13-14 April 2023, Ouarzazate
Hotel Atlas R543.04 [DH300]
Today we visited the Unesco site, Ait Ben Haddou, 30km back the way we had travelled to reach Ouarzazate. We opted to take local public transport ie the cheapest possible transport and/or hitchhike as opposed to hiring a taxi on our own, which would have cost around R400 each way.
We walked 1.5km to the local bus station where we were assured we could not board a long-distance bus only as far as Tazentout, the turnoff to Ben Haddou. We were directed to the collective taxi rank where for R20 each we bought two tokens and were handed over to a taxi driver who took our tokens and seated us in his empty vehicle. It took about 40 minutes for him to fill the taxi with other passengers and then we were off. 20km later, he dropped us at the intersection to Ben Haddou where we managed to thumb a lift with Tarik and Yunnis, both in the micro credit industry. QED for R40 as opposed to R400.
Getting back was interesting. We were picked up by a tour guide in a comfortable air-conditioned midi-bus and dropped at the intersection. We approached a taxi driver parked nearby, not sure if he was a collective taxi or not. He was not, and although he wanted to charge R100 only, I was in let’s-experiment-with-cheap-transport mode, and we again stuck out a hopeful thumb. When a young man stopped for us, the taxi driver tapped an angry knuckle on his window and complained to him about, we assume, stealing his business, and we were ejected from the car! I really find it hard to believe the taxi driver thought this would garner him our business. Instead we walked a little further down the road where we were picked up by someone who dropped us a block or two from our hotel.
Fun!
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Unesco: “The ksar, a group of earthen buildings surrounded by high walls, is a traditional pre-Saharan habitat. The houses crowd together within the defensive walls, which are reinforced by corner towers. Ait-Ben-Haddou, in Ouarzazate province, is a striking example of the architecture of southern Morocco… It is an extraordinary ensemble of buildings offering a complete panorama of pre-Saharan earthen construction techniques. The oldest constructions do not appear to be earlier than the 17th century, although their structure and technique were propagated from a very early period in the valleys of southern Morocco. The site was also one of the many trading posts on the commercial route linking ancient Sudan to Marrakesh by the Dra Valley and the Tizi-n'Telouet Pass.”
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Very few families still live in the old village, most having moved across the river to the modern village. Many, however, make their living from tourism; others from farming.
Ben Haddou is so extraordinary that it has been used as a film set in a dozen movies beginning with Lawrence of Arabia in 1962 and including Gladiator in 2000. In one of my photos you can see the amphitheatre constructed outside the ksar walls for Gladiator.
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A great day.