Top wildlife destinations in North Africa
North Africa is an unexplored nature lover's heaven.
Country: Morocco
Moroccans protest: break free from fossil fuels and go solar!
Hundreds of people in Casablanca joined today Greenpeace sun-shaped human banner reading: “Break Free – Go Solar” with the landmark mosque Hassan II in the background in Casablanca-Morocco. Participants delivered a message in English, Arabic and Amazigh calling on world leaders notably from the Middle East and North Africa to accelerate the transition to renewable […]
Jameel Prize finalists coming to London in June
The Jameel Prize 5 will be on exhibit from 28 June through 25 November, 2018 at London’s Victoria and Albert Museum. It’s the international award for contemporary design inspired by Islamic tradition. As befits artworks that are out of this world, let’s quote American astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, who recently tweeted, “Bears repeating: Creativity that satisfies & […]
6 great reads for Arab American Heritage Month
April is Arab American Heritage Month, and here are six publications from a half dozen Arab American authors whose work is influencing the literary landscape of the USA, and beyond. I’ve chosen one for each of the six Muslim-majority nations whose citizens are currently banned from entering the America. Crack one open and learn some […]
Saudi prince’s 80 falcons take flight in a commercial airplane
Because of restrictions on the number of birds he could fly with, a Saudi prince boarded 80 of his own birds onto a commercial flight, each in its own seat. The few spaces not taken by a bird were occupied by humans, one of whom snapped the scene and posted it on social media. It’s not […]
World’s largest solar power plant goes live in Morocco
Morocco has activated the Noor I concentrated solar power (CSP) plant, the first part of a three-phase development in the Sahara Desert intended to supply more than a million homes with electricity by 2018. The 500,000 crescent-shaped solar mirrors of Noor I, which sits on thousands of acres of desert terrain near Ouarzazate, will generate up to 160 […]
Invest in ancient fig cultivars in Morocco, invest in the future
Moroccan fig trees are a part of Ahmed Hakam. Until he was nine years old, Ahmed never ventured outside of his birth village near the northern city of Ouezzane. He vividly remembers the local fig harvest, when, every year, he, his mother and scores of women and their children from nearby villages would gather to […]
Meet the High Atlas botanical superhero
Two cellphones. Three numbers. Thirty to forty phone calls a day. A road trip-based work life, which, for seven years, has been separated from luxuries like regular hours, weekends and sleep. Needless to say, Dr. Abderrahim Ouarghidi, 40, is a busy man. Officially the High Atlas Foundation’s director of programs in Marrakech, Ouarghidi, who focused […]
Morocco celebrates its certified nuts in 11th annual Asni Festival!
The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) joined in the only Moroccan festival solely dedicated to celebrating nuts, a three-day festival held last Friday in Asni, a small village at the foothills of the High Atlas Mountains, south of Marrakesh. The weekend of music and markets celebrates the Asni walnut processing plant, located nearby, where about 40 local women process […]
Solar Impulse 2 mission control center to launch Abu Dhabi flight in March
Mission Control for the Solar Impulse 2 is open for business, ready to guide the solar plane’s first flight around the world. Located in Monaco, the Mission Control Center (MCC) serves as project nerve-center, where a team of analysts and engineers will collect satellite-transmitted flight information to calculate and adjust the plane’s flight path. The plane will take off from […]
Moroccan marathon is world’s toughest footrace
The toughest foot race on Earth kicks off on April 6th. It’s a grueling multi-stage adventure through formidable landscape in one of the world’s most inhospitable climates – the Sahara desert in southern Morocco. The annual Marathon des Sables, better known as MdS, is now in its 30th consecutive year. Ready to lace up?
Solar Impulse 2 plane set to circle Earth on sun power
The experimental flying lab better known as Solar Impulse 2 was launched today in Abu Dhabi. The groundbreaking airplane will circumnavigate the world flying both day and night without using a single drop of fossil fuel. Said co-pilot Betrand Piccard, “You can achieve miracles with renewable energy and clean technologies.”
