It was early January in 1987 when I originally went to Morocco. Pregnant with my first child and having just completed an acting stint in an arduous pantomime tour, the idea was to seek out some sunshine with a friend. We booked into basic accommodation in the coastal city of Agadir and found the warmth we sought. However, we decided that a little adventure was in order. So we boarded a public bus and made our way south to the Saharan city of Guelmim. We struck lucky when we were invited into the home of some locals. They lived in a mud hut, but for all that they lacked in material wealth by European standards, they were extremely generous and hospitable. We were served camel stew which was delicious and is classified as a healthy meat due to its low-fat content. One of the daughters of the house kindly painted my hands with henna, asking only in return for all that she and her family had given that I would send her sister a doll. She said, “Do not forget the girl from Guelmim.” To my shame the child never did get that doll. In my defence I had a lot on my mind with impending single-parenthood at a young age. However, it is such sheer thoughtlessness that serves to undermine trust on the part of people whose countries have already been looted by bloody imperialists and shackled by colonialism or more exactly, in the case of Morocco, made a French Protectorate. In 2010 my daughter, Natasha – she who was but a bump in the late Eighties – came with me, and we stayed in a luxurious riad in Marrakesh for 10 days, venturing out to stroll around the souks and soak up the sights and sounds of the main square, Jemaa el-Fna; a daily carnival of activity which never fails to entertain. A couple of months ago, I decided that it was time to go back to this wonderful North African country and I wanted to incorporate a bit of travel and adventure into my trip but with a degree of comfort. This is when I came across a company called G-Adventures. They offer small group tours, led by trained locals and with an ethos of giving back to host communities. It sounded good. So, I signed up for an eight-night holiday incorporating Marrakech and trip to the desert. Our group met in a central hotel in Marrakesh outwith the walls of the old city. We immediately boarded a Mercedes minibus and made our way south. Our guide was Ridouane who is of Berber extraction. A couple of corrections are in order. G-Adventures do not have guides as such. Rather, they have Chief Experience Officers or CEOs. Secondly the term Berber is considered by many to be pejorative. It was bestowed upon a noble and diverse population of people who are indigenous to Northern Africa and who were considered by the Romans to be less than civilised because they could not communicate in Latin with their uninvited guests, either by speech or in writing. It might be more accurate to say that Ridouane is an Amazigh. Fluent in his own language, as well as Arabic and English, he also has a good grasp of French, Russian and German. I had a particular interest in observing the modus operandi of our CEO. Having quit treading the boards a long ago and found that the world of legacy media has retracted somewhat brutally, I retrained as a tourist guide a few years ago. One of the things I learned is that guiding is a third each of entertainment, engagement, and education. From the outset Ridouane proved to be as professional and knowledgeable as he is kind and patient. Nothing was too much trouble and he never showed so much as a flicker of irritation even when we asked questions on topics he had already covered. All this was achieved during Ramadan when Muslims like him fast from sundown to sun-up. He maintained a light touch whereby the educational part of his delivery was made digestible seasoned as it with anecdotes, stories, and humour. The first stop on our way to camp in the desert was the city of Ouarzazate. This translates as ‘the quiet place.’ We stayed overnight in a pleasant hotel where we all had dinner together. The next morning, we made our way to the locally situated Atlas Studios. Here in the Atlas Mountains, there are over 300 days of sunshine a year. This along with local technical ability, acting talent and an uncanny knack of fashioning almost anything out of Styrofoam has made it the go-to- destination for such epics as The Last Emperor and The Mummy. Our small group of 12 had great fun making a Cleopatra video starring Finnish-born New Yorker, Anya who was one of our number. Later that afternoon we found ourselves walking across the desert, surrounded by undulating sand dunes edged with vegetation such as chamomile. It was hot but it only took two hours to reach our camp where we were served a sumptuous dinner and entertained by drummers who kept time around a flickering campfire. The highlight of the following day was a camel ride. Rather than eat the animal my job this time was to get on board and stay put. These creatures are extraordinarily well adapted to desert conditions. Two rows of eyelashes protect their eyes from the sand, their wide flat feet make short work of traversing uneven terrain, and they have three stomachs, the third of which is for water. The hump is for storing fat. This is how they earned their rightful reputation for being able to go for long periods of time without eating or drinking. These animals walk in a strange way with the two legs on either side making progress at any one time. In this landscape animals are held in high regard. There is a saying which loosely translates as; - ‘you need a mule to get over the mountains, a camel to cross the desert and wife with whom to navigate life.’ There were many truly special moments on this trip. The camaraderie amongst the group was notable and by the time some of us had experienced a group hammam or sauna, scrub, and massage back in Marrakesh we felt like we had little to hide. A food tour gave us insight into how the locals eat and we shopped for a fun and informative cooking class where we learned how to make tanjia. Basically, it is a casserole of beef on the bone, which is cooked in saffron, preserved lemons and spices and placed in a conical pot which is then buried in the ashes of a community oven overnight. As we walked through medieval alleyways clutching our creations, small children lit up in recognition that a truly special feast was in their midst, even if it was not to be theirs. My daughter Natasha turned out well. Degree educated she is now happily married with two children of her own. And I returned from my latest trip with a montage of memories. Thoughts of fresh food, colourfully presented, subtly spiced, and bursting with flavour, pique my appetite and inspire my cooking. The sight of wild, Barbary macaques close to the cascading waters of Ouzoud Falls was special too. Finally, though, it is encounters with warm-hearted Moroccans, like Ridouane, who make leaving home worthwhile. They are the ultimate ambassadors of their country. Much of the world beckons, waiting to be explored. But a fourth visit to Morocco is a distinct possibility. Eight days on the G Adventures Morocco: Marrakech & The Sahara trip starting and ending in Marrakech is priced from £769 per person excluding international flights.