The Garden OF STARS
Riad between Agadir and Taroudant, in southern Morocco
Holiday rental with a resident of Swiss nationality
Secret Atlas: Great Tour
Don't look for this excursion in a guidebook. The track to be taken, which skirts the mountain in a sometimes vertiginous way, is recent and it is not tarred. There is a faint trace of IMilais on ViaMichelin and since little an indication of the ultimate purpose of this terrific discovery on Google Maps. The American software specifies thatyou reach in 2 hours 20 in the magic Berber city of Amassa. A good day is necessary for this unforgettable journey.
This dive into the secret Atlas is part of the desire for responsible development of this remote region of the Kingdom. Let's take a closer look at all of this.
Sérénité des lieux
D'abord une route nationale
Remarquablement conservé
Des vues vertigineuses. En face, la piste du retour
Accroché à la montagne
Non, ce n'est pas une rizière !
Un commerce assez restreint
Le directeur de l'Office de mise en valeur agricole d'Ouled Teima et le président de la commune
Habitudes ancestrales
From your riad in Imilmaiss
You have to leave early in the morning to take full advantage of this excursion and not have to rush. We are going to a country where time does not have the same value. A 4x4 vehicle is essential. The track has countless bends and it is better to be perfectly in control of your vehicle, even if the vans you encounter can be counted... on the fingers of one hand.
Equip yourself with good shoes (high-top sneakers are enough) and above all a backpack with water and provisions. In the Secret Atlas, restaurants are non-existent, at least for now. There remains the encounter with the inhabitant and the pleasures of the unforeseen to provoke.
Watch out for turns
We first take the old road to Marrakech, which we leave just beforethe artificial lake of Abdelmoumen. Sand quickly follows bitumen. Recently opened on the south side of the mountain, the track nevertheless allows two vehicles to pass each other. But watch out for the bends, because the precipice is vertiginous!
The landscape is superb and never monotonous. Fortunately, because it scrolls for several tens of kilometers! The arrival at Imilmaiss takes place during the morning, after two to three hours on the road, depending on your pace and the frequency of your stops.
Harmonious show
Do not be surprised that some of these inhabitants - Berbers in their overwhelming majority - look at you a little askance, sometimes with suspicion. They are not used to foreign visitors. Behave normally, without provocation, and everything will be fine. Admire the village of adobe (raw earth) houses which rise over a large part of the slope, offering a harmonious spectacle between habitat and nature. Here nothing has changed for centuries. Only electricity and television antennas testify to a link with modernity.
As there are no geographical landmarks, be aware that Imilmaiss is at the height of thetizi n'Testwhich, further east, connects the Souss Valley toMarrakesh. We are on the borders of the Province of Taroudant.
Une piste à flanc de coteau, soutenue par des murs de pierre
A près de 2000 m d'altitude
Ce sont les arbres les plus fréquents de la région
Il est juché sur un sommet, d'où la vue dont on y jouit
Joyau de l'architecture traditionnelle berbère
Elle cache la banque d'Amassa !
La banque fonctionne toujours ! Les casiers sont remplis et consciencieusement fermés
Passage en bois entre deux maisons
Elles deviendront bientôt un vaste verger de pommes Golden rouges
From Imilmaiss to Amassa
A track climbs from Imilmaiss towards Amassa, before descending to a wadi and climbing again. It takes a good hour to get to this reward that is Amassa, perched on a rocky peak.
An Agadir in the heart of the village
This village is a jewel, whose heart is an agadir, that is to say a Berber bank of stone and adobe. Its characteristic? He is still active; the huts are hermetically closed and supervised by a fastidious guardian. This Agadir set in the small town also has the characteristic of being almost round, whereas those of the Souss Valley, such asImchguiguiln, consist of two parallel walls.
Poverty and emigration
However, the extreme beauty of the place does not feed her man. Poverty is endemic. Here, as in Imilmaiss, young people emigrate to the Souss Valley. To look for work, they find themselves in a locality near Taroudant, Ait Aiaaza, which does not have an ounce of the beauty of their village of origin.
Apples and tourism
To reverse the trend, the director of the Ouled Teima Agricultural Development Office launched the idea of developing apple cultivation and opening the secret Atlas to tourism. The apple trees will be planted in the red Golden variety, which sells better in Morocco than the yellow Golden. Terraced orchards await them, on the edge of a wadi protected by two mountain sections.
The track will be paved, which should encourage the arrival of visitors eager to rub shoulders with real authenticity. A hostel is also planned. It would of course be fitted out according to the rules of the ancestral construction of the Berbers.
THEPlan Wormt Moroccan is asked to finance the operation. We hope that it will materialize. It would lead to a responsible development of this region, whose authenticity is the greatest treasure.
En train de battre le blé
Threshing wheat like in the old days
It is worth walking through the alleys of Amassa. Perhaps you will be lucky enough to witness the threshing of wheat by half a dozen donkeys, as shown above. Listen carefully, there is always something unexpected happening in Amassa.
At 2h 15from Star Garden. Be careful on the very steep track!
Berber encounters along the way
Ce jeune Berbère s'en retourne chez lui, à dos d'âne. L'animal est magnifique
Ce vieux monsieur vient d'offrir le thé à des passants
Photographiés avec l'accord de la mère
Berbère, bien sûr !
Joyeux et accueillants
Couleurs partout !
Groupe d'aimables Berbères qui se font un plaisir de tailler une bavette
Pas un mot de français, mais beaucoup de gentillesse
Ils siègent avec fierté dans le bureau du président d'Imilmaiss