Ramadan in South Morocco

We normally do not travel anywhere during Ramadan unless it’s going to my home country. This Ramadan coincided with the school holidays, so we decided to have an impromptu holiday in a Muslim country. I searched the neighbouring Muslim country list and found cheap tickets to Ouarzarzate, Morocco. Having been to Morocco before, I was not much impressed and found it very chaotic, most places I visited during my previous visit were big cities: Marrakesh, Casablanca, Rabat, Meknes and Agadir. I did make small trips to some villages, but they were mainly tourist places. When booking for Ouarzarzate, I did not expect it to be any different from my previous visit to Morocco, however, the South of Morocco did take me by surprise.

Ouarzarzate is a relatively developing city, with a recent tiny airport, where planes look like taxis with wings. It is very close to the city of Ouarzarzate which is relatively quiet compared to many cities in the northern part. It does have the normal features of Souk, and even has a church and a synagogue. It is a beautiful city to shop in especially since none of the sellers tries to harass you into buying stuff unlike Marrakesh, you can enjoy browsing better, but as it is in any part of Morocco you still have to haggle over the price. However, although some sellers did tell us exorbitant prices, others were more truthful, so it’s best to ask around for prices before you get a good estimate of the real price.

Ouarzarzate is known as the city of film making, Ait Ben Haddou, the little town used in many films to represent small Arabic towns feature in many films and it is completely free to visit. Beware though at one of the gates, two men would not allow us to get through as they were charging ‘renovation’ costs, they even had a sign on the wall and fake receipts. However, we stood our ground, refused to pay, and were told we could get in free from the other two entrances. If ever they ask to charge you, tell them you have done your research and know it is free to enter. There is also the Atlas studio and CLA studio there where you can visit film sets of other big banner films. We could not visit CLA as it was being set up for the filming of Gladiator 2 and were told filming will start in June. There are other free places while you are driving around Ouarzarzate that were used for film scenes, such as the gas station in ‘The Hills have eyes’. You will find that Ouarzarzate is still less busy than Marakkesh even though it has many attractions. There is a lake just outside the city which is somewhat an oasis from the dry landscape. The nearest biggest city to Ouarzarzate is 4 and a half hours drive through the Atlas mountain range, with very few villages on the way and a couple of gas stations, so make sure the car is filled up before the journey. There are several police checkpoints around Ouarzarzate and you are expected to slow down and stop if asked to. If there is a stop sign, you must stop completely before turning even if it is clear. We probably got stopped about 6 times over an 8-day period, sometimes more than once a day, but once they realised, we were tourists, they didn’t ask us for anything, plus we do have the advantage of speaking French. If you are renting a car, finding an automatic car can be a bit tricky, but if you can drive a manual car then it is very easy. We were charged 3600 dhs for 8 days for a manual 7-seater including insurance (this roughly works out about £300) that we pre-booked through a local rental agency. There were 10 of us, so we had a second car which was an automatic car and was charged more for that one. The main roads are paved, however, the Southern part is still developing and roads are still being built, you may find many side roads unpaved, however, we did drive on those with a small Kia Picanto with no issue.

We stayed in a 200-year-old Kasbah run by a lovely couple and their dedicated team near the town of Skoura. I cannot recommend Kasbah 123 Soleil (this is not a paid advertisement) enough as they did go above and beyond for us. The Kasbah is a retreat in a small village surrounded by date trees, olive trees, pomegranate trees, orange trees and any other fruit and vegetables. It even has a little farm on the premises, and we were graced with fresh eggs every day for our meals. Saadia, who runs the Kasbah showed us around and how she maintains the plantation during the dry season. She also welcomed us in her kitchen and showed us how to make authentic Berber food such as couscous and tagine amongst many other dishes. As it was Ramadan, we were fasting and she served us the yummiest Harira soup every day to break our fast. We were self-catered some days and even on the days we were not, she still managed to get us some of her homecooked food. We were told we could use the vegetables available in her garden for our cooking and the workers helped us to harvest some vegetables. The Kasbah also has an outdoor swimming pool with no chlorine, which the kids loved and a Hamam for which we were charged a minimal fee. Monday was Souk Day, and Saadia personally took us to the souk to buy what we need and even helped us with the bargaining. She also accompanied us for shopping in the shops around Skoura and told us to let her do the bargaining. We loved the honesty of the people in Skoura, we had been to the shops before on our first day and asked for prices, Saadia was told the same prices as us, but she still managed to get the price down a little. There is no big supermarket in Skoura, you have to go to Carrefour in Ouarzarzate, which is about 50 minutes’ drive. However, prices in the small shops in Skoura were very similar to what we found in Carrefour. Saadia also made arrangements for the kids to have Camel rides, and it was way cheaper than I remember paying last time I was in Morocco. She also offered the free services of her workers to guide us around places of interests, which we politely declined, as we knew how busy they were at the Kasbah. But she did recommend us places to visit including a nearby oasis.

The kids absolutely loved this holiday with nature, and took it upon themselves to sleep on the rooftops under the stars. We felt really safe there, away from the hustle and bustle of the city life. We witnessed first-hand how Ramadan is experienced by the locals, everything closes down when it is Iftar time (breaking the fast), even food places and Carrefour, the biggest supermarket, however after Taraweeh ( the night prayers) the whole city comes to life in Ouarzarzate and it is something to relish. We were surprised at how kind and honest people were in the South. In Ouarzarzate, we were offered to try snails for free by a happy chap who was selling them, he told us to try everything whilst we are there. The first day no one tried the snails, the next day most of the kids did try them and enjoyed them! Unfortunately, I am not that adventurous when it comes to meat. The Berber and the people from the South were some of the most welcoming people we came across. We hope we will go back, not just as tourists but as family members of the people we have met and become friends with now.