Uncovering the Fascinating South of Morocco: From Marrakech to Oases, Kasbahs, Mountains and Sand Dunes

Today's episode marks the beginning of our shift towards the south of Morocco here on Destination Morocco podcast.

If you are looking for a Moroccan experience a little more rugged and raw, a little less touristy, and very authentic, you will find the southern half of Morocco fascinating.

Starting from Marrakech as a base, a typical tour will cover deserts, high mountains, deep gorges, genuine Berber villages dating back centuries, and plenty of local culture, with a touch of Hollywood along the way.

Come with us in search of spices, fresh dates, saffron, henna, fossils and mint tea.

Taking us on our tour today is one of Destination Morocco's guides, Driss Maaza, who traces some of the historical connections amongst trading peoples and royalty, over many hundreds of years. We'll be travelling along the same historic caravan route from Timbuktu to Marrakech that still exists today.

Azdean and Driss uncover all kinds of activities, stunning views, places to go hiking, unique museums, and an area that traditionally does not get quite as much attention as the north.

You'll hear why Driss is the perfect person to describe this area and inspire you to visit.

Sights and highlights mentioned in this episode (with Google Maps links):

Marrakech

Telouet/Onila Valley

Ouarzazate

Aït Benhaddou

Skoura

Kasbah Amridil (Museum featured in Lawrence of Arabia and on the 50 Dirham bank note)

Dadès Valley/Gorge

Tinejdad

Ksar Elkhorbat (Ancient village and Berber museum)

Rissani

Nkob

Ziz Valley

Agdz

Solar Power station near Ouarzazate (Incredible satellite view)

Imlil village (Hiking base)

Toubkal mtn., highest in North Africa

Do you dream of exploring the enchanting land of Morocco?

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If you're a discerning traveler who values an immersive, curated adventure, visit www.destinationsmorocco.com, and let us bring your dream Moroccan vacation to life.

Learn more about Azdean and Destination Morocco.

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Transcript

DRISS: 0:43

 Continuing on the same road, it takes you to the beautiful part of Merzuga, a very famous part of southern Morocco which is very known by the Golden Sand Dunes. People can experience different activities through these sand dunes, such as Kamala Raide, spending night under the stars in tents, enjoying the local folklore music with the local people. They can go on white bikes 4WD tour around the huge sand dunes Very interesting.

AZDEAN: 1:24

 Welcome to the Destination Morocco podcast, the show that takes you way to the beautiful country of Morocco. I am your host, azadeen Al-Mustakim. In each episode, we explore Moroccan culture, history, attractions and activities Real and practical information coming from experienced travelers and native Moroccans like myself. Our goal is to help travelers that are struggling with planning any type of trip to Morocco. Our company, destination Morocco, builds personalized tour packages that will ensure you enjoy our country just like local. Follow us at DestinationMorocco.co. And now let's go exploring. 

Welcome to Destination Morocco podcast. In today's episode, we're going to be talking with a tour leader specializing in southern Morocco, Driss Mazza. We're going to be focusing on the southern part of Morocco for this season, for 2023 season. I know last year we have talked quite a bit about the north side of Morocco, and rightfully so, because we always recommend, if it's your first time visiting Morocco, visit Fès, the Imperial cities. The north side is the right way to go. Now, if you have been already, and this is your second time, so this episode is definitely for you. It's going to have a lot of content, really, really good information the next time you're planning your tour to Morocco, especially the south side of Morocco. In today's episode, I would like to welcome Driss Mazzah to the podcast. Welcome to Destination Morocco, Driss.

DRISS: 3:12

 Hello, Mr Azdean. Thank you so much for having me with you.

AZDEAN: 3:17

 You're very welcome. So what is your story, Driss, and what inspired you to become a tour leader specializing in southern part of Morocco?

DRISS: 3:27

 Being a tour guide or a tour leader. It's a dream that turned to a reality Once I traveled to my parents' home village I was very young and I made a couple of tourists there. They got lost, so I had a chance to practice my language and to be interacted with foreigners, travelers in my country. I had to help them and I learned a lot from them. They learned a lot from me. It was my first contact with travelers in Morocco and also it made me really happy and proud to show them my country and help them with whatever they need. So from that time actually when I was like 19 years old almost, I had in my mind tourism. I wanted tourism, I want to be a tour leader and to show people my country.

