Atlas Mountains and Agafay Desert

We wanted to get out of Marrakech to explore the surroundings and get to experience more of the local Moroccan culture.  We went out with a guide who lives in the Atlas Mountains for a very long day trip where we got to see, hear, and experience so much about Moroccan culture.  It was an exhausting but enriching day for all of us.

Our tour started bright and early with a trip to the Agafay Desert.  It’s more of a rocky desert than sandy but is the only desert that’s close to Marrakech.  We went to get dressed up in traditional Berber nomad attire, complete with the head and face covering.  The girls were having none of it and outright refused to dress up.  We then went to mount our camel (more specifically known as dromedaries in North Africa) and go for a ride through the desert.  The girls loved the camel ride and never wanted it to end!  Sadly, 20 minutes later, we dismounted and went to relax in the tents, drink some mint tea, and eat some cookies.

Carrying on from here, we drove to the Atlas Mountains.  We passed tons of small villages.  We were right in the heart of where the September 2023 earthquake hit hardest, destroying so many buildings and killing almost 3,000 people.  Most people are still living in tents today while their houses remain devastated and the people struggle to rebuild their homes.  It was a humbling sight to see this devastation to these various small villages throughout the mountains.

We stopped in one small village for a snack (they called it breakfast, but considering it was 11:30 a.m., I don’t consider that breakfast!) at a rooftop café of tea and bread with the traditional accompaniments:  amlou (an almond butter type dip made of almonds, honey, and argan oil), honey, olive oil, and argan oil.  The olive oil here is to die for.  The olive oil is hand-pressed by locals in this area and is extremely fresh and flavourful.  I don’t personally like amlou, but Jon loves it.  He loves all four of the accompaniments, in fact.  I focused mostly on the honey and olive oil with my bread, as did Emmeline.  Katia mostly likes the olive oil with her bread.

On the main level was an argan oil cooperative, where we saw women making argan oil by hand.  After doing our argan oil class a couple of days before, we only stayed here briefly, before heading across the street to let the girls play in a stream and walk around a little before boarding the van to carry on.

The next stop along the way was a Berber market, which was a complete maze.  We stayed together as a group rather than going off on our own here so no one got lost!  We saw a lot of the same things that we would see in Marrakech, but it was also much more geared towards locals than tourists.  I’m not sure a tourist would ever find their way back out if they got themselves into this market!  Our guide was amazing and helped us buy a local bottle of olive oil to bring back with us since we loved it so much at the restaurant!

After walking through the market, we made our way to Imlil, one of the villages in the Atlas Mountains.  We went for a lovely hike to some waterfalls.  We stayed here for a while and the girls played in the stream, trying to build a bridge across with rocks.  There was a stall where a man squeezed oranges to make fresh juice, so we bought a couple of glasses to enjoy as a treat after the hike up the mountain to the waterfall.

On our way back down, we went a different way, walking to our guide’s home.  They had a lovely and very large rooftop patio where they had some tables and chairs set up for us.  We got to enjoy a lovely, traditional “lunch” prepared by his mother.  It was 4:00 pm, so again, I’m not sure if lunch is the correct term here!  The views of the valley and the surrounding mountains were gorgeous!  And all the food was so delicious.  Chicken and veg tajine, veg couscous, rice, bread, tomato salad, and other little accompaniments.  For dessert, we had sliced oranges with cinnamon sprinkled on them.  We aren’t really dessert people, so we don’t normally look at the dessert menu.  But since having this, we have noticed it on almost every dessert menu in Marrakech.  It’s so simple and at the same time so incredibly delicious!  We have made it here in our riad many times since.  For dessert, snack, part of breakfast, etc.

