Ouarzazate to Zagora: The Draa Valley Road Trip, the Agdez Market Town, the Tamnougalt Ksar, the Zagora Camel Sign, and the Pre-Saharan Palm Oasis Landscape
The Ouarzazate to Zagora route covers the Draa Valley road trip as the most dramatically beautiful single Moroccan pre-Saharan road journey, the Agdez weekly market town, the Tamnougalt Berber ksar, the Zagora camel sign (Tombouctou 52 days by camel), and the pre-Saharan palm oasis landscape.
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Draa Valley Road: The Most Beautiful Southern Morocco Drive
The N9 road from Ouarzazate south through the Draa Valley to Zagora (166 kilometers, 3.5 hours with stops) is the most scenically dramatic single road in southern Morocco and the journey that most completely conveys the pre-Saharan Morocco landscape with the alternating oasis palm groves, the honey-colored ksar towers, the barren Anti-Atlas rock, and the deepening desert character as the road approaches the Zagora sand dune zone. The Tizi n'Tinifift mountain pass (1660 meters) at the Ouarzazate southern edge provides the most panoramically complete single view of the beginning Draa Valley.
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Agdez: The Draa Valley Market Town
Agdez, the most substantial single Draa Valley market town 67 kilometers south of Ouarzazate at the point where the Draa Valley widens into the most extensive single palm grove section, is the most traditionally Moroccan single commercial center in the Draa Valley with the weekly Tuesday souk (the most active single Draa Valley rural market), the Agdez kasbah, and the most diverse single Draa Valley craft production (the Draa silver jewelry, the woven date palm leaf baskets, and the mineral fossils from the Anti-Atlas). The Agdez kasbah overlook above the town provides the most panoramically complete single Draa Valley palm grove view.
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Tamnougalt Ksar: The Berber Architecture Showcase
Tamnougalt ksar, 9 kilometers south of Agdez on the Draa Valley floor, is the most completely inhabited single ancient ksar in the Draa Valley with the multi-storey pisé tower houses, the communal defensive wall, the mosque, and the agadir communal granary preserved in the most continuous single occupation sequence of any Draa Valley ksar. The Tamnougalt Casbah, partially converted to a guesthouse, is the most atmospherically complete single overnight experience in the Draa Valley and the ksar most recommended for the visitor who wants the most direct single contact with the Draa Valley earthen architecture tradition.
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Zagora: The Gateway Town and the Famous Sign
Zagora, 166 kilometers south of Ouarzazate at the southern end of the main Draa Valley palm section, is most famous for the Tombouctou 52 jours (Timbuktu 52 days) sign pointing south on the road out of town, the most replicated single Moroccan travel photograph and the most concisely evocative single indicator of the Zagora position on the trans-Saharan caravan route. The Zagora sign (originally indicating the camel caravan travel time to Timbuktu, now a tourist photo opportunity) is the most economically important single road sign in Morocco for the local souvenir photograph business.
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Draa Date Palm: The Saharan Agricultural Engine
The Draa Valley Medjool and Boufeggous date palm varieties, producing the most commercially valued single Moroccan date harvest (the Zagora date market in October at harvest time is the most economically significant single agricultural event in the Draa Valley economy), represent the most directly productive single North African oasis agricultural system still operating in its traditional form. The date harvest season (October, the most recommended single Draa Valley visit timing) combines the most atmospherically festive single Moroccan rural harvest with the most commercially active single Draa Valley market event.
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M'hamid el-Ghizlane: The End of the Road
M'hamid el-Ghizlane (Village of the Gazelles), 90 kilometers south of Zagora at the point where the asphalt road ends and the Sahara begins, is the most completely pre-Saharan single Moroccan village at the edge of the Erg Chegaga dune field (the most remote single large Moroccan dune system, requiring the 4WD vehicle for access). The M'hamid village, with the most completely Saharan-influenced single Moroccan Berber community (the Ait Atta nomadic tradition, the most recently nomadic single Moroccan tribe), is the most dramatically edge-of-the-world single Moroccan village and the departure point for the most authentic single camel trek in Morocco.