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This week I’ve stepped out of the studio and sat oceanside with Shiraz Ksaiba, a London girl and creative I met while working together on the launch of her yoga retreat centre Tamazirt by Amayour near Taghazout in Morocco. Shiraz and I share a similar journey in how we ended up in Morocco. We both came out on solo holidays before eventually returning and setting up our own businesses.

As a former photographer and director of photographer in London, Shiraz has a real knack for designing beautiful spaces and attracting a cool clientele. Her first project, Amayour Surf is a top hostel in Taghazout and she’s known for the octopus tajine she serves guests on their picture-perfect rooftop terrace. Then last year she created one of my absolute favourite spaces in Morocco – Tamazirt by Amayour, a dedicated yoga retreat centre in the rolling Anti-Atlas Mountains with views of the Atlantic Ocean. I attended in as many yoga retreats my schedule would allow for and loved wandering through the argan forest that surround the house and meeting other creatives in between yoga classes in the rooftop shala.

Listen in as Shiraz talks about leaving her London life behind to live her dream in Taghazout, near Agadir.

Find out more about Tamazirt by Amayour yoga retreat centre and Amayour Surf hostel.

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair

My other projects include:

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

This week I’m joined by Abderrazak Houdzi, owner of Ateliers D’Ailleurs, a company that encourages its clientele to roll up their sleeves and learn a Moroccan craft or trade in Marrakech. Through the workshops Ateliers D’Ailleurs organizes, I’ve had the chance to make a pair of traditional Moroccan slippers, piece together a mosaic tile and hammer a copper bowl during the three-hour sessions that take place in artists’ studios throughout the medina. But it’s about more than just the craft. It’s the opportunity to meet the maker and hear his or her story. To chat about his trade and understand how he became master. It’s the chance to meet the person responsible for the goods you might find for sale in the souks. It’s the opportunity to laugh and share a couple cups of tea in between producing something to take home. In fact, I always leave feeling so grateful for the opportunity to gain some insight in to local artisan life.

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair

My other projects include:

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

This week I’m joined by Aida Alami, a journalist and contributor to the book Our Women on the Ground, Arab Women Reporting from the Arab World. Aida returned home to Morocco after completing her journalism studies in the United States and contributes to The New York Times, Middle East Eye and Al Jazeera. While she also works abroad, here in Morocco she reports on issues that give a voice to those who may not otherwise be heard, namely women’s rights and migrants.

I received a copy of Our Women on the Ground, edited by Zahra Hankir, just days after returning from Israel and Palestine and spent the next few days reading the captivating tales the women contributors told about their experiences reporting from their home countries. Reading the essays by the 19 female journalists, I realized how different the experience would be for women reporting in this part of the world versus in Canada where I’m from and have worked in public relations newsrooms. The essays are gripping and transport readers to the heart of the lands some of us only hear or read about in the news.

Buy a copy of Our Women on the Ground: Arab Women Reporting from the Arab World online or at your favourite bookstore.

Read more of Aida’s published worked on: http://www.aidaalami.com/.

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair

My other projects include:

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

I’m back after a summer podcasting break and reached Richard Hamilton, author of Tangier: From the Romans to the Rolling Stones, by telephone to chat about his latest book. Richard worked as a North African correspondent for the BBC World Service and lived in Morocco for a year while covering the region. He had the opportunity to travel to Tangier for work and later returned to research the famous, and some forgotten, folks who’ve passed through this mythical town that would eventually make up his latest work. The book left me inspired to return to Tangier. But Richard and I agree in the podcast that you cannot do the city justice during a one-day visit, particularly given the storied past and innovation that came out of the city during its heyday around the time of Tangier as an international zone which Richard reveals in Tangier: From the Romans to the Rolling Stones.

Buy a copy of Richard Hamilton’s Tangier: From the Romans to the Rolling Stones online or at your favourite bookstore.

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair

My other projects include:

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

On this week’s episode of Why Morocco, Rose Button, the first female, non-Muslim guesthouse owner in the holy town of Moulay Idriss near Fez, Morocco, sat down with me during her Ramadan stay to chat about visiting this often over-looked hillside village. We also talked about her guest house Dar Zerhoune, her initiative to help the donkeys, and slow travel in Moulay Idriss, a place where non-Muslims were unable to stay the night until the rules changed in 2005.

For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair

My other projects include:

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

Cris Martinus from boutique travel agency Sun Trails Morocco is back to chat planning a summer vacation in Morocco. Many travellers think it’s too hot to travel to Morocco in the summer, but Cris provides endless ideas that provide travellers with the opportunity to comfortably enjoy the best of Morocco, while experiencing the local culture as well. Think secret beaches where the sand dunes meet the ocean, festivals of all kinds – music, moussems, fantasias, coastal towns that are alive as locals escape the summer heat, and mountain villages for trekking. And an overall special festive ambiance takes over as life seems to slow down a bit.

To start planning your last-minute summer vacation, or family holiday anytime of the year, email Cris directly. Please let him know you heard him on Why Morocco.

But for now, let’s listen in as Cris chats about what he’s planning for the summer month in Morocco.

For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair

My other projects include:

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

Alice Morrison describes herself as an adventurer and she has just completed an 81-day trek along the Draa River in Morocco’s south. Palm groves, adobe houses, and kasbahs that dot the landscape, and of course the flowing Draa River make this region one of my favourite region of Morocco. Accompanied by a team of local guides, Alice witnessed the effects of climate change and learned about nomadic life and how to spot a well in the middle of the Sahara Desert. But what really fascinated me about her adventure was her discovery of a former village while sat atop a sand dune one evening.

Listen in to hear about Alice’s adventures in Morocco’s south.

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair

My other projects include:

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

As we’re gearing up for Ramadan, I sat down with Assim, one of my valued Tasting Marrakech guides, to chat about travelling to Morocco during Ramadan. Many people tell me that they put off their trip if it coincides with the holy month, or that they cancelled it because they heard it wasn’t a good time to visit. But in fact, in my opinion, there simply is not a more special time to visit the kingdom than during the month of Ramadan. Sure one’s schedule may be interrupted slightly in certain areas, but in a city like Marrakech it’s the perfect opportunity to gain a unique insight in to an already welcoming and hospitable culture.

Two years ago I started fasting. I also switched up our evening Tasting Marrakech tours to provide guests with an opportunity to break fast in the square and enjoy the special Ramadan nights’ ambiance. We shared ftour together, while answering questions about the religion and culture in general. You see, I think through experiential travel we have an opportunity to break down cultural barriers.

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair

My other projects include:

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

On this week’s episode of Why Morocco, my friend and fellow art-deco architecture lover David Packer stopped by in between the opening of his show at Anima Gardens and sending his book off to print. David is a trained ceramicist who came to Morocco in 2011 on a Fulbright Scholarship to study the regional ceramics. He has since documented his findings in a 10-chapter booked called the Earth Has Three Colours A celebration of Moroccan Ceramics and he’s planning to release the book this year.

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair

My other projects include:

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

On this week’s episode of Why Morocco, I had an opportunity to interview artist Christo during the opening of his exhibition Femmes at the Yves Saint Laurent museum in Marrakech. During the press preview I was able to visit the exhibition and admire the Wedding Dress sculpture which, given the exhibition space, was a very fitting choice given its reference to both fashion and women.

I then had about 10 minutes to chat with Christo about his artworks and ideas, his first show in Morocco and in a fashion museum, and whether or not we may see one of his larger installations making an appearance here.

To support Why Morocco, please consider buying me a coffee nouss nouss.

For more Morocco ideas and advise, follow me on Instagram at @ms.mandy.sinclair

My other projects include: