When you are writing, and you are really in the zone it feels a bit like being on a treasure hunt.
Following clues up one track, it’s easy to feel disheartened when you come to a dead end. But if you circle back a slightly different way and luck is with you, by accident you could find yourself down a laneway that opens into a fabulous cave of ideas and imagery where absolutely anything is possible. The only rule is, you have to have your wits about you and more than anything, you need to trust your intuition. If you let the rational mind dominate, the cave will vanish in front of your eyes leaving you stuck and stagnant in bland backstreets that all start to look the same.
It’s one of the reasons I love taking groups travelling and writing. We set out with a map, a plan, an itinerary and yet we really have no idea what we we will find. This analogy is especially pertinent to our Story Quest creative adventure in Morocco later this year. Following the ancient jewellery and trading trails of the south east regions we will be on an actual treasure hunt, seeking out amber and silver, ambergris and coral, meeting the makers, the traders, the wearers and hearing their stories. Surrendering to the journey with all the senses open we gather the clues and stimuli that will lead us to our own creative explorations.
‘In Morocco’s southeast, jewelry is more than adornment—it is a language of heritage, a living archive of migration, trade, and belief. Women, especially in rural communities are its curators, its guardians. They carry the weight of history on their bodies, transmitting stories and values through ritual, inheritance, and everyday wear.
Take a tazarzit, the striking fibula worn by mostly Amazigh women, fastening cloaks while signaling identity, status, and protection. Each region has its own designs, revealing the subtle shifts of influence—community customs, Jewish silversmithing, Sub-Saharan trade. Some may even reflect the landscape, and if you explore well enough will tell you of mining and politics.
It’s the sacred women’s realm where these pieces are woven into rituals, blessings, and life’s transitions, passed down as family heirlooms, gifted as tokens of love and protection, worn as talismans against the unseen, and, at times, held as a financial safeguard, ready to be exchanged in moments of need.’
On Story Quest, our 15-day exploration through the south and southeast of Morocco, we trace these histories firsthand, meeting the merchants, makers, and wearers who continue to hold these traditions.
What a great privilege it will be to invited into their stories.
Find out more here.
Story Quest, Morocco — 15 days 14 nights, Oct 14 – 28, 2025.
In partnership with Culture Vultures, Sefrou.
Other journeys heading out in 2025
A writer’s retreat in Ischia in May 3-10
Haiku Walking in Japan Nov 24-28
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