Casablanca Warnings Or Dangers Tips by Doctor38 Top 5 Page for this destination

MONEY. Dirhams and Rils

Money can be very confusing in Morocco. This confusion can be a source of rip offs and lead to gross overpayment so be aware.

Dirham is divided in to 100 centeem. Some times moroccan will qoute you the price in Centeems. to add more confusion they might give you the price in Rials. Rials are not offical and each Dirham is equal to 20 Rials.

So when you are given a price ask if this is in Rials or Dirhams to make sure that you are not over paying. To add even more consusion you have to know that in the north (Larraish, Tangier, Asila, Tetouan and ChefChaouen) the dirham is worth 2 rials (Not 20 like Casa or Fes)

Always ask about the price in Dirhams

Driving in Casablanca, things to watch out for

Driving in Casablanca is straight forward ordeal once you get used to it. There are few things you got to watch out for esp. motor bikes. Most people operating motor bike don’t observe any kind of traffic laws and they don’t seem to be concerned with their safety. They won’t even stop for red traffic light.

The police is every where which is usually a good thing but you can be assured that you’ll be stopped and fined if you commit the smallest of traffic violation. Police are very good at hiding so there will be one standing some where waiting for you to make a mistake. an average police fine is 400 DH

Take stop sign very seriously. It is among the policemen favorite traps. Come to a complete stop when you see a stop sign look right look left and then proceed ahead. Do this every time you see a stop sign even if you are 100 percent sure that there is no traffic coming.

Radars are plentiful and well hidden. They are available on all major highways and inside large cities. Take the speed limits very literally. If the speed limit is 60 km/hr than the radar will catch you at 61 km/hr

Seat built is mandatory and you’ll be fined if you use your cell phone during driving.

Stealing your Cell phone

I don’t how common this is but I know it has happened for 3 of my friends in Al Maareef area of Casablanca over one year period so it is not uncommon. The story was very typical and almost identical. All 3 were using their cell phones in broad day little around 3 p.m. afternoon when a very well built muscular man come and suddenly twists my friends hand who naturally drops the phone, the attackers throw his victim to the ground and runs away with phone and jumps on an approaching motor bike, and before any body can do any thing the attacker disappeared.

All 3 men where more than 55 years old. One of them was a tourist, one was an Expat working in Casablanca and one was a Moroccan. The first 2 filed a police report and followed by a theft claim to the insurance company and were able to get a reimbursement. One of my friend injured his fingers but the other 2 suffered no injuries.

Honestly I started avoiding using my cell phone on the street. It is wise to get a travel insurance which I never have

Petit Taxi Rip offs

The little red taxi is very convenient and cheap way to travel around town. Most of the taxi drivers are honest but there always will be few who will try and scam you using the meter. The meter has 2 different fares, day far or a night fare. The night fare is 150 % of they day fare and there are 2 ways to calculate it. The taxi driver can simply switch on the night fare button but apparently this option is not present in all meters so in the older meters you simply add 50% to the day fare if you are traveling at night.

It does sound little bit complicated but taxi drivers can scam you buy pushing the night fare during the day or the can push the night fare during the night and tag to it 50% so how do you now what button he pushed. It is simple, when you get into the cap watch what is the starting fare is; if it is 1.70 it is a day fare and if it is 2.70 it is a night fare. Be carful I know of Expats living in Casablanca and fall victims to this.

So when does the night start? I don’t remember because it is different from winter to summer but there is a peace of papper on front seat next to the driver and it states that clearly.

By the way the minimum you’ll pay for a petit taxi ride is 7 dh. Beware these price can change due to rise in oil prices. I’ll try an update this tip every time I have a chance. This tip was based on my trip in October 2007