Cascades d'Ouzoud and the Source

Erin in our Berber Room at Chez Ali
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From Marrakech we headed to the Cascades d'Ouzoud (waterfalls), in the Middle Atlas mountains. During the bus ride, we were graced with the vision of a sand devil cutting across the highway. The bus driver did not stop at all, though people did put up the windows, so maybe it is only interesting to tourists!

We first went to Azilal to then take a Grand Taxi to the waterfalls. This taxi sharing was better organized than the Trinidad style, and they use Mercedes! The riders are pooled by the driver or a dispatcher to cram as many in (about 6 adult riders is preferred) and the rates are fixed per journey, so the more people you have the cheaper it gets. Unfortunately (by my account) or fortunately (by Erin's account) we became the victims of Aziz, a local guy who latched onto us and became our guide despite the numerous times I explained we did not need or want a guide. During the taxi ride to the cascades, he stopped the driver in a dry and scrubby patch of road and insisted we get out. It seemed mighty lonely there, and like gullible fools (or intrepid adventurers, according to Erin) we followed him. He did lead us through lovely olive groves and along a stream that was irrigating the trees. Amongst the trees were pomegranate and other fruit trees. It crossed our minds that at any moment a gang of guys would pop out of the bushes and mug us, luckily our fears were never realized.

Michael admires the paintings outside our humble abode
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After about an hours walk we reached the source of the Cascades d'Ouzoud, and a simple campsite called Chez Ali.  We were welcomed by the proprietor, Ali (a friend of Aziz), his brother, and a friend of theirs who usually came out on the weekends.  We enjoyed a delicious meal of Omelette Berber cooked in a tagine(eggs, tomato, onions, potato, and herbs and spices) made with fresh ingredients collected from his garden, eating the traditional way with bread and your thumb as a scoop.  We washed everything down with copious amounts of mint tea, while the others enjoyed smoking kif all night. We spent the night in a traditional Berber home that Ali built on his land.

The source
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The next morning, Aziz took us on a short hike to a gorge just up from the source. We then headed back to the camp, and continued on about two hours to Ouzoud to visit the cascades and stay the night. We were conveniently led to a campsite run by Aziz's uncle.  However it's great location at the bottom of the cascades couldn't be beat. Check out the pics.  At the top of the waterfalls in Ouzoud, there are several places to stay and restaurants that end up having some form of live music in the evenings.  Here we bumped into Ali again, who had come over from his place to hear some musicians from Marrakech that were visiting the area. We enjoyed more conversations and stories (as best we could with our limited French and Ali's limited French). We ended up the evening at a restaurant that was having an impromtu drum session, where anyone could join in. Aziz gladly banged away for a song or two, and even a Japanese tourist made a go at it. Overall this is a great place to unwind from the hustle and bustle of Marrakech.