My most recent expedition took me 1,000 miles across
the Sahara, crossing endless golden dunes, facing weeks
of moon-like barren wastelands and watching hundreds of
camels gallop towards a well for water. These unforgettable
experiences have all had an indelible impact on me, but it’s
the small family compound where I live, in Morocco’s High
Atlas Mountains, that has changed me the most.
The Amazigh village of Imlil comprises a main street and a
clutch of red clay buildings built into the mountains, with the
douar (family compound) accessed via a track overlooking
a sea of walnut trees. Three families and a number of cows
and chickens live in the douar with me, our houses looking
onto a communal courtyard. Life in Morocco is segregated
by gender, so my home life is with the women. Initially, I
worried how I’d fit in — I fail on every level as a female here,
where home and children define your worth. I have neither
husband nor children, and I can’t cook couscous.
My first ally was a 90-year-old grandmother. She
would come to my house daily, bringing an orange or
some apricots, and teach me words in Tashlaheet, the
local dialect. Looking out at the glory of the mountains,
with her warm hand in mine and the sun on our faces,
brought me a simple and complete happiness.
‘One hand can’t clap’ is a saying in Arabic, and here it’s
impossible to be lonely. If I sit on my front step, a neighbour
will immediately appear for a chat about nothing in
particular: the weather, who’s had a baby, what we’re having
for lunch. I’m always invited to join the women at 5pm, when
they congregate to drink sweet mint tea and eat flaky pastry
pancakes dipped in wild honey or home-churned butter.
It’s the opposite of the busy life I was used to. Here,
everything is simpler. People have time for each other
— and time to sit and watch the flocks of rooks swirl and
swoop over the peaks.Alice Morrison is the presenter of BBC Two’s Morocco to
Timbuktu: An Arabian Adventure, author of Adventures in
Morocco and creator of the Alice in Wanderland podcast:
alicemorrison.co.uk/podcast“ Looking out at the
glory of the mountains,
with her warm hand
in mine and the sun
on our faces, brought
me a simple and
complete happiness”IMAGE: GETTY
MOROCCOCOMING HOME
ALICE MORRISONJul/Aug 2020 75THE POWER OF PLACE