Jordan fourth most miserable nation in the Middle East
Open a newspaper in the Middle East and expect to be whacked with some bad news. Still, I wasn’t prepared to read that – according to the World Misery Index (the name was a tip-off to what was coming) – Jordan (where I live) is the fourth most miserable country in the Arab world. Regionally, only […]
Holoscenes incites flood of reaction to climate change
Holoscenes is a public art and performance installation that is a visual response to climate change. It’s centered around three people-sized aquariums that flood and drain and re-flood using powerful hydraulics that move 12 tons of water per minute.
An au natural topless tour trend the Middle East’s resisting
Planking’s passé, horsemaning is history, and while selfies are thriving in Tunisia, a new photo trend has emerged with the winning combination of mashing the beauty of nature and people. “The Topless Tour” invites people everywhere to shed their shirts to “feel the freedom and share their beauty with the world”.
Daring Moroccan university recycles urine as drinking water
You might not want to tell your Moroccan grandmother, but technology first developed by the European Space Agency (ESA) that recycles urine and waste water is being implemented to provide clean drinking water for 1,200 university students.
Moroccan desert spider flees predators in 6.6 ft back flips
Ever seen a spider do back flips? If you have arachnophobia, you might not want to, but for everyone else, the spinning Cebrennus rechenbergi desert spider in Morocco is quite a sight.
Dubai’s MENASOL conference unites solar energy in the Middle East
Over 400 senior executives will descend on Dubai this week to learn how best to develop and construct photovoltaic (PV) and concentrated solar thermal power (CSP) plants in the region’s top markets including Jordan, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, and Morocco.
Saharan refugees learn how to spin old plastic bottles into gold
London’s Victoria & Albert Museum just wrapped a stunning show of Arab-influenced artwork from ten contemporary artists selected as finalists for year’s Jameel Prize – 3. The work of French designer Florie Salnot is a standout as it quite literally creates something spectacular from near nothing.
This “Green Machine” mobile city fertilizes the Sahara Desert as it moves
Posterity may end up migrating from place to place to find food like our nomadic ancestors did if we don’t get a hold of desertification and climate change. To make that easier for desert dwellers, Stephane Malka and Yachar Bouhaya propose the Green Machine – a massive city on tank treads that fertilizes the Sahara […]
Learn from Morocco at sunny solar MENASOL conference in Dubai
The companies Acciona and TSK will be meeting in Dubai to discuss the challenges and opportunities of constructing the Noor I CSP plant in Morocco. Meet the Acciona and TSK delegation as they attend the May 6 to 7 solar Menasol event in Dubai.
Amtrak is a dinosaur next to Kénitra’s high speed railway station in Morocco
The train system runs like clockwork in Morocco. It’s fast, easy and safe. So we’re excited to see a new project that makes them sped up to the 21st century in design: Silvio d’Ascia Architecture teamed up with Omar Kobité Architecture & Eric Giudice Architects to design a modern high speed railway station for Kénitra.
Cuteness is a curse for the adorable Fennec Fox
With its oversized ears and soft brown eyes, the world’s smallest canid is also probably the cutest. But being adorable has turned out to be lethal for the Fennec Fox in Tunisia, where both locals and tourists are loving the species to death.
Casablanca’s ‘Gardens of Anfa’ are wrapped in bougainvilleas and jasmine
Maison Edouard François designed a colorful new mixed-used residential master plan for Casablanca, a cosmopolitan Moroccan city made famous by a movie with the same name.
Marrakech biker chicks wear bootleg Chanel and Louis Vuitton Abayas
If you thought that women from the Middle East and North Africa all wear drab black blankets over the head and stay home to cook dinner, these colorful photos by Moroccan-born artist Hassan Hajjaj might challenge that notion. Based in London but heavily influenced by his roots and the reggae scene in his adopted country, […]