Tafraoute: Modern Berber Village in the Anti Atlas Mountains
Zagan the motorhome’s up against a wall. Yup, a couple of days ago we shifted from the incredibly-sited, open arena of the municipal ‘guardian parking’ area to one of Tafraoute’s three small walled-in campsites; we’re in Camping Granite Rose (N29.717356, W8.984524).
Camping Granite Rose, Tafraoute, Morocco
Despite the fact we’re in one of the most stupendously scenic places I’ve ever been, rivalling even some of Norway’s epic backdrops, I couldn’t enjoy it being where we were (here’s why), so we came here. It costs 59Dh a night to stay here plus 25Dh for mains hook-up and another 12Dh if you want to use the showers. As we’re using Zagan’s shower, and we’ve opted to save our gas and use the mains, it’s costing us £6.75 a night (without electricity it would be £4.74). If you can believe it, it gets even cheaper if you stay longer than five nights (when Ju paid it was only 75Dh a night for some reason). You can amble the ten minutes into town along a sandy path through the Rod Stewart trees of the palmeraie behind the campsite.
The palms of Tafraoute
Tafraoute’s a Berber town, ‘Berber’ being the broad name given to the tribes of ancient inhabitants of the Maghreb. Later on Arabs populated much of Morocco and the other countries of the Maghreb – the Arabic name for North Africa, meaning ‘The West’, since these are the western-most Arabic countries. Berbers remain, mainly in the desert and mountain areas. They have their own language and alphabet, strikingly different symbols to the swirling, organic Arabic script which appears alongside it on many signs and maps. Maybe 25% of Moroccans speak only Berber, although the language only became ‘official’ a few years ago. Telling the difference between a Berber and an Arab is a job for someone more skilled than me, I’m clueless. I’m told Tafraoute is a predominantly Berber town, so I’m going with it!
A Berber lady in Tafraoute
We read up on Morocco five years back before our first tour here, nothing major, just skimming the introduction chapters of Lonely Planet. One point which stood out was the fact the culture here is a highly conservative one. For us Europeans, sunlight and 25 degrees means one thing: get your shorts on! But for Moroccans, no matter how hot it gets, the showing of skin is simply not the done thing. Men allow their faces, hair and hands to be seen. Even the young wear jeans and a hoodie. Women are even more restrained, using flowing clothes to cover every part of them. Some, like the black-clad Berber ladies here allow their faces to be seen as they see fit, using one hand to sweep the colour-edged cloth across their face when a man walks by – changing them from a hijab to a niqab (the BBC has a good description). No-one’s wearing a burka, though using sunglasses with a niqab has the same, disconcerting, eye-hiding effect.
Wall art in Tafraoute’s main square
With this in mind, it’s fascinating to see how Tafraoute reacts to the sight of hundreds of Western tourists wandering the streets in shorts and T-shirts. Some of the ladies are wearing hot pants and tight, strappy tops. They stand out in the same way a Muslim lady in a burka stands out walking a small town in the UK. No-one, as far as I can make out, is batting an eyelid.
Green tiles on one of Tafraoute’s mosques
Tafraoute’s write up in our 15 year old guidebook basically says it’s been poor most of its existence. Folks scratched a living from the land, which is pretty much a stony desert. More latterly the menfolk would leave home to work in the cities or abroad, sending back money to keep their families alive. How much of that is necessary now, given a steady and significant flow of tourists, I don’t know. There must be over 300 motorhomes in the valley, so maybe a population of 500 motorhome tourists through the winter at least, pouring money into the local economy. Given this massive boost of income, the council’s blind eye to the problems it causes is understandable.
Tafraoute from above. I failed to finish this climb, finding myself up against a small cliff near the top
The town’s clean. There are bins everywhere, people sweeping the streets each morning, and a small army of bin lorries dealing with the waste. We walked past a doorway where a chap was refreshing red and white paint stripes, and looking past him red fire and rescue trucks gleamed. This is no backwards hill village.
Part of Tafraoute’s cleaning crew
Walking or cycling the town yields little hassle. Little – not none – but far, far less than any Western tourist will encounter in many of Morocco’s cities and towns. Ju’s taken advantage of the town’s most well-known industry and picked up four pairs of shoes. In tiny shops chaps cut, dye, sew and glue leather, more engrossed in fabrication than us. One place, which custom-makes shoes, measured around Ju’s orthopaedic inner soles and for 200Dh (£16) made a pair of boots. “They’ll be ready after the souk, Wednesday, 5pm”, we arrived to find them still being finished and looked around town for 20 minutes, coming back to pick them up. This morning Ju’s bought three more pairs of shoes, including a couple of pairs of babouche, though not in the traditional red reserved for women (women in reality wear a range of colours and styles).
Ju getting her hand-made boots from Style Elhrass. The lady in the shop is French, and is learning how to make shoes. She also went to Salim El Houcine for her pairs of babouche
Tafraoute’s said to be unremarkable, and I guess it is, measured against Morocco’s other towns and cities. Measured against the familiarity of equivalent-sized European towns, it’s an endless fascination. Compared with the UK’s cold climate the warmth here, combined with a lack of space, draws everything into the open: shops, workshops, butchery, cafes, you name it all seems to be infinitely more visible and interesting than our homeland.
