Most vacationers to Morocco will solely go to the overcrowded and chaotic main vacationer hubs of Fes to Marrakech 3 days tour, Fez and Rabat and solely a small share of them enterprise past the Atlas Mountains to expertise rural areas. Touring south of the Atlas Mountains allows you to expertise the true, genuine Morocco the place life is slower, undisturbed, the air is clear and vibrant, and the mountain or desert sky is really unforgettable.
Should you journey from Marrakech towards Ouzarzate, Zagora and the sand dunes of Merzouga you may be pleasantly shocked. Crossing the Atlas Mountains from Marrakesh is an pleasant journey by means of red-colored rolling mountains wealthy in iron and dotted with small inexperienced bushes missed by majestic snow-capped peaks. There can be many lookout factors the place you’ll be able to cease for photos taking or searching for uncooked mountain crystals from native distributors ready for vacationers. You’ll drive by means of some Berber villages the place you’ll be able to cease for refreshments and go to an Argan oil cooperative the place you’ll get explanations and free demonstrations on how the well-known Moroccan anti-aging oil is produced from the kernels of the now endangered Argan tree. The uncommon oil is wealthy in vitamin E, phenols and unsaturated fatty acids and is used as a base for a lot of beauty merchandise together with lotions and lotions for psoriasis and eczema, in addition to for cooking. The merchandise are certainly very efficient however pricy since on the cooperative retailer the costs are fastened and because of the endangered standing of the tree, yearly manufacturing is restricted.
Crossing the passes you’ll attain Ourzazate, a significant hub and neat-looking city, generally known as the Hollywood of Morocco, because it has a number of movie studios the place many main movement photos have been filmed. Throughout each day guided excursions on the Atlas Studios (in French with some English clarification by the native information), you will note and discover the previous units of a number of the most well-known films ever filmed like Cleopatra, Alexander, Kingdom of Heaven and others, and can have the possibility to see the recreated metropolis of Jerusalem from a distance.
Probably the most enticing options of this a part of Morocco are the unique trying kasbahs – citadel dwellings – and ksours, that are fortified villages fabricated from reddish-brown dried mud and normally surrounded by lovely palm groves and oases. A few of these now crumbling buildings are in actual despair however as soon as they housed giant populus, as a lot as 100 households at any given time. A lot of them are getting empty these days since their former occupants are slowly shifting into extra fashionable dwellings in surrounding neighborhoods. It’s straightforward to stroll by means of the Ksar Tissargat proper on the primary street between Quarzazate and Zagora. A few of the fortress-like Kasbahs as soon as owned by highly effective native lords, have been transformed into visitor homes, eating places or shops. You possibly can go to them inside, normally there can be a contract information on the entrances providing clarification for a couple of euros, costs are at all times negotiable and you’ll pay the information after the tour based mostly in your satisfaction degree.
Between Ourzazate and Zagora there are a lot of of those villages and Kasbahs alongside the street. My advice is the neatly reconstructed Kasbah Oulad Othmane, the place the homeowners can be keen to point out you round for a small museum entrance price. This kasbah remains to be within the possession of the unique Othmane household that’s scuffling with the maintenance of their magical citadel for the reason that mud-brick partitions require common patch-up and virtually must be rebuilt in each 60 years. In fact, there is no such thing as a authorities funding to avoid wasting the nation’s architectural treasures, so the homeowners are compelled to show the properties into money-making machines simply to avoid wasting them from turning into ruins. You see neglect in every single place and though most of those kasbahs are lower than 150 years outdated, many have an vintage really feel to them because of their deteriorating state. There may be one exception, the kasbah and village of Ait Ben Haddu, situated north of Ourzazate, whose historical past may be traced again to Medieval occasions. It’s a designated World Heritage Website underneath the safety of UNESCO. The funds acquired from the world group nonetheless, not at all times find yourself in the fitting arms and sure components of this medieval surprise nonetheless has some crumbling and uncared for partitions. Regardless of its fame, the positioning surprisingly has little or no infrastructure and, to strategy the village perched on a hill you need to cross a bridgeless river by foot leaping from stone to stone or sand bag to sand bag.
East of Ourzazate observe the facet street of the 1000 Kasbahs towards scenic Dades and Toudra Gorges and the Tinghir palm tree valley missed by its personal ksour, one of the crucial lovely websites in Morocco.
The perfect time to go to these kasbahs and ksours is throughout late afternoon when setting solar rays flip the reddish partitions into many shades of pink, orange and ochre that glow underneath crispy blue skies.
In fact a go to to Morocco will not be full and not using a camel, somewhat dromedar (single-humped camel) journey. The perfect place is close to the village of Merzouga on the pre-Saharan sand dunes. Ridings are supplied both at sundown or dawn, my suggestion is sundown since daybreak temperature within the pre-Sahara area could be very chilly and windy, so except you go to throughout summer season months, you need to be sure to put on sufficient layers of protecting clothes.