Tuesday 25 March 2014

The Agadir



Agadirs are fortified granaries usually with a tower. Bou Al Ajat still has it's agadir. There used to be a large one , now destroyed  at the coastal city bearing the name. Popp et al have mapped all the agadirs in the western Anti-Atlas rating them on level of preservation. The paper copy of their map is readily available in the Tafroute area and makes and excellent walking map. There's a link about them at
http://www.stadtgeo.uni-bayreuth.de/fr/publications/agadir/
which includes a pdf edition of the map.
Our friends took us to see the agadir  explaining how the area was very tribal and that the tribes used to raid each other and steal their stores so thet was why they were built. I explained similar problems with the reivers in the Borders and Peel towers; and that cattle raids were frequent partly because the border between England and Scotland was moveable for centuries. He nodded and muttered, "Ah, like Algeria".
The tribal feeling remains though. Our friend Roudani born and bred explained that he had tried to buy a house , not in this village but another one nearby, equally close to the town, and had been told, "You can't buy here. you're not one of us."
The agadir at Bou Al Ajat is set in the top of the village at the edge of a steep drop and with panoramic views of the Sousse valley below.





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