AZDEAN: 4:19

 That's incredible. So, into this episode, we're going to be covering an itinerary, an itinerary that it's a seven-day, basically, and personally I believe seven-day doing the southern part of Morocco is just perfect. We have recommended in the past if you're doing the north, we always recommend seven, eight days, and the same thing for the southern part of Morocco. So I'm just going to talk a little bit about the itinerary that we're going to be covering today. Basically, it's going to be day one through day seven. So day one is going to be Marrakesh, kluwet and Ait ibn Hiddu, and then day two is going to be Ait ibn Hiddu, skoura, dead's Valley, tudra Gorge, and then day three is going to be Tudra Gorge, tinge Dead and Merzuga, and then we're going to go to day four, which is Merzuga, rissani and Nqob, and then day five we're going to cover Nqob, agdiz, where's Azat oh, I know these names are now, they're hard to pronounce. Yes, for sure, we're going to go to where's Azat and Imelil, and then back to Marrakesh on day seven. From Imelil to Marrakesh we're going to cover a lot of ground. I mean the scenery, everything in the south side of Morocco is just, it's fascinating, it's beautiful. So take us through day one, if you would please Dres.

DRISS: 5:41

 The first day starts from Marrakesh towards Tilwet, via the Hayatlas Mountains, tishka'a Paz and then to Ait-Benhadu, a world heritage site of Yonisco, and it's a very beautiful and attractive fortified village. It takes us about four hours of driving between Marrakesh and Ait-Benhadu, visiting Tilwet on the way. It's an amazing day which leads you to explore the magic of the southeast of Morocco, starting with this beautiful village of Tilwet, which has an old story starting from the early days. Especially this village of Tilwet, very well known by its beautiful, well-designed mud buildings and also its hospitality and the Kasbah of Tilwet. It's the Kasbah along the former road of the caravans from the Sahara over the Hayatlas Mountains. The Kasbah was a seat of the Pasha-Glawi family's power. The Pasha-Glawi was very rich and he was able actually to govern the whole area. He was a kind of representative of the royal family in this area. The construction of this beautiful Kasbah started within 1860, and it was further expanded in later years. There is an interesting history that can be explored, can be discovered when visiting this beautiful Kasbah. Further down and through the Onila Valley, we continue on our day towards Ait-Ben-Haddou village, which is a historical fortified village, or, like we say in Berber language, igram, along the former caravan roads also linked between the Sub-Saharan tribes and Marrakesh city.

AZDEAN: 7:34

 So what is the significance of this route and why people should go through here, go into the south Marrakesh-Lewet-Nate-Ben-Haddou, this combination, how significant is it? This?

DRISS: 7:46

 road had been an ancient road for the caravan traders since the old days. Since Marrakesh was governed by one of the famous dynasties of Almoravids during the 11th century, marrakesh at that time used to be known as the biggest trading point. However, a lot of people from the Sub-Saharan tribes used to travel via the high Atlas Mountains to sell their products and to do their merchants in Marrakesh. So it is very interesting to go through this road to explore a lot of things, such as Kaspad of Talwats. This pasha that I have mentioned actually used to have a big power stretched to Marrakesh and the whole southern of Morocco. He used to have large buildings and he used to control all of these caravans, used to get a lot of business and he got very rich from the proximity of the salt mines in high Atlas Mountains. There is a lot of things to see along this route A beautiful scenic, beautiful landscape, beautiful houses. It's incredible and there is a lot of history to see along this way. It's all connected. These three places Marrakesh, talwats and the Itbin-Haddodi are all connected and related places in the old days, that's amazing.

AZDEAN: 9:04

 So now we move to day two, which has Itbin-Haddu, skoura, dead Valley and Todra-Gorj. What makes this day two such an interesting place for people to visit, especially if it's their first time visiting the southern part of Morocco, greece?

