Dades Gorge

We spent the next two nights in Skoura, five hours drive north of M’Hamid, at the Kasbah Dar Es Salam. Our hotel was actually a restored Kasbah . The owners bought the 200 year old Kasbah seven years ago, then spent 4 years restoring it. We were the only guests in residence, and it was the nicest place we’ve stayed so far. Kasbahs are built of stone, mud and straw, with walls 2 feet thick, very high ceilings, very low doorways, and gorgeous windows and doors.

After a traditional breakfast, we spent the day driving up the Dades Valley and through the famous Dades Gorge. The trip lived up to its reputation. We drove through one hamlet after another, each crowded with kasbahs of traditional design, full of people in traditionally historical dress, which prevails today.

Once in the Gorge, we were either at the bottom of the Gorge immediately adjacent to the banks of the Dades River or at the top of the Gorge looking down at least 1000’ to the river below.

In the transitions between, we drove up steep, narrow switchbacks that connect the two. We stopped for café au lait at the top of the most dramatic of the switchback roads (seen in photo above) and luckily found a table out of the wind, which seemed to blow about 25 mph all the time, with gusts around 40mph throughout the Gorge.

Anyttime the Gorge widened even slightly at the bottom, there would be a village and terraced farm fields. We were surprised by the size of these villages, since the agricultural areas seemed too small to support the population.