Going to the desert
After Fez we were going to the Merzouga, which was the Moroccan Desert at the fringe of Sahara desert. A direct drive from Fez to Merzouga would take about 7 hours but it would be too tiring and boring to do it in one day. We planned a 2-3 days drive to Merzouga.
In our plan we broke the entire journey into four parts. From Fez would be a 1.5 hour drive to Ifrane and there we would stop for coffee break. Then it would be a 2 hours drive (part 2) to Midelt where we would spend a night at an “exotic” kasbah. The next day we would drive about 2.5 hours (part 3) to Errachida and along the way we hoped to “see” stunning landscape of the Ziz valley before staying a night at an “out of this world” kasbah. Part 4 of the route would be from. Errachida to Merzouga, and the drive would take 1.5 hour. This meant we would reach Merzouga on the third day in the early afternoon, fresh and energetic for our “desert” experience.
Ifrane
We reached Ifrane at about noon and went in search of a cafe for coffee break. Unfortunately Ifrane was a dead town at this time of the year. We drove to a hotel to look to see if we could find a cafe, the hotel looked deserted. We drove to a place in town on the google map that showed a number of cafes but on reaching there we found all the cafes closed. We left Ifrane feeling disappointed.
Ifrane was called “Switzerland of Morocco”, unfortunately at that time of the year it was nothing like Switzerland.
Enroute to Midelt
There was not much to see enroute from Ifrane to Midelt. We saw what we thought was a ski slope. It was summer and with no snow we presumed that the two wide lanes of green patches down a hill of trees were ski slopes.
There was still plentiful of greenery along the road with wide field and distance hills. Near to Midelt we saw a crown sitting on top of a rocky hill. It was a “skinny” crown. We also saw” red crown” cranes building nests on top of residential roofs.
Stay at Midelt
Our stay in Midelt was Hotel Kasbah Asmaa, it was near to 3pm when we reached the hotel. The day was hot and the 3.5 hour drive from Fes to Ifrane then to Midelt was monotonous and we were bored stiff seated in the car. Our hotel looked great and we just wanted to stretch our legs and to rest and relax.
After we checked into our hotel we went about exploring the hotel ground. At this time of the year there we not many guests about. The hotel had a huge beautiful pool but with no swimmers or sunbathers. Mercifully the palm trees offered much good shades and gave the place a “resorty” atmosphere.
The landscape in Midelt was “yellow” and wild. Looking out from the balcony of our hotel room, the land ahead looked terribly dried with tiny patches of green sparingly scattered over the rolling hills and beyond.
Our room was located at one far end of the hotel. The room was huge with two big beds, ensuite toilet and a balcony overlooking the swimming pool. We did not feel the need to explore the town of Midelt and was fine with just lazing and relaxing at our hotel.
In the evening we had dinner at the hotel inhouse restaurant. We had pasta and fish. The meal came with bread, salad, olive etc. The cost of the dinner was 310MAD for two.
Our stay at Hotel Kasbah Asmaa costed 63Eur for two which came with breakfast in the morning. Breakfast was rather basic with Moroccan bread, slice of ham (probably chicken or turkey) and beverages.
Other accommodation in Midelt
Enroute to Errachida
After breakfast we left our hotel at about 10 am heading toward Errachida. Midelt to Errachida was abut 136 km. The landscape was definitely get “drier and harsher” as we were getting near to the desert. Shortly after Midelt we drove through a rock tunnel, “tizi n tlghoumte”. The tunnel was short, nothing spectacular.
Though we were in such a harsh environment, the road (N13) was fine with not much pot holes. Our car was practically the only car on the road. We passed some houses, not sure if they were mud houses as they had the same color as the land. Many of them looked vacant. Occassionally we saw huge patch of palm trees too.
Soon we reached Ziz valley which was carved out by the Ziz river over thousands of years. The Zis Valley was one of the biggest oases in the world and the biggest in Africa. The source of the Ziz river was in the High Altas and the river flowed for 282 km into the Sahara Desert passing through Morocco cities like Errachidia, Erfoud and Sijilmassa.
The valley was surrounded by higher mountain with “column liked” walls. We wondered how these walls were created, were they created by the erosion of the passing water or were they created by wind blowing through the valley.
The water flow was intermittent along the Ziz riverbed, its watercourse was used to facilitate human transit through the mountainous region. This river was surrounded by a 125 km belt of palm groves alongside the river. From the main road (N13) there were secondary roads that led to oases villages. We stopped near Tamazight Oasis and came out of the car to have a clear view.
Driving further we reached Hassan Ad Dakhil lake which was created when the Hassan Ad Dakhil dam was built across Ziz river. The purpose of the dam was to regularise the wadi in order to carry out the Ziz valley agricultural and Tafilalet lands development, as well as to provide flood protection The construction work on the dam was conducted from May 1968 to March 1971, and filling of the reservoir/lake took place during November 1970
Hassan Ad Dakhil Lake and dam
Stay at Errachida
Our stay in Errachida was in a village called Aoufous located in the Ziz Valley. To get to Aoufous we had to turn into a secondary road from the main road (N13). This secondary road brought us downhill into a village that was almost out of sight fromt the main road.
Maison d’hôtes Sahara, our stay was a three story kasbah. Our room was on the highest level where there was just two units. Our unit had a large room, two beds and ensuite toilet.
The view from our room/balcony was indeed stunning. We were captivated by the lush greenery and the stunning mountain view and spent hours enjoying the lovely view from our balcony of our cool room. This place was definitely a serene retreat!
Immediately outside our unit was a huge open terrace with a fantastic view of the valley. When the temperature of the hot day was over we had a wonderful time staying out on the open terrace watching the sunset.
Maison d’hôtes Sahara was a family-owned hotel. April was a quiet season and we were the only guests in the hotel. We met the host and his friendly grandmother. Our host offered dinner and we were only two glad to eat-in so as to remove a need to go in search of a nearby restaurant/cafe.
Dinner was great we had chicken and they came with appetizer, salad and bread. The cost for the dinner for two was 210Mad a very “value for money” meal!
Our stay at Maison d’hôtes Sahara was 74Euro for two persons which came with breakfast. Breakfast was served in the dining hall and again we found that there was no other guests but us. It was a lovely breakfast, typical Moroccan breakfast which we ate leisurely while enjoying the view of the valley through the windows.
Breakfast at Maison d’hôtes Sahara