Maurice, the founder of CIEL D’AFRIQUE is a Frenchman from Lyons who is crazy about flying and travel. His love of flying began when he was very young. He started collecting photos of planes and other flying machines and now has a collection of over 15,000 pictures.
At the age of 16, he took a French examination, the B.E.S.A. (Brevet élémentaire des Sports Aériens), and then the following year he passed vocational qualifications in aviation mechanics and airplane engine mechanics one year later.
That same year, he began his studies in aeronautical engineering and obtained his private pilot’s licence.
His aeronautical knowledge was acknowledged by the air force, in which he served as head of coordination of ground services for aerial navigation, at B.A. 115. This position allowed Maurice to fly planes including the Max Holste BROUSSARD, the Bimoteur Dassault MD 312 and the FOUGA MAGISTER jet.Life’s many vicissitudes took Maurice away from things aerial for a time, until one day in 1980 he discovered hot-air ballooning.

Together with a partner, he founded the first company to sell advertising space on hot-air balloons.He discovered the desert in 1982 when he joined DANY CLEYET MAREL’s expedition across the Sahara in a hot air balloon. The desert was a veritable revelation, and images of desert remained engraved on his imagination. After separating from his partner, Maurice set up his own company which involved five years piloting hot-air balloons for the Civil Protection Service (in the forest fire prevention department).
Then he took the plunge … and came to live in MARRAKESH with the aim of letting tourists discover the splendours of the Moroccan landscape from the basket of a hot-air balloon.
MARRAKESH also became a base for voyages of discovery across the continent of Africa.
His field of action also broadened considerably as he is now a flying instructor for paramotors, trikes microlight, and three-axes microlights.
He also he has a paraplane, a kind of large, bi-plane paramotor which is very useful when it comes to accompanying expeditions and other adventures.
Finally, in 2001, he qualified as an ultra-light pilot.