We were picked up as arranged outside the marina at 0900 hrs Sunday13 November by Hyatt Travel guide Salim and driver Mohamed in a 4x4 vehicle. We were fortunate that we were the only people on the tour. We headed south out of Agadir direction Tiznit, some 95 kms away.
After an hour or so turned off the main road onto a rough track towards the Anti Atlas mountains in the Sousa Masssa region.
The track took us past this tourist hotel compound built in the style of an old Kasbah
The impressive entrance to the compound
Shortly afterwards the track lead us into the flood plain of the river Massa where the desert-like schrub changed to a fertile strip of land with a banana plantion
Fording the river Massa
The track eventually arrived at a small area of sand dunes where we parked under a large Argan Spinoza tree - a tree which is endemic in Morocco and survives in semi desert conditions
The fruit of the Argan tree is similar in size and shape to the Olive
Argan fruits
There just "happened" to be camels under the tree
and somebody who for 50 Dhrim would allow one to have a ride
So Margreet & Jeannette had a go
Afterwards we went to a high point in the foothills of the Anti Atlas Mountains
from where we had a good view over the Youssef Ben Tachefine dam and reservoir
This reservoir is very important for the Souss Massa region as it provides irrigation for the area
Passed several small villages with there mud and straw covered stone walls
Eventually arriving at the walled town of Tiznit
The Camel Gate in the town wall
The main street of Tiznit
Tiznit is famous throughout Morocco for its Silver Jewelrey. Way back the Jewish community started the tradition, later taken over by the Berbers. We had a look around the Silver Cooperative shop
Jeannette tried on a silver filigree bracellet
Afterwards drove over rough tracks to this unlikely spot for lunch - right in the middle of nowhere
No signs on the entrance gate
Past the prickly pears to a hybiscus garden and through an archway
into a very colourful tent
a delightful surprise
Lunch was salade followed by Tagines, the traditional Moroccan dish served in an earthernware pot with a conical lid
the dish consisted of vegetables and chicken - very tasty
After lunch passed through a fertile irrigated area
which became more arid and sandy
evenyually arriving at a lookout point on the wild Atlantic coast where we watched the rollers rolling in
Regained the mainroad back to Agadir and stopped at a cooperative shop selling Argan products
A very enthousiastic lady explained the process of extracting the oil from the Argan fruits
which her 3 helpers demonstrated in the background. The Argan oil seems to have many valuable properties and is very expensive to buy - it is sometimes called Moroccan liquid gold
1 comment:
Hello, wij zijn weer thuis op Schokkerhaven en meteen druk druk druk maar hebben genoten van jullie geweldige avontuur en de mooie en interessante foto's.Gaan zo Gerrit bellen die gisteren naar het ziekenhuis is geweest (neuroloog).
Geniete maar van het zonnetje het is hier overdag in de zon 5 graden dus brrrrr.Groetjes LNG
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