Another day on the move and our first stop after a good nights rest is Tiznit. The town is renowned for its silver and probably the best place in Morocco to buy Berber produced silver. We leave the bus and walk through the medina at 10am. We remind ourselves its Sunday and the market is very slowly starting to come to life. We separate for a wander as Omar goes off in search for jewellery for his wife, nieces and mother and he buys some beautiful pieces. We enjoy our morning walk and resist the temptation to purchase any jewellery. We do however purchase lunch for our picnic later.
We reboard the bus headed for the Sous-Massa National Park, a reserve set on the Sous-Massa River and the Atlantic Ocean. The park is home to several traditional Berber villages, but the real attraction is the vibrant bird life. One of Morocco’s most significant national parks and bird reserves, Souss-Massa stretches down the coast for more than 330 sq km of protected land between the main north–south highway and the beach. It is a spectacular and wild place of cliffs, sand dunes, farmland, coastal steppes and forests. We meet our Park guide and he takes us on a walk on a path high above the river. The grasslands, wetlands, estuaries, and grassy dunes create a habitat for a significant variety of nesting and migrating birds in the park which includes flamingos. In addition to the array of bird species, the park is also home to a variety of other wildlife, including African wild cat, red fox, hedgehog, leopard lizard, and weasel. Its a hot afternoon for a walk but the location is in complete contrast to our walk of the previous day and the peace and tranquilty make it a perfect location to enjoy the wildlife.
We re-board the bus bound for our Riad just beyond Taroudant. En-route we stop at a cool service station, Azul that has a swimming pool! Damm our swimmers are buried in the depth of our bags in the boot of the bus.
Our Riad is simply beautiful and despite being off the track its definitely worth the trip. When the bus pulls up we’re a bit surprised at the state of the houses and shops directly opposite and in the immediate vacinity. They’re in a bad state of disrepair and there’s piles of rubble everywhere. We don’t put 2 and 2 together until the morning when at breakfast Omar informs us that the town was only 40 miles from the epicenter of the earthquake that struck Morocco in September 2023. We all feel awful. Our riad is an absolute oasis and we spend the late afternoon by the pool listening to the mating calls of the 7 resident male peacocks. Sadly we’re only here for one night it really is a beautiful location. We enjoy a group dinner on the terrace in the evening warmth. We’re on the move again in the morning so we retire to pack, again.
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