The Drâa valley is not only a 100 kilometres stunning long stretch of date palms between Ouarzazate and Zagora, in Southern Morocco. It is also a region offering fantastic opportunities of exploring Marrakech and impressive views of the mauve Atlas Mountains, with the Oued Drâa River -the longest in Morocco- disappearing gradually while you move downstream from the Atlas Mountains, and where dozens of Kasbahs can be spotted along the river.
On top of this, in the incredible Drâa Valley region you can even discover some cave paintings and rock engravings or can venture on a Marrakesh desert trip.
The Drâa Valley is a fascinating valley offering an impressive variety of irresistible attractions. The natural beauty of the valley is stunning and certainly deserves a visit. If you follow the river down from the High Atlas Mountains, you will enjoy the sight of an endless plantation, mostly of palm trees, on each river bank. The plantation goes on for several kilometres until the desert appears and takes over the landscape.
But it is not until you reach Zagora that true desert gradually starts, initially with just a stone desert displaying some lonely sand dune here and there. But once you pass M’Hamid, the real endless sand sea covers the entire horizons and the real dunes dominate the scenery. Here, you can enjoy some true desert camel trekking, caravan-style…
Besides the plantations -which include cereals, vegetables, henna and other crops- and the desert, there are several (six in total) oases consisting of palm groves a with an average width of 3 kilometres, but reaching up to 100 kilometres in some places. The beauty of these oases -called Mezguita, Tinzouline Ternata Fezouata Ktaoua, and Mhamid el Ghuzlan- is truly impressive and the contrast with the aridity and the dryness of their surrounding is quite startling.
Other sites that are worth a visit along the Drâa Valley are the many rock art engravings or petroglyphs that can be found in the area. There are several sites where rock art can be admired, although the best known are Foum Chenna (Tinzouline), Aït Ouaazik (Asguine Tarna, Tazzarine) Tiouririne and Tisguinine (Zagora).
Besides this rock paintings and engravings, there is a necropolis, also dating from prehistoric times, in Foum Larjam -meaning “Mouth” or “Passage of the Tombs”- on the Djebel Beni-Selmane, to the south of Tizi Beni- Selmane.
Since the history of the Drâa Valley consists mostly of periods of warfare between the different nomadic tribes, there is no wonder that the Drâa is particularly famous for its Kasbahs or Islamic fortresses. There are dozens of Kasbahs along the Drâa Valley, but the most famous ones are, North to South, the Kasbahs of Tamnougalt and of Aït Hammou Ousaid near Agdz, the Kasbahs of El Caïd Ouslim and Oulad Outhmane in Tamezmout, the Kasbahs of Foum and Achnna N’Kob in Tinzouline, the Kasbah of Tat Ifli in Beni Zouli, the Kasbahs of Amezrou, Aït Ali Tighramt Ouziguen, and of Laglaoui in Zagora, the Kasbahs of Agouim Nouaadjou and Tagounite in Tagounite, and the Kasbahs of Aït Bounou, LaAllouj, Oulad Driss, and Rgabi in M’hamid El Ghuzlane.
Besides the natural, the historical and the architectural wonders that the Drâa Valley offers, there are also small villages along the valley where time seems to have stopped, so little is the impact of modernity on them. In these villages that spot the landscape here and there, women are fully and always veiled while they wash their clothes on the riverbanks and men are somehow watchful and distant, perhaps unaccustomed to foreign visitors. These people, besides Arabic, speak their own dialect of the Berber vernacular, called Tashelhiyt.
The contrast of magnificent architecture and unforgettable history makes Casablanca a fascinating place to visit. It is the amazing city that is gaining in popularity every year as it becomes cheaper to fly to Morocco.
Morocco had always been a country I was curious about. It’s blend of North African and Arabic influences gave it this air of mystique that drew me in. Plus, you know, I like couscous. So I had high expectations when I decided to pop over from Spain and explore the country for three weeks.
