Tafraoute and the Anti-Atlas

A Bowl Of Pink Granite Boulders In The Anti Atlas With Palm And Argan Villages Below It, Known For Almond Blossom In Late Winter And For A Field Of Rocks Painted Blue By A Visiting Artist In The 1980s · Tafraoute, Souss-Massa

Tafraoute sits in a bowl of pink granite in the Anti-Atlas, at roughly 1,000 m, and the landscape is the whole attraction. Round boulders the size of houses pile up around a small market town of palm gardens and flat-roofed houses, the Ameln valley runs along the foot of a long limestone escarpment to the north with its villages strung in a line beneath it, and above everything stands Jebel Lekst, commonly quoted at around 2,350 m. The stone turns orange at the end of the day, which is the photograph everyone takes. This is also emigration country: men from these villages have run grocery shops in Casablanca and France for generations and sent the money home, which is why modest villages carry large houses. Late winter brings almond blossom and a festival around it. Honest caveats: there is very little to do in the town itself, the interest is all in the landscape and the walking, it is cold at night for most of the year at this height, and the almond blossom is a two-week window that shifts with the season.

Granite bowl in the Anti-Atlas about 150 km south-east of Agadir, with the Ameln valley villages below and the painted rocks on the plateau south of town, Tafraoute, Souss-Massa, Morocco

There are no opening hours and no tickets: the granite bowl, the Ameln valley villages, the escarpment walks, the Napoleon's Hat rock and the painted rocks south of town are all open country, free, and visited at whatever hour suits you - early morning and the last hour of light being much the best. The town's shops and cafes keep long hours, a weekly country souk brings the valley in for the morning, and the slipper and argan workshops work ordinary daytime hours. Village guides are arranged the evening before rather than on the spot. Getting there: there is no railway and no airport, so it is a drive or a coach - roughly 3 to 3.5 hours from Agadir by the mountain road through Ait Baha, or about 2 hours up from Tiznit on the easier road. Scheduled coaches run from Agadir and Tiznit, and shared grand taxis cover the valley villages. Confirm timetables, and book a bed ahead in blossom season.

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