Having recently returned from Morocco we are posting this review to warn everyone about the scam that is also known as “Origins” supposedly an environmentally sustainable, community supporting company that provide accommodation in some of the more inaccessible parts of Africa and other parts of the world. Our experience relates to Dar Itrane in the High Atlas mountains, an “eco-lodge” with solar panels, local culture library, set in a beautiful valley … sounds good? We thought so too. A lot of money clearly went into selling this place and the website reflects this. Quick to take your money in advance and slow to provide any follow up customer service. Our first bit of “useful” advice was that the mountains would be very cold and we should pack accordingly. So with a bag full of thermal clothes we spent 7 hours in 35*C heat travelling to Dar Itrane, it soon became apparent that the email warning of these conditions was sent from France and that the Origins staff had no idea of what it was like on the ground. A recurring theme it has transpired.

We arrived, dusty and tired, looking forward to a nice relaxing time and integrating with the local culture only to find that the place was derelict and filthy dirty. After half an hour or so of wandering around someone from the village asked what we were doing. We explained that we had intended to stay at the lodge and he helpfully broke into the office, found a key, tried every room and managed to get one open for us. We were then told that there was no one around and that there was no food available. By this time we started to worry about what we were going to do over the next four days and it was becoming clear that the promises made by Origins were totally empty. We called the in-country contact who dismissed us in a rude manner and told us that there would be no one there as we were not supposed to be there either. After several rather heated conversations the contact acknowledged her mistake as we had been confused with some other, perhaps wiser, travellers who had cancelled their booking earlier that week.

With no alternative we left the next day much to our disappointment, the hotel is in a beautiful location but in terms of community interaction there may as well be a barbed wire fence around the outside. The library which was advertised as “being central to the lodge and giving guests a wide range of information on the Berber culture”– it consisted of a basket with two books, one of which was the Origins brochure – there wasn’t a solar panel in sight and the place had clearly been neglected. We were trying to do something positive on holiday, and were encouraged by the claims on the Origins website of minimal impact on the local community and environment, this couldn’t have been further from the truth, the ‘ecolodge’ aspect is a farce. Despite the assurances of, by now, the very apologetic in-country contact we have not been refunded for our troubles and we wasted two days of our holiday. Origins have not responded to a series of emails in which we raised points of concern to us, such as the above and other queries re the ‘eco-ness’ of the lodge. We received one curt email that asked us to stop emailing them.

www.daritrane.com

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