GARDEN, CULTURAL CENTREMUSEUMGARDENBeyond the turn-off for Aghmat and 33km from Marrakesh along Rte d’Ourika is the town of
Tnine (aka Tnin l’Ourika), where you may run into donkey traffic at the Monday souq – but the
remarkable gardens and eco-museums in and around Tnine make the area a must-see for
nature and Berber culture.
Sights & Activities
Dar Taliba
( 0524 48 26 90; www.globaldiversity.org.uk/north-africa-community-and-
conservation; El Hanchane) The Berber botany experts aren’t professionals: they’re students
at this ground-breaking girls’ secondary school about 7km west of Tnine. Through their school
science program, the girls compiled an encyclopaedia of indigenous herbs with University of
Marrakesh ethnobotanists. Now they’re completing their second book on Berber oral histories
of medical uses for mountain herbs.
‘Dar Taliba students come from remote High Atlas villages, and didn’t have the option of
school before’, explains Rachida Mouch, advisor to the school’s botany club and director for the
Association for Ourika Basin Well-being and Development, the local NGO running the school.
‘But there’s so much we can learn from these mountains. The closer you look at them, the more
it broadens your horizons.’
Guests are greeted with refreshing tisanes of eight wild herbs successfully propagated on-
site: verbena, mint, rosemary, marjoram, geranium, sage, thyme and absinthe. BBC’s Ground
Forces helped the girls expand their school gardens in 2004, and visits to the thriving garden
can be arranged with a few days’ notice and a sliding-scale donation of Dh250 to Dh500, which
allows the school to provide breakfast or lunch to 84 students from impoverished backgrounds.
Visiting is possible from 3pm to 5pm Monday to Thursday and Saturday.
Ecomusée Berbere
( 0524 38 57 21; km37 Rte de l’Ourika, Tafza; www.ecomuseeberbere.com; admission
Dh40; 10am-5pm) A discreet sign points from the road 4km after Tnine up a dirt path well
trodden by free-range chickens into the Berber village of Tafza: here, the three-storey mudbrick
ksar that once housed the local caid (chief) is now a museum. Enthusiastic guided visits cover
every detail of household life, from symbols carved in door frames to silver dowry jewellery.
Call ahead to reserve meals on the terrace, organise a village homestay, or arrange to visit
Tafza pottery workshops to try your hand at the wheel. Before you leave, ask your host to point
you towards Tafza’s marabout shrine – unlike most whitewashed, cupola-topped shrines, it’s
built from local red stone and is thatched. Admission is free with a ticket stub from Marrakesh’s
Maison de la Photographie.
Safranerie
( 0522 48 44 76; www.safran-ourika.com; km34 Rte de l’Ourika, Tnine; garden tours Dh10;
7.30am-5.30pm) Almost anything thrives in Ourika’s rich soil, including saffron (Crocus
sativus) , organically grown here from bulbs that are cultivated near Talouine. Saffron is a high-
maintenance plant, with flowers harvested before dawn for maximum potency. Guided tours are
given by rather bored staff who reiterate key points on explanatory placards before trudging out
to the truly fascinating garden. Tours end with a soft-sell of Safranerie saffron, but the real