Page 278 - (DK Eyewitness) Travel Guide - Morocco

276  MOROC C O REGION B Y REGION

(underground channels)
and wells dug at
regular intervals. Ruined
kasbahs stand among
palm trees, fig trees,
birch and tamarisk –
whose tannin-rich
flowers are used in
the processing of skins.
The most imposing is
Amerhidil Kasbah,
which was once owned Spectacular landscape at the approach to
by the Glaoui family the M’Goun valley
and which dominates
The palm grove at Skoura the wadi. The restored 0 El-Kelaa M’Gouna
interior is now open
9 Skoura to visitors. The kasbahs of Road Map D4. n guides office;
(0524) 88 24 85 (Ouarzazate). ( Wed.
Aït Sidi el-Mati, Aït Souss, _ Rose Festival (May).
Road Map C4. @ from Ouarzazate
and Tinerhir. ( Mon. El-Kebbaba and Dar Aïchil are
also worth a visit. This town, whose name
The small sleepy town of Further east, Aït Abou, means “fortress”, is located at an
Skoura is surrounded by built in 1863 and the oldest altitude of 1,450 m (4,759 ft),
an impressive palm grove, kasbah in the palm grove, has in the heart of rose country. In
which was laid out in the six storeys and walls 25 m the 10th century, pilgrims
12th century by the Almohad (82 ft) high. Its out buildings returning from Mecca brought
sultan Yacoub el-Mansour. have been turned into a small Rosa damascena back with them
The most beautiful kasbahs in short-stay gîte. An orchard to Morocco. These peppery-
southern Morocco are to be with pome granate, apple, scented flowers have developed
found here. Some of these are pear, fig, quince and olive a resistance to the cold and
still partially inhabited, and trees provides the necessary dry conditions in which they
some are attached to private shade for growing crops. are now grown.
houses. Many of Skoura’s Twenty-five kilometres Each spring, rose-picking
inhabitants, however, have (15 miles) northeast of Skoura produces 3,000 to 4,000
moved into the breeze-block is the village of Toundout, tonnes of petals. The harvest
villages that line the road. where there are some highly is taken to two local distillation
The Ben Morro Kasbah decorated kasbahs. The factories. One of them, in
stands on the left of the road Marabout of Sidi M’Barek El-Kelaa M’Gouna, is laid out
above Skoura. It was built in served as a stronghold where in a kasbah, and it is open to
the 17th century and, now the semi-nomadic people visitors in April and May. While
completely restored, has been stored their crops, under the a proportion of the roses is
converted into a guesthouse. protection of the saint. used to make rosewater for
The entrance to the palm grove A little way beyond Skoura, local distribution, the rest is
is on the other side of Wadi towards El-Kelaa M’Gouna, processed and exported for
Amerhidil. The grove can be unexpected plantations of use in the perfume industry.
explored only on foot, by grasses imported from Australia The Rose Festival takes
bicycle or on mule-back. The in the 1990s help to preserve a place after the harvest and is
grove is irrigated by khettaras little moisture in the arid ground. attended by all the inhabitants
of the valleys of the Dadès.
Accompanied by a bendir (a
tambourine), young girls from
El-Kelaa M’Gouna perform a
sinuous dance, their long hair
braided with coloured wool.
On the road out of the town
is a craft cooperative with
about 30 workshops. Daggers
are made here, the craftsmen
continuing a Jewish tradition
of making sheaths and dagger
handles out of cedar or camel
bone. The steel blades are
made in the mountain village
of Azlague, not far from
The Amerhidil Kasbah, in the palm grove at Skoura El-Kelaa M’Gouna.
The Aït Benhaddou ksar, at sunrise

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