Our road trip started in Marrakech and continued to Ouzoud Waterfalls – Imilchin - Dades Valley - Boumaline du Dades - Tinerhir – Todra Gorge – Alnif – Erfoud – Merzouga - Erg Chebbi - Sidi Ali - Zagora – Dra’a Velley - Ouarzazate – Marrakech.
We drove 1471 km, mostly off-road through the High Atlas Mountains and the Sahara Desert, a rural area of spread-out villages with a population of mostly Berbers according to the tour book on Morocco. I have already posted the faces of people here.
We drove mostly off-road n 4X4 on roads that were not too difficult to manage. Driving by through the window of our car I have tried to catch the varied landscapes of Morocco. Traveling in a group it is not possible to stop and photograph whenever I want to. Perhaps that was a good thing because I saw so much, I wanted to photograph. We would never have arrived.
We started by driving towards the High Atlas Mountains with snow in the background, enjoying a landscape unknown to us.
Cascade d’Ouzoud in the wadi el-Abid:
The largest waterfall in Morocco, 110 meters. The Berber name is ‘Waterfall of the Mill’ because according to one explanation the water in the air is like a mist similar to fine flour (that is true); another explanation is that there are many mills in the area.
Bin el-Ouidane Dam and Lake:
An artificial Lake in the wadi el-Abid, it looks like Lake Mead, USA, a lake without vegetation on the shores. It provides 25% of Morocco’s electrical needs, hydro-electricity.
The lakes of Tears, here Lake Tilsit:
Outside Imilchin two lakes, Tilsit (Lake of the Bride) and Isli (lake of the Groom). According to legend two young people fell in love, but because they were from different tribes at war, they could not be together; so, they eloped to here where they sat down to cry because they had been forced to leave their families and friends behind and their tears created the lakes. Imilchin has become a town with a festival in September where people get engaged or get married. It is high in the mountains and it was very cold the night we slept there.
Geomorphologically, the lakes were created by tectonic movements and the water is from ice and snow melting in the mountains, scientific facts, a lot less colorful than the legend!
The High Atlas Mountains:
The High Atlas Mountains were created about 66-100 million years ago as a result of movements of the tectonic plates, meaning the Africa Plate crashing into the Euro-Asian Plate, building mountains and causing geological twisting and turning of the earth. Just image the noise and the forces needed to cause these formations!
Then weathering from rain, winds and a lot of time, has caused break down.
The height of the Atlas Mountains where we crossed was 2900 meter above sea level (Tizi-n-Ouano) but the highest peak is Toubkal 4167 meter.
We were there in the last week of March, so there was still snow on the peaks and water in the wadies.
Do you see the irrigation?
The Dades Gorge and Valley:
The Dades Valley and Gorge with the serpentine road which we of course drove down. It is also called the rose valley, but it was too early in the year we did not see roses.
The Monkey Fingers, another geological phenomenon at Tamlalt Cliff.
Todra Canyon:
Todra Village
Todra Canyon
Todra Canyon is popular with rock climbers.
A well, not so different from those in the Negev
A lot of sand, we are getting closer to the Sahara.
Crossing further south closer to the Sahara Desert, we got a lot of sand and Acacia trees appeared like we have in the Negev.
In the afternoon around 3:30-4 o’clock sand began to fill the air with winds.
Driving north away from the dunes of Sahara towards Marrakech we drove along the Dra’a Valley with more than two million palm trees and “a thousand Kasbah’s”.
The Dra'a Valley with water in the river.
Under the mountains far you see the tower of the Noor Power Plant with the light from the mirrors.
In Morocco outside Ouarzazate like here in the Negev, they suffer from a monster of photo-voltaic light house 250 meters high (the Noor Power Plant) and can be seen from far away. Worth noting is the fact that a lot of water is needed to clean the half a million mirrors (4.6 liters water per kWh electricity produced). It will provide electricity for 1 million people.
Ait Bin Haddou:
Ait Bin Haddou Is a UNESCO heritage site of a Kasbah which is earthen buildings surrounded by high walls, to leave a central space that is surprisingly free of sand in the early evenings. It also keeps heat out in the day and isolates against the cold of the night.
This was an important station in the camel caravans crossing the Sahara Desert. I regret we did not go in to see it and only drove by.
Morocco has beautiful and varied landscapes, it was tour well worth our while. Highly recommended.
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