One disturbing find was a kilometer long section dense with plastic garbage (left). It was miles from the nearest town and no garbage dump was in sight. Generally, the Moroccan countryside is still relatively light with garbage, but this valley seemed to be the Moroccan garbage vortex. There was no obvious explanation why so much garbage piled up here.

There is also a more radical movement, which if nothing else markets the countryside from Dades to the Rif region with its Berber freedom symbols (the letter yaz of the Berber Tifinagh alphabet) and graffiti (left). The yaz is also the centerpiece of the Berber flag, which I have never seen flying in Morocco.

In the old town, we were invited to have tea with a family (right). Lack of a common language limited the exchange, but our hosts were pleased to offer the hospitality and we appreciated the chance to sit and get a glimpse inside of a house.

An interesting geological formation is a sedimentary sandstone wall that looks like a brick wall (left).

Also on the route, set behind a high fence, is the International Foundation for Ecological Research, Errachida Center (right), which evidently it has some connection to the Ministry of Environment, Qatar.
 

Later you reach the Reserve Biologique D'Aferdou for the Restoration of Wildlife (left).

One business that was in the shadow of transmissions line, though itself might have been off the grid, has a couple of arrays of solar voltaic panels on turntables (right). As the earth rotates and the relative position of the sun changes the panels can be turned  to maintain the best orientation to the sun. There was no equipment to suggest the panels turn automatically, so it must be someone's job to turn them manually.

Retail is rare in these parts, so when a café presented itself on the road side about two-thirds of the way it seems reasonable to stop. There were a few other customers passing the time, but it was indeterminate where they might have come from.

Across the road (left) it looks like someone has laid out the streets and utility infrastructure for a future housing settlement, but there was yet to be a single structure built and the weeds that had taken up occupancy probably didn't appear immediately and still had several season of growth on them.

Three kilometers further is the verdant gorge of Kser Tarda. Perhaps some residents from them make their way to roadside café to pass the time.

There were a couple other bare bones developments (right) along the highway into Errachidia.

A caution sign (left) is presumably alerting drivers that there is a slight curve in the highway.

A lane designation sign (right) shows that bicycle are expected to use the shoulder of the road.
 

The ride through the oasis is a step back in time: There is more non-motorized travel (donkeys, bicycles, and pedestrians) than vehicles.  The roads are narrow and wind gently. The buildings are very human scale and some have traditional architectural features, including some old kasbah.

Source Bleue de Meski is a spring at the village of Meski that is set in a palm grove. It was first developed by the French Foreign Legion. The spring emerges at the bottom of the cliff and flows out into a large man-made pool. It is now the swimming hole for local kids and a stop for tour buses.

Dades River Valley Ziz River Valley