Erfoud is renowned for it's dates. In fact at the end of October, people from all over the world will be coming here for their date festival! Therefore it was destined that our last day in the High Atlas be spent in amongst the date palms of the Ziz Valley. The first thing we were shown was the difference between a boy date (above)....
...and a girl date! (The girl's the one which bears the fruit!!)
We had started our walk with Hamid, from the road up high above the valley. Looking down all we had seen were date palms, however, coming down to the valley floor we saw that under the date palm canopy, there was a lush & varied environment for crop growing.
It was all very beautiful, with the cliffs in the background. We spent 2 & 1/2 hours wandering the walkways underneath the date fronds, encountering people on donkeys, working in fields & even a ksar, where we heard young children in the classroom reciting. Afterwards we went to Hamid's home for lunch. We couldn't get over how much was produced in a small area. His backyard was certainly rich in fruit & vege.
On our way onward & upward, we stopped again to look back & see the vastness of this date oasis.
We had a long drive ahead to Azrou & a lot of the landscape looked like this, with the occasional flock of goats or sheep....
...and the even less frequent nomad's tent.
Outside of Midelt, we were frequently slowed down behind trucks, loaded up with crates of the area's apples. Every now & then trucks would pull over to the side of the road, & they weren't just allowing vehicles to get past them...
...the truckies along this stretch feed the wild dogs! From Midelt to Azrou, sometimes 50 metres apart, sometimes a kilometre, dogs wait by the side of the road, because they know what's coming & that they'll get fed!!
Our accommodation once we arrived in Azrou was with a charming couple who run a B&B on an organic farm. From their rooftop terrace we could see a mobile phone tower which had obviously provided a welcome resting spot for a number of storks!!!
On the other side of the terrace, our day came to an end with a glorious sunset!
No comments:
Post a Comment