The road to Timbuctoo

If instead of going east from Ouazazate you go south down the Draa valley you enter the land of caravans, Beau Geste and the foreign legion.

The metalled road to Mohammed is only as old as the century and guidebooks lament its draw of the population from the old pise houses on the pistes of the palmeries to modern concrete homes with electricity and by the road but I know which I'd prefer particularly as cycling along the road would allow my children to get an education.

Initially the road leaves Ouazazate passing over the Anti-Atlas again the mountains getting progressively more barren and the contrast with the river and the palmeries more pronounced. Here the main tourist baits as at Tinehir are the carpets woven by the women and sold through cooperatives ( professional hitch-hikers invite you to their home to see the women weave and perhaps to sell you a carpet; all westerners want a carpet) but eventually it breaks through into the Draa valley proper and everything changes. The land is now bare stony desert except for the oases of which there are several and it is boxes of dates which are being sold to you by the small boys standing by the road. The valley is flat, crisscrossed by pistes and littered with Ksaurs; the river snakes through and the date palms line the river and protect the green palmeries. The effect is magical; probably more Arabian Nights than Arabia. 

Many of the Ksaur and Kasbahs have been turned into Hotel/Restaurants and it is from here that any reasonbly tall young man associated with the tourist industry or carpet trade will be dressed in full Toureg blue costume complete with curved dagger. The effect is probably most western women's  romantic ideal. Eventually you arrive at Zagora. This was an important centre for the French administration during the "protectorate" and the traditional departure point for camel caravans across the Sahara. The famous "Timbuctoo 52 days" sign has gone in the building of the new administrative offices, recognisable as such to a bureaucrat such as myself without any identifying signage but outside a large concrete replica sign has been erected, doubtless to facilitate the taking of snapshots by the growing number of tourists bussed in from Ouazazata and Marrakech.

Zagora has a twice weekly market and a growing number of hotels providing comfort, swimmng pools, and the true morrocan experience with romantic lighting and traditional musicians. It will also sell you a trip further into the desert.



Camels on the road to Zagora