Day 3: Up the Melh River Valley - Ait Ben Haddou, Morocco
Ait Ben Haddou, Morocco
Actual Date: November 5 2012,
16 hrs, 21.3 kms
A while back a went with a Moroccan friend to Ait Ben Haddou, one of this region's most famous earth castles. Heading down an empty road near a stream that was barely a trickle of water, Ait Ben Haddou definitely felt like an end of the road village--that I knew I had to come back to with my guitar.
But later, as I zoomed in on Ait Ben Haddou on Google maps I looked... what the hell is that? ...there's another village right upstream from Ait Ben Haddou! then another... then another! Ait Ben Haddou is the gateway to a whole new desert river civilization! (if you can call this trickle a "river") That's when I realized that that I might actually be able to do a Superhike in this area.
So on my next arrival to this area (actually, after another overnight bus from Casablanca), I get off in Tabouraht junction (where the streams from Amerzgane and Ait Ben Haddou meet), stock up on snacks and water, and head on up the quiet road through the desert. It’s a refreshing way to start the day, on a quiet road through the desert, knowing that up ahead there are many villages to discover
It’s not long before I reach the quiet roadside village of Tissargate (1391, 2 hrs, 3.1 kms)… some traditional architecture, but no old castle feel here.
Movie Set Town
Compared to the other Desert Valley Civilizations I’ve followed… Dades Valley, Draa Valley, Tinghir… The scenery isn’t exactly spectacular here. It’s more about wide open spaces then jagged cliffs and mountains. That’s OK—it’s actually nice to have something different. And despite the flat terrain, there’s not much being cultivated along the riverbed, signalling that Ouad Melh is probably not a very reliable water source.
But there is water in it now, and up ahead there is a small gorge that looks kind of interesting, so I head down to check it out. There I follow a trail for a little ways until I get tired of having to ford the stream back and for… back up to the road. Here I go around bend and… lo and behold, the Ait Ben Haddou Oasis, a long, wide cultivated area along the riverbed. But this isn’t the dense palm forest with a tropical forest feel like in Agdz or Arfoud. Here there are just a scattering of various trees. I’m thinking that perhaps the palm trees died out due to drought—but I’m later told that palm trees just don’t grow well in this region for some reason.
Here the road veers to the right and the river to the left. I realize that I’ve made the wrong choice by following the road, and try to correct my mistake by cutting across the terrain, chopped up by erosion, and back to the river valley. There I find the river is turned into a pond, which makes for a rather muddy crossing, but I manage. There’s another village on the other side that I’ve got to check out.
Idluwan (1392, 4 hrs, 7.0 kms) is a picture perfect traditional village, with the ruins of the old mud castle accessible and easy to explore—I can even climb up to the upper floors of the houses. It looks like only one house in the old kasbah is still inhabited though. Wandering on through the modern and semi-modern parts of the village, I notice some unusual things about the exterior of the castle. There a long, sharp wooden poles sticking out from the walls at the higher levels. Hmmm… never seen those before in a East Moroccan village…. Could it be for defense? For hanging something on? There must be something unique about this culture here… A little later I ask somebody.
"Oh, that was a backdrop for a Hollywood movie set!"
Oh… I see… Yes, I soon learn, there is something unique about this culture. First source of employment in this region: subsistence agriculture. Second employer: Hollywood. Yep, a large percentage of these rural folk earn a living building set, being extras, and other miscellaneous tasks whenever Hollywood (as well as European movie producers) move into town. These simple folks have worked with the likes of Brad Pitt and Russell Crowe in movies like Gladiator, Babel, Prince of Persia, Kingdom of Heaven and endless others.
I stop to a chat with a fellow, and he says he’s a musician too, so he invites me over for tea. As we sit on the carpet in his very traditional home sipping tea he tells me about his run ins with some of the big name actors that have been here with make 30 million a film. And what does he make? Well… more like twenty dollars a day—when there’s work…
I notice something else about this village. All the people are darker skinned—unlike Ouarzazate when a large percentage are fairer skinned. It gives me a chuckle when a kid calls another kid a derogatory term for black… I guess it’s like guys in the hood using the N word with each other…
I jam with my host for a little bit, then continue on my way. Still a lot of road to cover.
Moroccan Tourists in Ben Haddou
Ait Ben Haddou (1393, 4 hrs, 5.0 kms) has been eluding me for 2 and a half years now. Back in ’10, while visiting the family of one of my students who I met by accident in Ouarzazate, they brought me out here, and I was quite impressed by this magnificent earth castle, one of the best known in Morocco, and a backdrop for numerous movies. However, that time I left my guitar at their house. So… no concert… the town cannot be counted as explored… it’s like I never came here. Those are the rules.
Well, now I’m back, with my guitar! No waiting for a collective taxi this time. I’ve come here on foot, and enjoyed every step of the way. It’s a good feeling… I don’t think I could consider Morocco "fully explored" without coming back here to Ait Ben Haddou.
And as I approach the kasbah directly, which is on the east side of the river, I realize I’m not alone. There’s a whole crowd of people, including a number of women wearing scarves making their way up the to the castle. These are Moroccan tourists—which is a pleasant surprise. Typically Moroccans aren’t very interested in visiting historical sites in their country. When the take a vacation in their country it’s usually just to go to the beach, not to explore the ancient Kasbahs of the desert. Go to places like Volubilis, Chellah, etc and you probably won’t see a lot of Moroccans either, just foreigners.
