Saturday 8 February 2014

Goats in Argan Trees



One of the features that made the drive interesting was that just as you turned up into the Anti-Atlas there was a herd of goats grazing in the argan trees. Tripadvisor takes a sceptical view of this phenomenon talking about goats being tied to the branches, and whilst I know that to be untrue there are some places where I have thought that the herdsperson put them up  the trees in hope of some passing tourists. Here was miles from tourists and there wasn't a goatherd in sight. The goats jumped up and down  and jostled  precariously for the best position. 



You could see why; the argan trees are in full nut.



 At least some of them are covered in fruit, others have none. I had always thought argan trees to be self-fertile but they must have male and female trees like holly and cherry. As this would double the number of trees needed to get a crop and as you need 10x the volume of argan nuts as olives to get a litre of oil, I begin to see why cosmetic quality oil is £20 for 250ml in the co-operative.


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