DRISS: 9:22

 Visiting. You cannot visit the southern of Morocco without visiting these beautiful places that you have mentioned, such as Skoura and Todra Valley and Dead Valley. Most people don't know about Skoura, which is a beautiful oasis full of almond, fig and olive trees and there is a huge palm grove in the area. It's all irrigated from the high Atlas Mountains. That's where they get big water supplier. In addition, there are beautiful designed kasbas in this area. The most famous one is the Kasbah-Ameri deal, the largest in Skoura and I would say it's the largest fortified house, or Kasbah, in southern of Morocco. It was built actually in the 17th century by Nasseri family, who still owned the Kasbah nowadays. Oh wow. It's a museum itself that can present and offers great opportunity to learn about how people once lived in the Kasbah for over 300 years ago. Very interesting. Definitely. This population became really large now, but unchanged. They never changed their way of life. They still have the same style. You can tell that when you visit the area from the houses, streets. Kasbah walls are well maintained nowadays. It's really worth to visit. In addition, you can also find bread ovens, old wells and ancient olive oil press. This Kasbah had been featured in the Moroccan 50 dirham note, the old one, and also it's been featured in several movies, such as Lawrence of Arabia and Ali Baba with the 40 thieves.

AZDEAN: 11:03

 That's incredible. So it's really like you know, walking back in time Exactly. It's an incredible experience, absolutely. Oh, that's great. So now we move to day three, which is Merzouga. Can you describe what it's like to explore these cities, these villages, these places in the southern part of Morocco?

DRISS: 11:23

 For this part or this day that goes from Todra Valley towards Merzouga Basin, tinshdead village on the way. It's an interesting part also of the southern of Morocco to be explored. It's very interesting place. It takes about three and a half hours of driving from Todra Valley towards Merzouga, but people should make sure that they stop at Tinshdead to visit one of the most beautiful KSAR. It's a fortified village which is still inhabited nowadays. It's very interesting to wander these streets to explore the Ksar and meet local residents. It represents you the lifestyle that goes back to the 17th and 18th century in the area. Wow, you can also visit one of the most beautiful and unique Berber museums there are only a couple of Berber museums in the whole Morocco and visiting the museum of El-Khurbat it's called El-Khurbat. It really gives you an idea the whole idea of Berber history and show how daily life worked in the old days. It's really well organized so you can learn about many things, such as agriculture, medicines, cooking, clothing and family life and many other things. That's incredible. Yeah, and on the way there is a very interesting stop to take which is very worth, to explore one of the oldest underground irrigation systems in the country. It used to be their only way to get water from the high atlas mountains, or water supply from high atlas mountains, to their oasis in the Sahara Desert to irrigate all their palm trees and their agriculture. It is called El-Khattarat yes, the wells. The wells, exactly. It's an ancient irrigation canals that goes back to the 11th century. Continuing on the same road, it takes you to the beautiful part of Merzouga, very famous part of southern Morocco, which is very known by the Golden Sand Dunes. People can experience different activities through these sand dunes, such as Kamal-e-Raid-e spending night under the stars in tents, enjoying the local folklorists, music with the local people. They can go on white bikes 4WD tour around the huge sand dunes.

AZDEAN: 13:51

 Very interesting. Moving on to day four, we just talked about Merzouga and the next stop is going to be Rissani and N'qob. What makes Rissani and N'qob so special and why should people take their time to explore these stops?

DRISS: 14:06

 From Merzouga towards N'qob, visiting the Rissani on the way. This journey takes almost three and a half hours of driving. People should stop to visit Rissani, because Rissani is an interesting part of the southeastern of Morocco. It's considered the origins of the current royal family. The current royal family governed Morocco for over 360 years, so almost four centuries now, and this is where they started their royal ring for the first time. It used to be called Sijil-Massa, which is the capital of the whole state of Tefil-Elt in the old days. It's a medieval and trade city. The walls of this former city expanse few miles towards Ziz Valley. It's Z-I-Z valley. That's before the 14th century. It's also considered the famed desert capital. It is famous for high quality of leather production, made from goat skin especially. However, the area is very well known by goats, not only madricks or camels. By the way, we have dromedaries in Morocco. We don't have camels. We have dromedary with one hump. We don't have camels with two humps, but we still call them camels here in Morocco.

