Ouarzazate makes an ideal point of departure for a wide and varied range of excursions. Just follow the rivers, and they will lead you into some of Morocco’s most beautiful valleys.
The Dades Valley
This has to be one of the most amazing landscapes in Morocco. Flowing past countless kasbahs and hemmed in by Jbel Sarho on one side and the High Atla massif on the other, Oued Dades winds its way through arid desert countryside, eating away at the strip of greenery that borders it. Passing through lovingly nurtured palm groves, the road continues on to the rose gardens of Kalaat M’Gouna, after which the valley draws in its giddy slopes to become the Dades Gorge.
The Dades Gorge
A huge block of limestone, cleft in two by a single sword stroke. A stark, jagged landscape, where kasbahs blend in with the mauves, russets and fawns of the rocks upon which they stand. An icy river flows through depths of the gorge, and the more adventurous can follow its course, either by kayak or simply by wading barefoot for one or two kilometres. Further on, the road becomes no more than a track, crossing the Dades, zigzagging up to the top of a giddy canyon, and finally leading you into a realm inhabite only by birds and moufflon.
The Todra Gorge
Continuing along the same road, gardens give way to ochre red countryside where rock takes the upper hand, hollowed out into starkly impressive gorges. The most fascinating of all is the Todra Gorge, the Grand Canyon of Morocco. Its 300-metre high pink limestone cliffs form a sheer drop into a narrow corridor though which flows Oued Todra. Between these eternal walls of stone, rough pathways follow the river’s sombre banks, and you can slither and climb your way along its course for a good 600 metres. And here, in the very depths of the gorge, you finally come across the sacred fish spring, a hot water spring alive with fish that are forbidden to anglers, whoever they may be.
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