McLeanCamino: May 4th, 5th and 6th Exploring the Atlas Mountain areas

Bridge which road crosses above

Abdou and Rashid met us with our 4-Wheel Drive Toyota Landcruiser Prado to head to the Atlas Mountains and Sahara, with our first night at the village of Ait Oumghar, approximately 1.5 hours drive east from Marrakech near Demnate.

We went for a short walk to see a geological site at Imi'n'Ifri which consisted of a naturally formed bridge. It was interesting to see all the birds nesting in the cliffs.

We then continued just a short distance to Maison d'hotes Tizouit, which is a lovely small B & B. The place is designed well and used the property’s natural slope to create rooms that are cool because of the earth on the roof and back wall plus the garden in front. Lunch a delicious Berber omelet which combined cinnamon, cumin, coriander with tomatoes, ground beef and eggs.

Loved food and china

Later in the afternoon we walked with Nadia down to the embroidery association that she has helped start in the village. Her father was originally from this village and while she was born and raised in Switzerland, she and her husband decided to move here for a slower pace of life. They have certainly built a most idyllic retreat! The association’s workshop was closed because the women had just finished a large order so they had taken the day off but one of the women came up to the Maison to show us their products all made on high quality linen. Of course there had to be a few purchases made. We asked Nadia if there were any chameleons in this area and she said yes and there were even some in her garden.

Dinner was a delicious mint melon cold soup followed by "fra," which was vermicelli noodles with meat, raisins, caramelized onions, and cinnamon served topped with powdered sugar and toasted chopped almonds. We had wine from the Meknes area to accompany this outstanding meal and dessert was panacotta with caramelized bananas on top. We told Nadia she should offer cooking classes in this idyllic location. Leslie appreciated how the Masion had been decorated using wrought iron metal for outdoor seating areas and how wood mashrabia (Arab latticework design) had been incorporated into sofa bases and backs. The large cushions on the sofas in some cases had been made from cut up Berber carpets. The china used at the Maison was Limoges porcelain with the Hand of Fatima on it.

Chameleon in the garden

Women harvest by hand

We checked that the sweet chameleon we had seen in the garden was in the same place as we hoped to see him again in the morning. They are so cute with their google-ly eyes and there slow deliberate walk and we remember all the family entertainment with Jonathan’s chameleons. David had also picked up a baby tortoise on the way to the embroidery workshop but was convinced to leave it behind.

Grain growing up into Atlas Mountains

Villages nestled in foothills

We slept well in the cool natural environment and devoured a delicious breakfast with all kinds of home made jams. We then drove almost 5 hours through the High Atlas Mountains Tizi'n'Tichka Pass to Ouarzazate.

village half way to Pass

The road is two lane and as it is the only road to the Sahara from the interior, it get a lot of truck traffic in addition to vehicles. This is the highest pass in Morocco at 2,350 meters.

View of valley from Pass looking back westward

The scenery on one side of the mountains (coast side) was very green and lush while once you came over the pass it was notably much drier and barren.

Town of adobe on plains east of Atlas

The town of Ouarzazate is the film capital of this area and movies like Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator, Jesus of Nazareth, and desert town scenes from the Game of Thrones series have been filmed here. The current King of Morocco has been central in establishing a big film studio and also a film college here. Strategically the area has desert, canyons, a lake and snow-capped mountains, plus the sea all in relatively close proximity, so film making can be fairly efficient, Abdou tells us. We had a late lunch in Café Casablanca and then went to find a liquor store. We wanted to buy some of the local Moroccan wines to enjoy while on our road trip, and our more basic accommodations further east would not have alcohol licenses to serve us. We then went on to a 3 story antique shop to browse. You were met by Berbers dressed as Blue Tuaregs – but it’s all to make a sale. We enjoyed some mint tea and the explanations of the various items we saw. We pointed out various Central Asian items so that we would look more knowledgeable than we really are about the items on sale. It was interesting to see the old wood Jewish doors that had that religious symbolism proudly carved or inlaid with bone. The old flintlock gun David liked cost $7,500 as a starting price. We decided to head on to the oasis of Skoura to the Dar Panorama guest house.

Uromastyx Lizard above his lair is common here

View of Atlas Mountains from guest house

This guest house is located up on a small rise and is the cheaper option on the hill, but our room has a nice view of the snow capped mountains and the oasis. We are really pleased that it also has an AC unit as we are back in warm weather (almost 100F in the shade). Abdou had asked what we wanted for dinner and we had said the Lemon Chicken Tajine,

but that Leslie wanted to see it being made. After our usual mint tea and dates/figs/nuts/cookies we settled into our room until it was time for Leslie to watch her cooking demonstration.

Adding final touches - Chicken Tajine

The sweet chef, who was the owner's wife, had everything prepared and in 20 minutes had put the cover on the tajine to cook for 30 minutes. She did not mind having her picture taken either. She and Leslie conversed in Arabic.

Tajine is cooked on charcoal on the clay brazier

That evening we enjoyed traditional music from three local musicians plus our guide Abdou and Rashid the driver joined in playing the drums for a short time. In addition to the drums there was one musician who played a banjo.

Berber drums overlooking the oasis

The next morning we went on a walk through the oasis and spent the morning watching a potter demonstrate how to make a tajine brassier like Leslie had seen being used the previous night. We also spent some time at a women's embroidery association. The heat had definitely picked up, so the driver came to collect us for lunch and we enjoyed a nap and reading in our air conditioned room. In the late afternoon we went to check out our first of what we believe will be many Kasbahs. A Kasbah is a fort like building where a wealthy person lived and could be used for defensive purposes for the village. The ones in the area here are all dilapidated clay and straw structures, except for the couple that have been restored for a museum or a hotel, and we visited the one that was made into a museum, called the Kasbah Amridil. This was a fort/house/madresa and security for the surrounding settlements, and dates from the 17th Century. It has been mostly restored after the owners stopped living there in the 1950's.