April 2, 2025

Hôtel Kasbah Tizimi, Erfoud, Morocco > The Road of a Thousand Kasbahs > Hôtel Ibiza Center, Quarzazate, Morocco

The motor coach pulled out of the hotel at 08:00 on schedule. We have 350 km (217 miles) to travel today to reach Quarzazate. About forty minutes outside of Erfoud on RR702 we stopped at the site of the ancient Khettaras underground irrigation system.

Obviously not my photo, but there isn;t really anything to see in mine.

The khettaras, or draining galleries, are an ingenious system for the efficient and effective management of water resources in the arid regions of Morocco. Etymologically, the term khettara means "which makes water flow by gravity in small flows".

The technique is ancient, described as a Persian invention that dates back to more than 2,500 years ago in the Almoravid era. In the Middle Ages, during the Islamic conquest, it spread throughout the southern Mediterranean. Since this system of managing groundwater required both skilled labor and well-maintained infrastructure for its smooth operation, its spread to wider regions was historically supported by the ingenious hydraulic science of the so-called Arab school.

The khettara system is not only an underground tunnel carrying water for irrigation, but also for drinking purpose. This traditional ancestral system of water drainage through galleries is built with a smooth gradient of about 1 to 2%. It’s a technique for collecting, extracting, and also generating (through thermal excursion) groundwater through a horizontal seeping tunnel that gathers groundwater upstream and, by gravity, facilitates its progressive flow to the desired exit point. The drained water is eventually piped into the open air and flows downstream through additional surface canals in order to irrigate the cultivated fields.

The underground tunnels communicate with the surface through regularly dug and spaced wells that unmistakably mark desert areas and are clearly visible in aerial photographs. Not mine.

The technique of khettaras was imported in Morocco during the Islamic conquest in the Middle Ages. Near Marrakech, the traditional technique of collecting and managing groundwater through khettaras was introduced for the purpose of developing the plain of Haouz – a dry area where agro-pastoral activity was conducted in unfavorable climatic conditions. This hydraulic system was also introduced to avoid conflicts with the Berber people who occupied the neighboring mountain area. Thanks to constantly well-managed khettaras, for more than a thousand years the farmers of Haouz could use groundwater to irrigate crops at any time.

The management of khettaras is also related to symbolic and intangible values which have deep socio-cultural connotations. In Tafilalet, the people interviewed about the origins of local khettaras, place their foundations two centuries ago. Collective memory is evoked, and the mythical foundations of the community is attributed to the ancestral men who are today the head of important families’ lineages.

From the ground it isn’t much to look at. Just a bunch of mounds of dirt along the floor of the plain. Going down into it is interesting but didn’t photograph well.

From there we drive along the eastern slopes of the Atlas Mountains and arrived at the Tinghir oasis. A large green valley of plans and small villages. Honestly, it made us think of the small Italian Hill towns. Same idea, different building materials for sure, but the same windy little “streets” and small shops. Shops on the grazing floor living space above.

Hard to see the town as it blends into the hillside. They were constructed that way. This is near the town of Tinghir

We stopped for lunch in the impressive Todra Gorge. We walked up and down a small section of the gorge. It would have been more beautiful and moving without all the tourists. It was still quite impressive. Our lunch stop was at the mouth of the gorge at the Restaurant Etolie Des Gorges. Typical Moroccan fair – beef targine, a rustic flavorful bread and a Coke Zero. It was quite good, more vegetables this time and a little less meat, which is not only healthier for you but had a little more flavor.  

A nice looking hotel just at the entrance of the gorge. Looked like a nice place one could stay at. Hotel De La Vallée. 9.4 on Booking.com and only $84

Then it was another almost four-hour ride to Ouarzazate. After about nearly two hours we made a stop at Buomalne Dades to overlook the valley below. Managed to squeeze in an ice cream at the same time.  

It would be another two  hours before we stopped in Ouarzazate. We stopped even before going to the hotel at the Kasbah of Taourirt, the former residence of Pasha Thani el Glaoui. Apparently the Glaoui clan and the French worked together to disarm with local population when the French took over in 1913. They weren’t a particularly favored family. But the Kasbah was fully restored a few years ago, then an earthquake hit and destroyed about half of the Kasbah. It was still interesting to walk through, however.

We then got back on the bus and headed to the hotel just a few minutes away. It is an Ibis chain hotel. They are known for being businessmen’s hotels. Fairly spartan but functional. It was.

Dinner was at the hotel. Another bland buffet of vegetables, chicken and this time fish. Nothing worth reporting on. They did have white rice that was hot and with a little coaxing, we got them give us a little butter for the rice and bread. Apparently we started a trend because then everyone was asking for butter. Butter isn’t normally served with meals here. Although they do usually have it at breakfast.

Buonanotte e ciao, Enrico e Maria.