Vallée et palmeraie du Ziz   63341
previous panorama
next panorama
Orientation on / offOrientation on / off
Details / LabelsDetails / Labels Markers on / offMarkers on / off   
 Cycle through labels:   first previous stop
play
pause
next last
  zoom in
 

Labels

1 Direction Erfoud
2 Oued Ziz
3 Setting moon
4 Zouala
5 Direction Errachidia
6 Nomadic-tent-cafè
7 Kasbah
8 Piste to Aoufouss

Details

Location: Vicinity of Zouala (1015 m)      by: Pedrotti Alberto
Area: Morocco      Date: 28-03-2012
This is the spot where the road N13 abandons the desert plateau around Errachidia to descend, with a sudden and steep stretch, into the ground of the Ziz valley. A valley, carved more or less deeply inside stratified rocks, and filled with palm trees, is a common sight in Morocco: see also 11914, 11544 or 7323.
I was cycling northwards from the Tafilalet, where I had slept two consecutive nights on the sand dunes. Since I was reasonably hungry, I approached the man who was closing the nomadic-tent-cafè located on top of the steep stretch - of course, a gadget for the dozens of tourist buses and caravans passing by daily, directed to Merzouga. He told me to follow him down to the valley, since he owned also a gîte in the little village of Zouala. After dinner, I decide to renounce to a comfortable room to return up, and to unfold my sleeping bag on this rock shelter. I had already precisely in mind the pixels that you see here - actually, to capture them, the following morning I needed only to stand up and shoot. The next action was to rush towards the kasbah, whose name I have not yet been able to determine, for the single photo www.panoramio.com/photo/88585517 After this, I could turn my efforts to a minimal breakfast: this was only the beginning of a busy day of which I keep little less than 400 shots...
Those here are 16, vertical, 40x1.5 mm , ISO 100, f/8, 1/50 sec.

Comments

What an amazing oasis.
2013/04/17 23:12 , Christoph Seger
I wasn't aware that this route is so scenic. Otherwise a very familiar impression. Cheers, Martin
2013/04/19 19:39 , Martin Kraus
A really special place.
2013/04/20 00:30 , Giuseppe Marzulli
Yes, I think that the road N13 would be the perfect introduction to Morocco for beginners. Maybe the single details are not always at best: for example, in the Tafraoute region the palm-filled valleys are cut far more scenically. However, nothing lacks here!
But now I have a lot to study because yesterday I received the Cicerone book: an amazing amount of information and know-how! Is this the Cicerone standard?
2013/04/20 10:44 , Pedrotti Alberto
@Alberto - I mainly used guides from Cicerone for Scotland - all excellent, all very much in the personal style of their respective authors.
Unfortunately, we didn't get to the palm-filled valleys south of Tafraoute - on the day planned for them we decided for using the opportunity of climbing Lekst.
2013/04/21 11:24 , Martin Kraus
Thank you, I was exploring the Cicerone resource for Patagonia, since there is a potentially interesting guide for the Paine and Glaciares national parks.
The Atlas Cicerone solves a lot of my Atlas problems but not all of them: for example, even with Cicerone+Udeuschle I was not yet able to fully decipher the seemingly easy, but actually challenging, www.panoramio.com/photo/89127191
Lekst for me has to wait the next time; the same is even more true for Ukas, as I already explained in my old Anti-Atlas work.
2013/04/22 18:24 , Pedrotti Alberto

Leave a comment


Pedrotti Alberto

More panoramas

... in the vicinity  
... in the top 100