One of Tafraoute’s shoe makers and sellers. There are maybe 20 shops like this here
Packed out over the counter shops are the norm here
Getting some caramelised peanuts in the souk, half a kilo for 20Dh. I accidentally tried to pay 40Dh but the stall owner corrected me
Hand made metal work – recycled metal and tyres for sale in Tafraoute
Bee keeping gear for sale in Tafraoute
The true draw of Tafraoute though, for many and for me, is the surroundings. I’ve scrambled up a couple of the hillsides, sitting high up looking over the valley and making yet another futile attempt to absorb the magnificent. Out comes the camera for more hopelessly impossible efforts to capture the scene – I might as well reach out and try and grab it with a clenched hand. We cycled the 10km uphill to Tafraoute’s famous painted rocks, through more wonderful scenery, taking photos in the sure knowledge these moments in magic are fleeting things, instants we can only hope to absorb in ourselves. Apologies for the sickly rhetoric, but this is surely a beautiful place which my words can’t describe; it needs you to be here to appreciate it.
A football pitch in the Anti Atlas mountains
Out for a ride on the BSA bikes – single track road but easy for vehicles to pass
The piste to the painted rocks
Sometimes simple stones are used to mark out graves in Morocco
The painted rocks in a valley a few miles from Tafraoute
The rocks were striking, and the 1km of piste road up to them looked easily passable in a 2WD motorhome. It’s possible to free camp up there, and only a handful of vans were there when we arrived. The place was (almost) devoid of rubbish, and in the hope of getting a view of the heavens with no light pollution, we’re off there shortly, so I’d better pull my finger out and get Zagan ready to leave!
We met this Swiss lady – Laura Villiger (www.la2rad.com, in German) cycling her way across Morocco. I asked if she’d had any trouble and she told us no. She’d stuck to the Med coast to start off with, to weigh the country up, and had had no problems. As you can see, despite the heat she’s well covered-up, which I reckon probably transforms the experience for women travelling here.
Yet another tagine! Lamb cooked by Omar, the campsite manager. Pretty good and huge, but the lamb was a bit chewy so we don’t think we gave him enough notice.
Ju got a job! While Omar went into town to get supplies for our lamb tagine, she took charge of the site.
Cheers folks, Jay
We too loved Tafraoute, stayed at Granite Rose and remember Omar well. You are right, it’s impossible to put the beauty of the place into words. And the light at sunset is magnificent. We have stayed in Portugal this year and had a wonderful trip, have enjoyed your blog especially when you report on somewhere we have been.
Maggie can I ask where you stayed in Portugal as we found they are tightening up on Wild Camping especially on the Algarve. Some of the Aires are pretty dire too like the one at Villa de San Antonio thought Castro Marim was good but we have heard the the one at Olhao no longer exists. Oh hum we are off to Sicily at the end of the month.
Very interesting, as always! And what a beautiful country. One day …
The views look fantastic and I’m enjoying stowing away and sharing your tour of Morocco. We didn’t have such a positive experience when we visited about 3 years ago but didn’t cast our net as wide as you. I’ve been reading your Money Muppet posts and while I don’t even aspire to Muppet level, I’m educating myself and have a question for you. Have you considered investing in peer to peer companies such as Zopa or Ratesetter? (Actually I have a supplementary as well – where does that cutie Charlie hang out while you’re off on your bikes, does he guard the van?) Thanks for sharing your adventures, keep having fun :)
Hi Deb, we’ve looked at P2P lending but we’re happy with our asset class spread at the moment. They seem a fairly safe bet these days, and are becoming mature if they aren’t already, but not for us at this point.
Charlie stays in the van. We’ve built up a fair bit of experience about the temperature, shade, thermal blinds and ventilation in here, and we only head out if we’re happy he won’t be in discomfort.
Cheers, Jay
We follow your trips with great interest and plan a year away in Spain / Portugal this year in Moho. Can you help me with who you use for insurance for your rented property in U.K. as I am finding it difficult as we are abroad for an extended period.
Thanks Dan
Hi Daniel
If your property is rented out then you just need a landlord’s policy, which you’ll find from most providers. We’ve never had anyone ask if we were in the UK or not when we took out one of these policies. If you aren’t renting out the property, then I believe it can get tricky as most providers don’t like them to be empty for more than a couple of weeks.
Cheers Julie
So interesting and as always so well written. Wish we were younger.
Glad to see those BSA’s getting lots of use. Enjoy.
We have Chunnel bkd for April 4th, plan to tour France & Spain with our 2 Jacks for 6months,,, our 1st MoHo tour. Yr blogs r inspirational,I’d love to tour Morocco but my wife isn’t so keen… Are there problems coming back to EU with a dog? We’ve heard it isn’t a problem leaving the EU with a pet but getting back in isn’t so easy?