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Morocco:
Haute Atlas Mountains Bicycle Africa / Ibike Tours |
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Haute (High) Atlas Mountains: Tizi-n-tichka | ||
| Topography from Marrakech to Ouarzazate, over Tizi-n-tichka. | |||
 [Depending upon the quality of the underlying data graphs maybe only general representations of the topography.] |
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| Out of Marrakech, heading east towards the Haute Atlas, initially the road is fairly straight. Agriculture stretches to the horizon. The housing tends to be scattered among the farms -- rarely clustered into a village. | |||
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| At about 50 kilometers the road turns south and heads into the Haute Atlas. For the first 65 kilometers the slope is rarely over 2%. As the road reaches further into the foothills of the Atlas, the agriculture become more restricted to the flatter bottom lands. | |||
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| Tree crops might run over the lower hills, but higher hills have more natural vegetation. | |||
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| Penetrating the foothills the scenery becomes increasingly rugged. The road begins to wind its way up river valleys. The wide dry river beds are tale tell signs of extreme weather events -- wide raging rivers have scoured out these valleys. | |||
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| As the valley become narrower the housing tends to become more bunched into small villages. Past the 65km mark the road is more seriously "mountainous" with the grades around 5%, plus or minus a degree or so. | |||
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| The "mountain town" and the largest town between Marrakech and the summit is Taddarte (1830m), about 90 kilometers southeast of Marrakech. It makes itself welcome to travelers, with several restaurants and a small hotel. | |||
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| Out of Taddarte there are a lot of switch backs to the summit (2230m). As the crow flies it is about 5 kilometers. By road, you will travel about 15 kilometers -- all in an effort to make it easier. The average grade for this section is about 5%. The summit is about 105 kilometers from Marrakech. | |||
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| On the south side there are few switchbacks and the slopes are half a steep. It is generally less rugged. From the summit it is a general descent for the next 70 kilometers. | |||
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| Twenty kilometers south of the summit is the small cross-roads town of Agouim. From the point of view of the traveler there are the essentials; cafe, restaurant and hotel. | |||
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| On the southern slope of the Haute Atlas the climate is generally more arid and doesn't support agriculture, expect near the rivers. Where the valley floor is wide enough to support some agriculture there is usually a village perched on the hillside above the flood plain. Even if little else marks a village they can usually be spotted from a distance by the white minaret of the mosque. | |||
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| Between towns a small amount of the economy is aimed towards passers-by. There are a few shops selling fossils, minerals, and geodes, | |||
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| For about sixty kilometers the road stays in the proximity of the Ouarzazate River. Though the river is flowing east at this point, seemingly towards the Sahara, the water eventually joins the Draa River, running south and finally turns west to find its way to the Atlantic Ocean. | |||
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| The gentle road, light traffic and mixture of wide valleys, narrow valleys, river, villages, ruins, and mountains made for and engaging and pleasant ride. | |||
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| The areas claim to fame is film studios. Three studios built here and started producing motion pictures in 1930. Atlas Studio is said to be the largest in the world. IMDb lists over 760 films and TV episodes filmed in Morocco (most not in Ouarzazate). From the outside the Studios are not very interesting, and from the inside they aren't very interesting, but some of their productions are famous. Many films use the surrounding villages for locations. Oversize film spools have been incorporated in to the sculpture in a traffic circle. | |||
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The modern development of Ouarzazate started in 1928 when is was selected as a
base for the French Foreign Legion. The Legion is long gone and the outpost is
now an administrative center and city. When the French began their colonial rule in the 19th century, the el Glaoui were a powerful clan that controlled one of the major southern caravan routes to West Africa. The French anointed them the governors of the region in exchange for keeping the southern tribes subdued. |
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The most significant building in Ouarzazate is
Taourirt Kasbah or el Glaoui Palace -- much of it now in ruins. A small section
has been restored and is maintained. The preservation is due in part to
Hollywood, which brought attention to the building by using it as a backdrop
for such movies as Sheltering Sky, Gladiator, and Prince of Persia. It now also
generates revenue from tourist admission fees. The Taourirt Kasbah was built in the 19th century and reached the height of importance during the 1930s, when the el Glaoui powers were at their peak. Although located at a strategic junction of the caravan routes, the Kasbah was never actually resided in by the el Glaoui chiefs. Housed here would have been the second tier of command, such as the dynasty's sons and cousins and their extended -- numbering in the hundreds -- entourages of servants, builders, and craftsmen. |
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 The
building is a maze of corridors, stairways and rooms. It once had close to 300 rooms and within the Kasbah
(walled community) were more than 20 riads (garden houses).
A small corner -- maybe twenty rooms -- of Kasbah has been partially restored, with assistance from UNESCO.
A couple of the restored rooms are exquisite, but none of the rooms have any
furnishings to give them any contexts so it is a bit like wander in a vacant
house. In the section open to visitors are the former reception rooms, a
harem room, and a kitchens. Even knowing the purpose of the room, overall
touring the building is a rather superficial experience. |
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In the center is a courtyard that once served as a souk (market). Now most of the surrounding structures are vacant and in various degrees of decay. |
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| Some of the upstairs area offer roof top views of the remainder of the Kasbah, as well as the Oued Ouarzazate (river) to the south and the High Atlas Mountains to the northwest. | |||
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| In the foyer is an industrial artifact; a Fried Krupp 75mm canon, made is Essen, Germany, in 1884. The Krupp family was a prominent 400 year old dynasty, known for there production of armaments. The kittens are more recent. | |||
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