Our second road trip across Morocco took 3 days, 2 nights, from our desert camp at Merzouga all the way to Essaouira on the Atlantic coast. The first night was spent in Boumalne-Dadès, and the second in Ouarzazate.
On this portion of the trip, we played Dire Straits in the car which delighted our driver who is apparently a fan. It has been a while for us too.
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We retraced our route out of the desert camp back on N13 northbound from Merzouga to Rissani, and then Erfoud. This area known as the Tafilalet was the homeland of Morocco’s ruling Alawite dynasty and also the last area to yield to French control in the early 1900s.
Entering Rissani through the gate. Rissani was the location of the ancient capital (14-17th century), Sijilmassa, a crossroads between the north and south where gold and slaves were traded. It is still a major commercial center of the area.
We passed the Salon International des Dattes (well, the sign is not legible in the photo). Look at the space available for a souk! Sadly, we did not stop somewhere in this region to buy dates, apparently this is the place to find the best dates in Morocco.
At Erfoud, we made a short shopping stop at a fossil “factory” or rock shop. See later post for pics.
Then we used R702 westbound, passed a series of small towns, namely Jorf, Ksar Touroug, and Ksar Mellab. The word ksar or qsar (ⵉⴴⵔⵎ) refers to a Berber fortified village.
I was sitting next to the driver, when most of these pictures were taken from inside a moving car – please excuse the quality of the photos.
Our driver said that different Berber tribes live in these small towns, and women wore robes with distinct color and styles.
Pink house with decorative rock pattern. Made me think of the Flintstones.
We joined the highway N10 at Tinejdad for lunch. It was 1:30pm already. Tinejdad means ‘nomad’ in Tamazight (Berber language) and it was a resting post for caravans.
… and unexpectedly we ran into DL and family (!) in the restaurant. They had left the Merzouga camp a few hours before us because they had to catch a plane from Marrakech the next day. Apparently, their driver took a detour to show them an underground irrigation system in the area.
Even though we said goodbyes just a few hours ago, it was very nice to see friends in foreign lands especially when you do not expect it. The fact that we stopped at the same restaurants tells us that there are “designated” restaurants for tourists all over the country. All drivers know to take their client to such establishments, at least one per town, hence our Moroccan dining experience is kind of monotonous while mostly authentic.
Our next stop was a large oasis town Tinghir (Tinerhir, or in tamazigt: Tinɣir or ⵜⵉⵏⵖⵉⵔ, in arabic تنغير), recently made the capital of Tinghir province. See later post about the Berber language and alphabets – tamazigt.
To take in a panorama of the oasis and Tinghir, we used R703 northbound and headed up into the mountain.
Along River Todra, at Tinghir, lush palm trees cover a narrow strip of land about 48 km long and 1 to 4 km wide – la palmeraie. Most of the homes are built on either side of the river on the slopes, without taking up valuable naturally irrigated land for agriculture.
Our driver said Tinghir is prosperous partly because of the silver mines in the area.
Notice the light-colored robes the ladies were wearing in this photo – quite different from the black one worn by a lady (sitting on a donkey) we saw earlier.
The road R703 followed River Todra, and we continued driving upstream to see the famous Todra Gorge. We stopped for a bathroom break at this hotel located in a narrow part of the gorge.
We had arranged a local guide to take us on a walking tour of the gorge, the riverbed where the river started, and the village of Ait Tizgui. See later post.
An impressive gorge ! There were a lot less traffic than we thought, given that it is a gap through these mountain range in the area. May be it was important in the old days for the caravans.
Foreign visitors has started coming here for rock-climbing. We met an American in his 20’s who has been living in the area working as an expedition guide.
Downtown Tinghir 
After the tour, we came back down the mountain on R703, passed Tinghir and continued westward on the highway N10.
Decorative walls ? – we must have crossed a provincial or regional boundary. From Tinghir, the distance to our final stop for the day is about 50 km.
As we approached the city of Boumalne-Dadès (ⴱⵓⵎⴰⵍ ⵏ ⴷⴰⴷⵙⵙ in tamazight), it was almost 8 pm. This city is modern-ish and the approach road was lit with pretty lights and neon signs that reminded me of outposts outside Las Vegas, USA. That’ s a continent away.
We spent the night at Kasbah Tissarouine on the edge of Boumalne-Dadès.
A long day on the road but it was really fun, especially when someone was driving.