Draa Valley

The Draa Valley stretching north from M'Hamid toward Zagora and Ouarzazate is one of the most dramatic and beautiful landscapes in Morocco. The valley floor is a ribbon of palm oases, irrigated gardens, and mud-brick villages threading through otherwise empty desert. On either side, bare brown hills and rocky plains stretch to the horizon. The contrast between the lush green corridor and the surrounding aridity is striking.

The valley is best experienced by driving north from M'Hamid toward Zagora, stopping at the ksour (fortified villages) and palmeries along the way. The kasbahs at Tinfou, Ouled Driss, and the Ksar des Aït Isfoul are particularly well-preserved. Sunrise and sunset are the best times for photography — the mud-brick walls glow golden in the oblique light, and the palms create long shadows across the ochre earth.

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A story
The Draa Valley was for centuries one of the great caravan routes of North Africa, linking the gold fields of sub-Saharan Africa to the ports of the Moroccan coast. Caravans carrying gold, ivory, slaves, and ostrich feathers would travel north through M'Hamid, then up through Zagora, Ouarzazate, and across the Atlas to Marrakech and beyond. The closure of the Algerian border in the 1970s ended the last remnants of this trade, but the ruined caravanserais and the enormous fortified ksour (villages) along the valley still tell the story.