"Zagora" a Zagora Travel Page by angiebabe

From Ouarzazate the P31 leads you down the magical Draa Valley past fertile palmeraie crammed with date palms,almond and olive groves and citrus trees to Zagora.

Zagora as a town was officially established by the French as an administrative post but with its oasis and prolific date growing providing the staple food for desert dwellers, has been inhabited for centuries. And also being an important stopping place for camel caravans travelling between Timbuktu and Sijilmassa (Rissani).

It was from here that the Saadians in the 16th century set out to conquer the rest of Morocco and also venture deeper down into the southern regions for slaves and gold.

Though not really a lot to do the town its interesting to travel down and visit a major town servicing an area on the edge of the Sahara, seeing the mix of people there and in particular the variety and colour in the clothing worn and the architecture of the buildings. This was my second visit in 3-4 years and i dont recall seeing so many large and rather impressive buildings on the way into town.

Its a town though that provides a good range of services that the traveller might need such a internet cafes, pharmacies, supermarket,bakeries, restaurants and a good choice of quality hotels. There are of course the carpet shops with their touts and plenty of agencies for excursions around the area and south further to the dunes of Tinfou, Laoudi or Nesrate, or to the end of the tarseal at the town of Mhamid and into the desert of Chigaga.

Wednesdays and Sundays are the major souk days where typically fruit, vegetables, handicrafts and hardware, sheep, goats, donkeys are brought into be sold. Dates are of course the mafor commodity here in Zagora.

The town does have its large market on Wednesdays and Sundays is a bustling t

There is not really a lot to see in central Zagora with the main attractions being the '52 days by camel' to Timbuktu sign and heading south 2km across the river the views and remains of the Almorahvid fortress from Jebel Zagora and the interesting kasbah at Amezrou with jewish quarter and silversmiths where many berber families still live.

The Almoravides were here in the 11-12th centuries and built the fortress up on Jebel Zagora in an ideal spot for watching over the camel caravan routes. The Kasbah des Juiffs is a huge partly-ruined kasbah where many berber families still live and 3 jewellery workshops can be found.