Southeast Morocco’s Draa Valley is a breathtaking area renowned for its rich history, cultural legacy, and picturesque scenery. This thorough travel guide will assist you in exploring the Draa Valley.
The Atlas: Deep River, Higher Mountains
The Draa, Dades, and Ziz are the three main “wadis” (riverbeds) that define southern life. Beautiful and towering date palm plantations and historic agricultural settlements built around the many Kasbahs are supported by these rivers, which have carved majestic and dramatic gorges and canyons out of the High Atlas and Anti-Atlas mountains.
Even if many of these ochre red-walled settlements are gradually collapsing, the aging process seems to just heighten their ethereal charm.
Date Palm Oases
The great palm groves between the towns of Agdz to Zagora stretching out as far as the eye can see down the valley are broken only by high thick red earth walls that shelter small green plots with wheat and fruit trees bearing figs pomegranates and apricots, accounting for the regions wealth.
The Erg Chigaga & Erg Lihoudi Dune Sets
Into the dunes of Lihoudi and Chigaga.
Significantly, two of the best entry points into the Sahara are located in the Draa valley. From Ouarzazate, go south to the village of Zagora and the Lihoudi dunes beyond. From Zagora, go directly south to the town of M’hamid, the final little oasis settlement, before crossing into the Sahara and reaching the Chigaga dunes.
Before reaching the Sahara, the Southern River Valleys embrace and support dramatic and stunning landscapes in their own special way. You will most definitely not ask yourself, “Are we there yet?” when traveling.
Because there is truly something lovely waiting to be discovered around every curve, bend, and corne in Morocco.
Berber Villages
In this part of Morocco, the palm groves are interspersed with hundreds of old Kasbahs and fortified villages. The terrain is made up of Berber villages, cafes perched atop mountains with expansive views, and brightly colored carpets and blankets with patterns that are washed in the river and dried in the sun on terraced hillsides and beside river beds.
