We left Marrakech just after dawn and made our way along the route de Ouarzazate to Ait Ourir about 30km outside of Marrakech. It’s the last ‘big’ town before you hit the foothills of the Atlas. It’s a perfect place to stock up on supplies, petrol, cash etc.
On Tuesdays there is a fabulous market located just on the edge of town. This was our first stop.
I have been there half a dozen times now and only once have I seen another Western head in amongst the crowds. It is a fabulous place. Little seems to have changed in centuries. Just the taxi’s waiting in the dust at the entrance and the toot of horns are the modern additions.
We wandered for an hour or so amongst the sheep sellers, the butchers, the outdoor barbers, the food stalls, the fishmongers and the beggars. It is an overwhelming place of sounds and scents. We had mint tea sat on bench that was as rickety as the vendors knees, seemingly old women with babies strapped to their backs approached and asked for the odd dirham. Cats and dogs with eyes and legs missing skitted between our feet.
It was a magical start.
About 10:00am we reluctantly left and started to wind our way up into the higher Atlas making our way towards Taddert the last significant village before we would turn of towards the Glaoui Kasbah of Telouet. 
Just beyond Ait Ourir you pass the lovely little hotel/restaurant ‘Le Coq Hardi’ set in tranquil gardens beside the river which is normally dry. If returning from the mountains to Marrakech quite late in the day this would make a good overnight before you attack Marrakech.
Beyond this it is a long series of switchbacks and some stunning scenery. Time must be allowed to stop and take pictures, smell the fresh air and stop for a cold drink at one of the many roadside stalls. The road is easy going and in good condition, before you know it you have climbed to the highest point on this pass 2260 meters. A few kilometers after this is the turn off towards Telouet.
This is where the history and the magic really starts.
The Kasbah at Telouet was built and lived in by the Glaoui brothers between 1935 and 1955, the greatest and most brutal of all the tribal leaders in Morocco. It is something akin in Morocco’s recent history to King Arthur and the Knights of the Round table. The Kasbah was only abandoned in 1956 and the son of Thami El Glaoui is still alive today. In fact there is an attempt being made by him to restore the Kasbah so time is of the essence to get there. The Glaoui brothers were the ‘Lords of the Atlas’ and Gavin Maxwell in his book ‘Lords of the Atlas’ has done a biblical job in depicting their lives and the history of the times in which they lived.
Most of the Kasbah is currently in ruins. Only some of the upper rooms have been spared from the decaying power of Morocco’s natural elements and thieving less natural ones. Most rooms are roofless and completely empty of any ornamentation but somehow this lends itself to the stark, dry, dusty location. You can almost here the cries of the prisoners dying in the dungeons and the singing and dancing of the Glaouis dancing girls all at once.
Entrance is 20 dirham per person and you will more than likely have the whole place to yourself.
This will definitely change though as not only is the Kasbah being restored but the old road from Telouet to Ait Benhaddou is also been given a new surface. If you have a 4WD or are on mountain bike or foot and are a bit more adventurous this route through the Ounila Valley is not to be missed.
The only reason the main road running from Ait Ourir to Ouarzazate is there is simply that the Glaoui stronghold at Telouet and the notoriety of Thami El Glaoui’s cousin, Hammou ‘The Vulture’ was so great the French constructed the new faster road on the more difficult Western approach to the South.
From Telouet to Ait Benhaddou by the old road you will be travelling in the footsteps of Sultans and thousands upon thousands of followers, camels, donkeys. It is said that when the Sultan travelled some 60,000 people travelled with him. Quite a breathtaking thought.
It is a dry, desolate, salt-stained stretch of road heading for 30 kilometers south-east. The path is narrow and quite treacherous in parts and will take a strong stomach and a good 4WD.
However it is perhaps one of the most rewarding 30 kilometers you might ever do. The route is dotted with small hamlets mostly built of the earth. Kasbahs loom down on you precariously perched on cliff edges, most are still inhabited. Old women can be seen bent double deep down in the valleys carrying their days labour, whilst the men seem to languish in the shade doing nothing. It is 30 kilometers of time travel.
You are thrown out of the time warm at Tamdaght, just north of Ait Benhaddou and from there it is just a 5 minute drive on a decent tarmac surface to the most visited of all the Moroccan Kasbahs due to it’s featuring in many films such as Gladiatior and Lawrence of Arabia – Ait Benhaddou.
Tagdaght has it’s own imposing Glaoui built Kasbah built into the clifftops perched high overlooking the meeting point of the Mella and Ounila rivers.
The new town of Ait Benhaddou sits on the Western bank of the river Ounila with the old Ksour of Ait Benhaddou across the river on the East. It is a very dramatic setting with the dry desolate plains leading to the desert in the east and the lush palm strewn oasis leading to the south.
We spent the night here at the Maison D’Hotes ‘La Fibule D’or’ – highly recommended – very simple but humble and kind service. I laid on the roof most of the night, despite a comfy bed just downstairs, the silence and the stars were just too much of a draw.
The next morning we headed further South bypassing Ouarzazate altogether and entering the Draa valley. Ksours, or fortified villages line the road every mile or so and within these small ksours you will find more Kasbahs (fortified houses). Built so closely together these villages resemble larger kasbahs and are quite spectacular in their scale and design. Built only of mud but decorated ornately with arches, arcades, balustrades, battlements and crenellations they are bewilderingly rich. They sink back into the red, dry earth as quickly as they are built and are therefore only around for 100 years at most before being built again to be baked dry by the sun.
This area is also known as the Palmeraie of the South for the hundreds of thousands of palms that shade the rivers edges. A labyrinth of irrigation channels keep the farmland manageable. As we walked through one small ksour we could have pulled from the branches above our heads dates, pomegranates, oranges, mandarins, bananas, figs and many more wonderful fruit.
68 kilometers beyond Ouarzazate is the small town of Agdz where a good tagine can be had on the square where the taxi’s wait for business. The tagines seem to be more seasoned in the South and I had by far the best tagine I have had for about 20 Dirhams.
Just beyond Agdz a dirt track turns East over the River Draa to the Ksar of Tamnougalt. Here we found a film crew shooting scenes for the upcoming Prince of Persia. We didn’t have time to wander as we had to make our way back to Marrakech by nightfall but from reading various guides it seems that this would be a great place to base yourself for 24 hours for a good exploration.
And so it was that we had to turn around at this point and follow the newer, French built N9 all the way back to Marrakech.
Bypassing the old Glaoui route and the Kasbahs strewn along it’s path, by no means is this route not interesting though. On the contrary it is equally interesting and it was with regret that we had to return in such a hurry.
The journey from Agdz to Marrakech took 5 hours and I believe we stopped a good dozen times for pictures but could easily have made this 100, so spectacularly beautiful was the light along the red river valleys.
