From the turn-off 1km beyond Souq el-Had Issi, you can loop round 25km through the
Timguilcht Gorges and back up to Tlata Tasrite, mostly on rough piste, impassable in a
normal vehicle. If you stay on the better road, following the sign to the mine, you can head
12km south to Ukas to see some impressive rock carvings, although you need a guide to find
them.
Some 5km northeast on the piste is the village of Tiwadou, where the wonderful, family-run
Auberge Sahnoun ( 0528 21 83 65, 0667 09 53 76; [email protected]; r per
person incl half-board Dh150) is on the edge of a palmeraie . The three basic but cosy rooms,
with mattresses on the floor and a good shared bathroom with hot water, are gathered around
a Berber tent. There’s a roof terrace and a traditional hammam is being built. Owner Mohamed
(see the boxed text Click here ), a guide who organises multiday treks in the area, is
passionate about preserving traditional local village life. He has created a small on-site
museum: a room filled with objects from lanterns to scythes that were once part of everyday
Afella-Ighir life.
A daily minibus runs through the villages to Tafraoute (Dh20), leaving Tiwadou at about 5am
and returning at midday.
MOHAMED SAHNOUN OUHAMOU
Mohamed Sahnoun Ouhamou is a painter, teacher, guesthouse owner and tour guide.
How long have you lived in Tiwadou? I was born here, but I went to university in Agadir and worked near Beni Mellal as a
photographer’s assistant. I came back in 1987 when I heard they needed university graduates to work as teachers here.
Did others leave? Many people from this valley went to Casablanca in the 1950s, where they took over shops and
businesses. Many of these families have become industrialists in Casa and many corner shops in Casa, Fez, Rabat and even
Paris are owned by Berbers from this area.
The men usually leave their families behind and come home in their holidays to build big houses. The region is full of huge
houses. But there is a problem: after a while many men take a new wife and start another family, and then they don’t come
back. Agriculture has come to a standstill, because there are no longer enough men to work the land. People move out of the
old mud-brick villages, so the houses are disintegrating. We are losing our traditions, it’s a big problem.
Why do you stay? I love this place; I wouldn’t want to live elsewhere. There is still human exchange, and also something I
value immensely: solidarity. If someone needs something, everyone helps. They have helped me build a house here and a
small museum with objects from daily life as we used to know it.
How can tourism help? Tourism and education are the only solutions. That’s why I built my guesthouse, and that’s why I work
with local women who got left behind. In some villages, 90% or more are women, the rest are children and old men. The day
the husband stops sending money the hardship begins. So we started a women’s cooperative and now have 86 women
learning about weaving and embroidery, and how to read and write. Before the women were not really valued, now they have
some income as they sell their work to tourists. I’m the only man allowed to go in because I teach them. We also teach their
children, so they all now do at least three years’ primary school and we’ve created an overflow for the local school. From 14
years onwards, boys often go into business, because local people value commerce and trade, while girls are the first to lose
out when there are limited funds.
What else are you organising in the village? We’ve started organising a festival every year where the children collect
rubbish; there are plastic bags everywhere, it’s a big problem. The prize for collecting the most plastic bags went to a
preschool boy, Abdullah. At first the teachers and other students didn’t even notice him, then he was nervous on stage when
we presented him with the award. Now he tells me he will always collect plastic bags, so it shows that messages can be
communicated easily.
What is your favourite area? I am fascinated by the rock carvings – you can see engravings of elephants. I am a self-taught
painter and I love what my ancestors did. The problem is there is no protection of the sites and some have been vandalised.
The carvings in Ukas are famous but there are other sites and I organise treks of three or five days to go and see them. I love