small town overlooking the sea at the edge of the desert where the electric lights flicker and goat meat sizzling on charcoal sends drifts of smoke across the streets at night.
Common Bulbul This has been our daily alarm call here in Agadir. This individual sits in the palm tree straight opposite our balcony and sings away until just after dawn, when other ambient noises increase. It only starts again in the evening, and then only briefly. We got a decent visual identification and we’re almost certain it’s a Common Bulbul; our slight doubts arise because this individual sounds quite different to the other Common Bulbuls we’ve heard here.
Species: Pycnonotus barbatus
Common name (English): Common Bulbul
Date and time recorded: 05:10 local time, 28th May 2009
Location: Apartment balcony, Agadir, Morocco (view on map)
Copyright: Listen to Africa
Recipe: Moroccan tajine 
On our first night in Immessouane, we noticed Nawal cooking up a delicious tajine – the staple Moroccan dish – in the hostel’s communal kitchen. On our second night, we asked if we could record her as she cooked. We thought we’d post the result here in case anyone wanted to try out the recipe.
Nawal makes a Moroccan tajine 
In a hostel in Immessouane, we met a Moroccan couple on holiday from Casablanca. The first night we were there, we noticed Nawal cooking up a delicious tajine – the staple Moroccan dish – in the communal kitchen. The second night, we asked if we could record her as she cooked. She said yes and talked Bex through the cooking, then invited us to eat with her. Delicious. If you’d like to try it yourself (with vegetables or meat if eel isn’t your thing), you can read the full recipe (and download the audio to play in your kitchen) on our blog.
More:
The full recipe (blog post) »
Recorded on: 23 May 2009
Location: Immessouane, western Morocco (view on map)
Copyright: Listen …
Cycling through a changing country 
I’m writing this on the balcony of a small apartment in Agadir, southern Morocco. I have geraniums around me and palm trees in front of me and, just inside, there’s a cool, breezy apartment – with a bath! And a fridge!
The first long day 
Over the last couple of months meandering our way through France and northern Morocco, we’ve been in fairly densely populated areas. There’s never been any need to carry much food or water, or to give much thought to where we will sleep the night. We were never more than a hour or two from all the facilities that we have become accustomed to.
As we head further south and the Sahara looms ever closer, distances between settlements are becoming greater by the day. We are finding our selves having a brief discussion in the morning, along the lines of: “How long do you think it will take to get from x to y? Should we fill another bottle of water in case it takes longer than we think?”
Gallery: Northern Morocco (Tangier to Essaouira) Photographs from northern Morocco, from Tangier to Essaouira (April and May 2009). You can see our Southern Morocco gallery here. Photographs by Huw and Bex.
Peacock 
For 36 hours, we stayed in a bungalow in Safi, northern Morocco. Just outside our door, from dawn to dusk, a group of peacocks called raucously, continuously. Every time we brought out the sound recorder, they shut up. Not a peep. We have hours of recordings of dogs barking in the distance, but this is the only decent sound recording we managed to get of the noisy tykes.
Date and time recorded: 08:30 local time, 16th May 2009
Location: Safi, Morocco (view on map)
Copyright: Listen to Africa
