A trip to Paradise Valley

Posted On: Apr 12th, 2018 at 22:57

Morocco
I may have to keep a low profile for a while because today I swapped archaeology for palaeontology.
I know, I know, sorry 
Today was a neck, ear and arm-burning trip to Paradise Valley, close to the city of Agadir.
While everyone was diving into the water and messing around in the waterfalls, I was wandering around looking at rocks.
Paradise Valley is an incredibly vibrant location when it comes to geology and ancient fossils.
A shop on the way out of the valley has thousands of trilobites and other giant shells, some of them nearly three feet wide. The area was clearly abundant with life long before the dinosaurs were roaming the earth – these things were swimming around 500 to 300 million years ago.
Note that I called the trilobite a trilobite and the giant shells a shell! I knew they are a kind of squid-like creature but I had no idea what they are called. (I have since looked it up online and they are called ammonoidea).
So it was quite ironic that while we were in the shop the owner asked me what “this” fossil was – “Trilobite” I said, feeling intellectual. “How old?” He asked. “Old,” I said, “Three hundred million years,” I guessed.
“Four hundred and sixty million” He replied.
Well, I wasn’t that far out!
Ironically the trilobite is the only “dinosaur” I know other than the classic dinosaurs! Lucky for me that’s the one he asked me to name!
Unfortunately my camera card adapter has stopped working and thus I cannot upload any photos of the masses of fossils he was selling, but I can upload a few pics from my phone of Paradise Valley itself.
It’s worth checking online for more info, it’s an incredible place and a must-visit location if you ever travel to Agadir. It genuinely does feel as if you’ve stepped away from modern life and walked back into the dinosaur world.