I follow the group through the familiar alleys, humored at seeing Moroccans trying to hustle Moroccans into their shops… Nah… it’s not going to work, guys… We go all the way up to a tower way at the top of the hill, where you get a good view of the whole area and we sit in the shade to rest. Suddenly I hear a familiar voice.
"Phillips!" I look over and see a familiar face… Yep, it’s another of my former students!
Now this is getting downright weird. It’s the fifth time I’ve run into a student while out on the road, far from Casablanca. First in Ouarzazate (right near this very spot!), then in Istanbul… then in Marbella, Spain… then in Tbilisi, Georgia… and now here!
We chat for a bit. He booked this tour on the internet which is six days visiting the main sites all along the eastern desert of 200 euros—food, lodging and transportation all included… Quite a good deal. The people on this tour are of a wide range of ages, some look more traditional some more Western, all joking and having a good time together. Quite a break from the norm—usually people only travel with their family, or young people together—not a mixed crowd like this.
I try not to act to smug about the fact that I’ve managed to see all the places they’ve seen by using local transportation and finding lodging along the way. Hey, it’s just nice to see Moroccans out discovering their own country…
They’ve all got to go to a restaurant across the river, so I follow along, so we can chat a little more. I negotiate a tagine to a reasonable price and head up to the roof to gaze out on the magnificent view of the front of the kasbah. Unfortunately the front is being used as a movie set right now so things are kind of sloppy and I won’t be able to get a good video clip from this angle, but that’s all right… I’ll figure something else out.
I head back downstairs where the tour group is a bit peeved… it turns out that their lunch was… eggs… No, you don’t do that in Morocco… you don’t serve people eggs for lunch… I still think they got a good deal, but I’m afraid they’re probably not going to be recommending this tour to their friends.
I head back to the Kasbah again to take my video clip and wander around a bit more. I let a fellow sucker me into following him into his antiques shop—and am glad I do. He’s got some pretty impressive artifacts—including relics of Jewish tradition. Ancient pen and ink holders… letter openers. I guess if someone is really interested in antiques—and can verify their authenticity, he could get some good buys here. But this guy says he’s only here during the heavy tourist season, the rest of the time he’s out in the desert, travelling from oasis to oasis, collecting these artifacts…
Mixing Business and Hospitality
It’s already late afternoon but I’ve only covered 9 kilometers. I suppose I could just stay the night here in Ait Ben Haddou where lodging is plentiful. But I’ve still go an itching to discover more, so I’m going to gamble that I’ll be able to find lodging farther up the road. I’ve also brought a sleeping bag, so I could just camp out too.
First I have to do my official Ait Ben Haddou concert. I’m joined by a friendly fellow and we chat for a bit, talking about how much safer it is here than in the city. If I were in Casablanca and approached by someone in an isolated place like this, I might feel pretty nervous.
The next village up the road Asfaru (1394, 2 hrs, 3.3 kms) is a relatively large and it has an upscale riad or two—clearly out of my price range.
On past Asfaru there’s a temporary metal bridge, suggesting that at some point this river flooded, wiping the old bridge out. Here the terrain changes from wide open valley with gentle hills around to cliffs that narrow more and more up ahead. This is no Toudra Gorge—but it does give the area a bit more of an exciting feel. Up ahead the road climbs up to avoid the cliff. It’s almost dusk, but I still decide to gamble and try to follow the riverbed to the next village rather than the road.
I switch to sandals so I can ford the wide stream, with an imposing cliff on one side. Up ahead, at the top of the cliff is a castle with an imposing earthen tower… I’m trusting I’ll be able to find a path up there… And to make things a little more interesting, it starts to rain a little bit.
It’s all but dark when I reach Tamdakht (1395, 4 hrs, 3.0 kms), and pick my way along the side of a cemetery—barely recognizable with a propped up rock marking each tomb… then I clamber up and down the terraces looking for a way up to the castle—a little bummed because I can’t get a good shot of it due to the dim light. Finally I find away around it… and enter Tamdakht.
Here there are several castles. One is actually a grand kasbah-turned-hotel… I don’t know if it was restored or built from scratch. Anyways, whoever fixed it up did an excellent job keeping the traditional look of a earth castle… although I’m pretty sure it’s got concrete and re-bar reinforcement in there somewhere…. In the morning I’ll have to get a couple better shots of it.
Unfortunately both this hotel and the other next to it cater to folks that aren’t such pennypinchers as myself. This whole are does seem to cater to tourists—but not so much the low budget kind. So I wander around thinking through my options: A. Cough up the extra money for a nice hotel. B. camp out C. try to catch a ride back to Ait Ben Haddou. D. Continue down the road and see what else there is.
I choose D—reluctantly. I kind of doubt there are going to be any more hotels nearby… also, I’d really like to see these tall Kasbahs in the daylight…
On down the road I stop in a little shops to get some water and ask the fellow if he knows of any cheap hotels around.
"Oh, there’s a gite right around the corner."
Sure enough, 30 meters ahead, down a little alley is a house with "gite" painted on the wall. Looks like this is my lucky day. I quickly negotiate a very reasonable price, which includes supper, and I’m lead to a traditional carpeted room, where I’m served tea. In another room are a couple of middle age European women who it seems are on a guided hiking tour.
Not much to do after dark, except down the dark road to buy some stuff at a store, then coming back, where I join 3 Moroccan fellows for couscous, the host and 2 guides that are with the European tourists. We chat, watch TV for a bit—a nice atmosphere. I enjoy this sort of "semi-hospitality", to stay with the locals, learn a bit about life in their village, and yet not feel like I’m freeloading off of them.