Again, an early start, and first stop is a panoramic view over the River Ziz, which we will follow for some time this morning, and a huge date plantation complete with village. Then on to the Ksar Maadid, which was originally (a couple of hundred years ago) a type of fully enclosed fortified village. Our local guide Bashir took us through the ksar, which houses up to 10,000 extended family, and into his home, where we saw his sparsely-furnished but comfortable living room, adjacent to which was another large room, still inside the house, containing his donkey and several goats. Upstairs we saw his bread oven and a terrace with views across the rooftops of similar homes.
From there we moved on to a marble factory where we were shown slabs of marble with fossilised sea creatures, including squid and molluscs, from when the area was under the sea some 450 million years ago. On the move again to the town of Rissani, which is the home base of the current Alaouite Dynasty. We explored the souk where slaves were once sold. We made a couple of purchases, then on to Merzouga, our base for the night, right on the edge of the Sahara Desert; we are surrounded by sand dunes and camels. Our accommodation, the Kasbah Mohaut, is of rammed earth construction and creates the atmosphere of an oasis. Lunch of Moroccan salad and omelette near the pool, then a rest before we go camel-riding into the desert this evening.
Tomorrow: a rarely travelled route to the mudbrick town of N’Kob.
No comments:
Post a Comment