Back from Skoura (Morocco) (page 3 of 18)

This must be the irrigation for the palm grove gardens.

Definitely. That seemed possible

Why at night? That’s surprising!

To ensure everyone gets their share, since water is scarce and precious, there’s a schedule—each person gets no more than 3 hours in a set time slot on rotation. In this case, it was supposed to be between 10 PM and midnight, or 11 PM and 1 AM, I can’t remember exactly, and we didn’t take part ourselves. It’s tough—you have to move fast and bring headlamps, plus shovels to open or close the channels where the water flows (coming from the springs).

Hi there, I took a little time to reply, but as Mohammed would say, "a man in a hurry is already dead"... so, watering the garden: we had visited the palm grove one morning with Mohammed. He explained the water-sharing system, the irrigation canals, etc., to us. One evening after dinner, he tells us it’s his turn for water, that he’s going to water his garden, and he invites us to come along. And off we go!! His water turn lasts from 10 PM to midnight. We grab our headlamps and head into the palm grove to open the irrigation canals that correspond to his plots. Then we head to the first plot, and there we sit in the field and wait for the water to arrive (all under a stunning starry sky). We don’t really understand why we have to wait for the water, but we wait... and after a while, there it is! And then it begins! The miracle of water! The water follows the small furrow dug along the edge of the field to flood a first section at the far end. Once that part is flooded, we quickly plug the entrance and open the passage to another section of the field, and so on until the entire field is flooded. This brings us to around 11:30 PM, and we think we’re going to head back to sleep—but no, that was just the warm-up... We quickly close the canal at the entrance of this field and rush to another field where a small furrow runs through the plot, this time from olive tree to olive tree (no need to waste water by irrigating the whole field; we focus on what’s essential). Mohammed shows us the path the water will take and explains which canal we’ll need to block so the water then takes the second small path into the other part of the field, and then... he heads off to the other side of the palm grove to close another canal and open the one that will bring water to the garden by the house. Our mission is to close off the first furrow once the water has reached the end and open the second passage. And we wait patiently for the water to arrive... The two of us (me and my partner) watch the journey of this water, so precious here, and cross our fingers that we’ve understood what Mohammed asked of us so we can rise to the occasion... Mohammed returns—mission accomplished for us! We head toward the house and do the same thing for the garden. And just like that, it’s 1:30 AM. We’ve finished "watering" the garden and have truly grasped the sacred nature of water... Thank you, Mohammed, for sharing this moment with us.

Hi Elodie, Your explanations are great—so authentic! Did you get the two photos of the Kasbah with Ghizlane?

This is great, I'm so happy I learned all these little things. Thanks a lot for the explanations.

Thanks Elodie, It's awesome to know all that, and even better to have experienced it!

Hello, I took a little time to reply, but as Mohammed would say, "a hurried man is already dead..." so, watering the garden: we had visited the palm grove one morning with Mohammed. He had explained the water-sharing system, the irrigation canals, etc... One evening after dinner, he tells us it’s his water turn, that he’s going to water his garden, and he offers for us to go with him. And off we go!! His water turn lasts from 10 PM to midnight. We grab our headlamps and head into the palm grove to open the irrigation canals corresponding to his plots. Then we head to the first plot, and there we sit in the field and wait for the water to arrive (all under a stunning starry sky). We don’t really understand why we have to wait for the water, but we wait... and after a while, there it is! And then it starts! The miracle of water! The water follows the small furrow dug at the edge of the field to flood a first section at the far end. Once that part is flooded, we quickly plug the entrance and open the passage to another section of the field, and so on until the entire field is flooded. This brings us to around 11:30 PM, and we think we’re going to head back to sleep, but no—this was just the warm-up... We quickly close the canal at the entrance of this field and rush to another field where a small furrow runs through the plot, this time from olive tree to olive tree (no need to waste water by irrigating the whole field; we focus on what’s essential). Mohammed shows us the path the water will take and explains which canal we’ll need to block so the water then takes the second small path in the other part of the field, and then... he heads off to the other side of the palm grove to close another canal and open the one that will bring water to the house’s garden. Our mission is to close off the first furrow once the water has reached the end and open the second passage. And we wait patiently for the water to arrive... The two of us (with my partner) watch the journey of this water, so precious here, and cross our fingers, hoping we’ve understood what Mohammed asked of us so we can rise to the occasion... Mohammed returns—mission accomplished for us! We head toward the house and do the same thing for the garden. And there we are, it’s 1:30 AM, we’ve finished "watering" the garden, and we’ve truly grasped the sacred nature of water... Thank you, Mohammed, for sharing this moment with us.

To be even more precise about this beautiful experience, we can note that "water rights" are divided among families over 24 hours, and within each family, time slots are then allocated. Nighttime slots are preferred, but why?

Several reasons: In summer, the heat... and the fact that crops also prefer to avoid the magnifying effect of water in full sun. The nighttime silence, which allows you to "listen" for any potential issues in the circuit. The fact that during the day, outside of allocated water rights, some people divert the circuit for a few minutes to water a few square meters, which disrupts the schedule—at night, they don’t do that. And probably other, more personal reasons...

Regarding the water distribution in the palm grove and the time slots, I think women and elderly people are prioritized for daytime irrigation, so younger men get the nighttime slots. That's what I was told!

Thanks to all of you! The suitcases are packed, and the travel journal is full of great addresses and all sorts of good tips. Now we just have to put them to use. Thanks a lot!

Thanks Elodie for taking the time to share all this info!

What a great find this forum is!

What a gem this forum is!

It’s true, sometimes it’s just chit-chat, but other times it’s really insightful—and you’ve got to admit it!

It's true that we also water in the evening to avoid too much evaporation... But not at night... not in my neighborhood!

Yes...but...in the palm grove, they also water or irrigate during the day, if I read correctly...

During the day, water flows through the irrigation canals. I still remember the morning walk after breakfast—it was amazing to stroll through the palm grove with the sound of running water. Such a relaxing moment!

Completely agree with you. We also love taking morning walks along the singing irrigation channels. It's such a pleasure!

Hi Elodie, What a lovely experience you shared! We might stop in Skoura at the end of June and hope we’ll get the chance to take part in watering the garden... One question: did you book before leaving, and if so, how? How many days did you spend in this palm grove? What’s an absolute must-see? Thanks in advance.

Hi Marie-Claude, Your little message really caught my attention. We could stop in Skoura at the end of June. Did you book? How? What sights should we not miss in Skoura? Thanks in advance.