Wednesday, October 1, 2025: A beautiful sunrise over the lake 🌅 Coots and ducks are quacking away 🦆 After another stretch of road, we arrive in sight of the old ksar of Aït-Benhaddou around 11:15 AM.

After parking the camper van without any issues along the street, in front of rows of restaurants and hotels, we cross the dry riverbed and enter the ksar through the main gate.
There, to our surprise, we’re asked to pay 20 Dh per person—while, as we’ll see later, most visitors led by their guides cross via the pedestrian bridge and pay nothing! We’re shocked by all the souvenir shops filling the alleys of the old ksar. Not a single spot without displays of all kinds of jewelry, carpets, watercolors, objects, etc. 🛍️ And the number of tour groups on organized trips is staggering! There are people from all nationalities…
You can’t see anything of the ksar with so many people and items spread everywhere!
We climb to the top (under construction), where we admire the view of the maze of alleys and covered passages, then descend through these same alleys where, in 2009, we were practically alone.
Back then, we could admire the beautiful doors, and the houses were still inhabited. Now, they’re occupied by souvenir shops… What a change!
Let’s flee this infernal crowd pouring into the narrow alleys of the ksar in continuous waves…
We take refuge in a small restaurant where we enjoy a delicious chicken and lemon tajine with vegetables. It’s the restaurant « Tamlalte », located near the pedestrian bridge. We’re almost alone there, and we have a great view of the ksar through the large bay windows.
… Then, to get back to the camper van, we pass through a very narrow alley at the corner of which there’s a small café with a welcoming terrace, covered by a light pergola. We enjoy a very good fresh « apple-pomegranate » juice made on the spot. Phew, it feels good to rest on this little terrace in peace. It’s still scorching hot today…
We hit the road again and head to Ouarzazate. We start with some shopping at the Carrefour supermarket (it’s the only one where you can find beer), then park facing the Kasbah of Taourirt. It was one of the many residences of Pasha El-Glaoui. Considerably expanded in the 1920s, it’s actually a ksar—a fortified village that was inhabited (no longer since 1956). Unfortunately, it’s currently under construction, so we can only admire it from the outside.

The Kasbah of Taourirt
Since we can’t visit the main kasbah, we take a stroll through the adjacent ksar.
It’s still home to several families, and several guesthouses welcome visitors.
But there’s no way to be left in peace. The vendors all want to sell us things, others want to guide us…
A guy offers to let us climb for free onto the terrace of a guesthouse. He’s very friendly and explains that the surrounding houses, no longer inhabited or maintained, are deteriorating and falling into ruin.
The rammed-earth constructions (straw and clay) require upkeep. There’s a lot of rubble in the streets, and in several places, artisans are at work. That’s a good thing…
After wandering through the ksar, we try to visit the Cinema Museum, located right across from the main kasbah, but it’s too late—it closes at 5 PM. Oh well… I don’t know if we missed much; reviews are mixed on how interesting this museum is…
After going to the modern part of town to exchange money, we take the road to the Fint Oasis, where we plan to spend the night.

The Fint Oasis, a little slice of paradise!
Upon arriving, we realize we’re out of bread. Will we find any for sale here? A local woman passes by us. I ask her, and she motions for us to follow her. She leads us through the village street (it’s uphill) to a house just past the mosque. She takes us inside to meet another woman, who welcomes us into her inner courtyard.
Quickly, she lays out rugs and cushions on the floor and invites us to sit. She serves us mint tea and brings out traditional flatbreads.

Not losing sight of business, she offers to cook couscous for us tomorrow at noon (120 Dh). Deal made—she’ll come get us so we can watch her prepare the meal…
We buy two loaves of bread from her and return to the camper van parked by the riverbed at the bottom of the village.

We’ll spend the night by the riverbed
To our surprise, there are lots of people gathering carpets they’ve washed in the riverbed and laid out to dry on the rocks.
They explain that there’s a wedding in their family, so they need to clean all these carpets. The whole family spent the day here, with kids, pots, and stoves. They load everything into a pickup truck to head home, near Ouarzazate.

Washing carpets in the riverbed
We finish the evening outside. It was very hot today, and tonight, there’s no cool breeze like other evenings… Several locals come to picnic by the water… Around 10:30 PM, everyone’s gone… total silence.
Thursday, October 2: In the morning, women walk along the riverbed. They’re heading to the marshes at the far end to gather fodder for the animals. Here, women aren’t veiled in black like in the Tafraoute region—they wear floral dresses and headscarves.
We take a little walk on the other side, along gardens with square plots bordered by small earthen walls, cultivated with alfalfa, corn, and vegetables, as well as many date palms.
Around 11 AM, the woman comes to get us to take us to her home.
As last night, we sit on cushions in the inner courtyard of her house.
She first brings us dates and takes us into her very basic kitchen, where the couscoussier is on the fire. Chicken, carrots, and onions are boiling in the lower part, and the semolina is steaming on top.
After a while, she cooks the other vegetables: zucchini, peppers, and eggplants, then puts the semolina in a basin. After adding a little water and oil, she rolls the semolina between her hands to separate the grains and puts it back to cook.

She has to do this three times… While waiting for it to cook, we sip mint tea.
Her husband’s mother also lives there (it’s her house). The old woman sits on the floor in one of the rooms around the courtyard. Her daughter (our hostess’s sister-in-law) brings her a 5-liter jug of goat’s milk. She wraps it in a plastic bag, ties the ends with strings hanging from the ceiling, and swings it back and forth energetically.
It’s an improvised churn to make butter!
I didn’t know you could make butter from goat’s milk. I’ve never seen it for sale anywhere. Apparently, it’s healthier than cow’s milk butter…
In any case, I think she must spend quite a while swinging that churn before getting butter!

An improvised churn!
Meanwhile, the couscous is done cooking. The woman brings us a beautiful dish with the semolina topped with chicken and vegetables, accompanied by a bowl of sauce. It’s very good and filling (though we would’ve liked it spicier).
When we return to the camper van, there are still groups of women washing their carpets in the riverbed. It seems to be a common practice here…
After this lovely stay at the Fint Oasis, we head toward Skoura, crossing a desert-like landscape… We park at the Amridil campsite, located very close to the main kasbah… Since it’s very hot and there’s a pool at this campsite, we take a quick dip before visiting the kasbah (we’d already been there in 2009). Not only is it hot, but the AC and interior ventilation in our old camper van are broken!!! It’s the same one we came to Morocco with, and we’ve traveled through many countries in it. It’s still going strong!
In 2009, we loved the beautiful, lush palm grove that stretched behind the kasbah.
This place was very green, with all kinds of irrigated crops growing under the palm and olive trees. We’re saddened to see it so dried out now. The palm trees are attacked by a parasitic fungus, « bayoud, » which weakens them and prevents them from resisting the severe drought caused by rising temperatures.
Around the kasbah, it’s a construction site—the road is under repair, with big piles of earth, stones, and dust everywhere…

The kasbah is also being restored, but you can still visit part of it (40 Dh per person). It was featured on the old 50 Dh banknotes with the portrait of Hassan II. And it served as a filming location.
You can only see a small part of it, containing everyday objects (kitchen, bread oven, oil press), and climb onto the terraces where masons are at work. The Kasbah of Amridil looks impressive from the front, but the back is in poor condition.

After a short walk through the palm grove (or what’s left of it), we return to the campsite, exhausted because it’s still stiflingly hot today. Fortunately, a little wind picks up in the evening—it feels good. There aren’t many people at the campsite; not many tourists around here at the moment…
Tomorrow, we’re heading to the Valley of the Roses…