Page 262 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Morocco

260  MOROC C O REGION B Y REGION

Exploring the Aït Bouguemez Valley

Clinging to the mountainside, the hamlets of the Aït
Bouguemez valley blend into their setting, being almost the
same colour as the landscape. The houses are stacked together
like building blocks, the flat roof of the house serving as a
terrace for the inhabitants of the house above. Looking down
onto the river and the village’s communal land, these cube-
like houses catch the warmth of the rising sun and are adapted
to the rigours of the climate. Houses in the valley bottom are
built of pisé, raw earth dug at the spot where the house is to
be built, mixed with water and sometimes straw. In villages
at altitudes above 2,200 m (7,220 ft), dry stone is used, since
pisé is unsuited to cold and wet conditions.
Detail of a painted ceiling, typical of the
houses of the Aït Bouguemez
the Berbers come on a pilgrimage
in years of drought. Abachkou,
an interesting, high-set village
at the far end of the valley, is
renowned for the beautiful
white capes produced by the
villagers and found nowhere
else in Morocco.
Sidi Moussa
East of Agouti.
Perched on the summit of a
pointed hill, in the centre of the
Aït Bouguemez valley, Sidi
Moussa granary has benefited
Setting off for the souk in a village below Jbel Ghat from a complete restoration and
is on UNESCO’s World Heritage
Agouti ceilings in the houses of list. It is reached by a steep
At the western extremity of the Aït wealthier families. The painted path from the village of Timit.
Bouguemez valley. decoration is exe cuted by This collective granary, one
The first of the villages that craftsmen of renown and of three in the region, is a
line the valley, Agouti is features an infinite variety sturdy circular building with
located at 1,800 m (5,908 ft). of geometric patterns. incorporated watch towers.
As an outpost of the Aït In the interior, which is lit by
Bouguemez tribe, it once Aït Bou Oulli Valley sparse loop-hole windows, a
defended access to the high West of Agouti. spiral staircase leads to the two
valley against rival tribes. From Agouti, a day trip can upper floors. In the half-light,
A ruined igherm (fortified be made to the Aït Bou Oulli compartments arranged along
communal granary), set on valley on mule-back or by four- the walls can be made out. This
a sheer rocky promontory, wheel-drive vehicle. A sheer- was where the inha bitants kept
towers above the village. sided track leads down into their possessions.
The villagers the valley, whose Sidi Moussa, the holy man
once kept their name means “the renowned for his good deeds
possessions and people who raise and his powers as a healer, is
their crops here. ewes”. The narrow buried here. Sterile women of
In the valley, many wooded valley, the Aït Bouguemez valley and
houses have thickly covered with from more distant valleys visit
electricity, as well walnut trees, winds the shrine, where they spend
as some form of the length of the the night and sacrifice a chicken
running water. wadi, which irrigates as an offering to him.
In Agouti, as in small fields. From the granary, it is possible
some of the other Jbel Ghat, rising to look over the rest of the
villages in the valley, above the valley, is a valley, with the outlines of
visitors can see some Mules in the Aït Bou peak with mythical nearby villages dotting the
beautiful wood Oulli valley associations to which surrounding hillsides.
For hotels and restaurants see p312 and pp328–9

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Eyewitness Travel LAYERS PRINTED:
Catalogue template “UK” LAYER
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Date 1st October 2013
Size 125mm x 217mm