We finally made our way back to Marrakech after we were done eating.  All in all, it was an 11-hour day.  But we had a lot of fun, especially with the hiking and hearing all the interesting information on the bus from our guide.  Some of the more interesting things we learned about Moroccan culture:

• Berber is a nickname and comes from the Roman term for the North African people: Barbarian.  The proper name for their people is actually Imazighen.  And it doesn’t refer to only Moroccan people but to all native North African people.  But most people refer to them as Berbers, including themselves.
• All Berbers share the same language and alphabet that is unique to their language, customs, flag, etc.  Their flag is horizontal layers of blue (top), green (middle) and yellow (bottom) for the water, trees/mountains, and desert.  In the middle is a sign, which is the letter “Z” from their alphabet and means “freedom”.  They consider themselves a free people, free to choose to live their lives according to their customs and traditions.
• There are two types of Berber people: the Nomads, who move around a lot and live primarily in the desert; and, the Bedouin, who stay put in one location, living primarily in the mountains.
• Morocco has a 60% Berber population.  The Arabs came here long ago and are in the bigger cities, but not generally out in rural Morocco.  There is a complicated relationship between Arabs and Berbers. 
• The King of Morocco is Arab.  After a Berber uprising that began about 2012, a parliamentary system was also added.  However, the King holds all the power.  If he does not like the democratically elected representatives, he dismisses them and appoints his own choices.
• There are primary schools that most boys and girls go to in the villages for 6 years from ages 6 to 12.  The high schools (they call them colleges) are only in bigger cities.  If you want to send your kids there after primary school, you need to get closer to these areas.  Very few girls go on to these schools, only boys.  They can then move on to university to get a degree.  All schools, including universities, are free.
• The oldest university in the world is in Fez, Morocco.  It was started in the 800s by a woman named Fatima who was originally from modern-day Tunisia.

Similar to general Moroccan culture, the Berber courtship and marriage rituals are also interesting. Our guide is getting married after Ramadan, which is from early March to early April this year.  He explained a lot about courtship and how arranged marriages work.  Men usually marry in their early 30s and women around 18-20.

• After the man receives recommendations for potential matches, he will try to learn information about the woman’s reputation by asking around.
• If she has a good reputation, he will initiate contact to see if she is open to marriage.  He will typically go to her family and eat a meal with them.  At the end of the meal, you get down to business and say you’re interested in possibly marrying their daughter, and ask permission to open negotiations.  Sometimes they give permission, sometimes they say she needs to give permission.  This may be done by sending a note via a small boy to her.  If she does not respond, he moves on.
• If she’s open to the idea of marriage, they have a preliminary discussion about marriage contractual points.  What is acceptable, unacceptable, negotiable, non-negotiable, etc.  Then he decides whether he is interested in pursuing marriage.  For example, the first person he considered lived in Marrakech and was not willing to move to the mountains (one of her non-negotiable contract points), which was a deal breaker for him.  So that was the end of the discussions.
• After preliminary discussions, if he decides he would like to pursue marriage, he needs to send her a note and gift via a messenger, and she decides if she is interested or not.  If not, he moves on.
• If it progresses further, then he is expected to send gifts at various times of the year.  The gifts vary.  The first gift is typically a block of sugar.  Other gifts may include henna, money, lipstick or other makeup, etc.  The final gift is the dowry gift to her, which is typically money or goods of some kind such as camels or other livestock.
• If at any point the man either intentionally or unintentionally (i.e. forgets) to send a gift at the appropriate time, the engagement is essentially broken.
• If during the engagement period a better option comes up for the woman, she is free to abandon the first man and accept a different man.
• Essentially, all interactions are done via messengers and intermediaries.  There is no “dating” as we are accustomed to.  While he’s been sending gifts to his betrothed and they negotiated their marriage contract early on, they have only actually met once.  They find appropriate matches, get married, and then let the relationship and love develop from there.
• When they are ready to get married, they go to the local official’s stall at the market and sign the documents.  They do not get married in a mosque.  They can have a large or small celebration (aka reception), depending on what they feel like.

Life in the Atlas Mountains is very simple, yet very fulfilling to those who live there.  Many of the people there are perfectly happy to stay out in the mountains.  Our guide, for example, has been all over Morocco, was educated in university first in biology and then as an electrical engineer, and has lived in the big cities.  But ultimately, at the end of the day, feels most connected and content in the mountains.  Looking around the mountains at the people and their way of life, it’s easy to see how this could be.  Aside from the stunning beauty everywhere you look, there is a very strong sense of community, which was clear to us as our guide seemed to know and be known by everyone we saw in the streets.  They are people who are there for each other through thick and thin, which has been especially evident as they try to help each other recover from the recent devastating earthquake.  Moroccan culture is very different from anything we have personally experienced, but we can definitely see the appeal!