Rockin’ The Casbah With Richard Bangs

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“In desert we have time but no view. In America you have watch but no time.” The enlightened phrases of my Berber manual reverberated in the silence of the Sahara. Just a speck on one of the quite a few majestic dunes, I sat there — cellphone in one particular pocket, iPod in the other — gazing up at the star-studded sky, contrasting my own quickly-paced, self-isolating culture with that of his people’s one strongly tied to tradition, local community and an appreciation for the existing minute in time.

The Berber’s phrases came back to me as I listened to Richard Bangs explain his own exploration of those incredibly similar differences when traveling throughout Morocco. Speaking from The Explorer’s Club in New York, Bangs was in town selling his approaching PBS documentary, “Morocco: Quest for the Kasbah,” his fourth in a series of eco-friendly jaunts all-around the planet.

Instead of the desert, Bangs’ target is on the Kasbah — a fortressed neighborhood that has remained the epicenter of Moroccan daily life and culture because in advance of Islam violently swept across Africa. As a risk-free haven, it has been a place for individuals to exchange items as nicely as concepts, providing the breeding grounds for multiculturalism and tolerance.

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Like my personal unforgettable excursion in Morocco, the first half of Bangs’ quest commences in Marrakech wherever he explores the substantial square, Djemaa el Fna, and the city’s eclectic souks. From right here he moves west to the coastal city of Essaouira, then crosses the snow-capped Substantial Atlas (or Grand Atlas) mountains to the Sahara exactly where he spends a evening beneath the stars in a nomad tent. The second half of his exploration takes him north to the cities of Fès, Tangier, Rabat, and finally to infamous Casablanca where his epic journey comes to an end.

“Morocco has a world view produced by means of centuries of nomadic motion,” Bangs says wistfully. “It is a berth for people of all backgrounds and faiths to gather and share, a nation that celebrates and respects the interconnectedness of the loved ones man. Morocco currently, and often, is a Kasbah with an open door.”

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