AZDEAN: 15:23

 Interesting.

DRISS: 15:24

 Yeah, so also. It's very famous for its beautiful, small and interesting dates markets that is still functioning to this day. You can visit that, especially during the harvesting season of dates. You can see numbers of different kinds of dates presented there to sell for people. The prices of dates actually starts from $2, which is 20 Moroccan dirhams, and goes up to 160 dirhams per kilogram per each kilogram. And also you can visit one of the ancient workshops of fossils. When I say fossils, the whole area of Teflelt during the Jurassic time used to be under the sea, and not just nowadays but since a long time ago. People used to find very valuable and interesting things there. All this area is full of fossils. They get them and they polish them using different machines imported from Italy or different kind of countries.

AZDEAN: 16:26

 Interesting.

DRISS: 16:27

 Yeah, going from Rissani to words, visiting Alnif and Tazarin. Over there you can explore the fields of Hina Hina location wise, really interesting. You can take a break to explore these beautiful plants. I know people will see that in Jamal Fnada there are Hina designers, ladies who can give you tattoos. But for us, as burbars, in the old days, we didn't use it for tattooing, we used it for medicinal purposes and also ladies used to dye their hands with this Hina during the special celebrations like weddings, like Different celebrations that people can celebrate, even during the religious celebrations. On the way towards Nukkub I mean exactly in Nukkub you can explore a beautiful 45 Kasbah. It is overlooking the beautiful oasis of palm grove and has a great panoramic view overlooking the anti-atlas Mountains. We use anti-A and Ti, which means the anti-atlas, the little mountain range. It's a volcanic mountain range. This word came from antiquity very old mountains formed within 185 millions of years ago. Over there also, people grow saffron. That is something that Morocco is well known for, and Moroccan saffron is very high quality of saffron, oh for sure.

AZDEAN: 17:53

 Yeah.

DRISS: 17:53

 So you can explore this beautiful area. It is also known by its high quality of Hina and production, and also they grow cumin, so spice that we use for cooking and for medicinal purposes too. I remember when I complained to my mom when I was young I used to complain to my mom about my stomach I've got absythomic, or something like that. I remember she used to take like a small spoon of cumin and she put it in a half cup of water Just cold water and then I drink it like that and then within 10 minutes I feel good.

AZDEAN: 18:31

 Yeah, I still do the same thing at home. So I, but I don't mix it with the water. All right, yeah, just small spoon cumin, then I follow it with with the glass water. Very interesting. Right now we're gonna go to day five and we're gonna start again from Nqub and then we're gonna go to Agudiz. Then words as that. I know these names. You'll see the spelling in the show notes. So what can visitors expect when they visit Agudiz? And words as that, please, dries.

DRISS: 19:02

 Agudiz has the largest kasbahs used to be inhabited by Moroccan Jews, berber Jews, who used to live there Trading for different activities. They still have their heritage exist over there. This journey, actually between Nqub and words, as that, takes about three hours of driving approximately. But it's really worth to take a break and explore the Dar'a valley, which represents the region fame. It has, over then, two millions of palm trees, which is the largest, our oasis of palm trees in the whole southern of Morocco. That's incredible. Continuing along the way, you can see dramatic views, dramatic landscape along the way, the very beautiful, dried mountains which is a part of the Antia Atlas Mountains. It's different than high Atlas Mountains. This is very dry, very rocky mountains and very dark Mountains. Along this road we can also tell a story about a famous movie that had been shot there. By the way, it's American movie. It's American film. It is called Babel. It was shot between 2000 and 2002. Almost that's the movie with Brad Pitt. Exactly that's the movie with the Brad Pitt when he was traveling to Morocco. The movie is highly recommended for our visitors to see. It's really good. It's just a movie which made the area more famous and brought tourism business to the area. Oh, definitely. And when I talk about movies, we are about to enter where's the Z, which used to be, a long time ago, a small crossing point for African traders on their way to the north of Morocco and Europe. Where's the Z is known as a movie town. Some people call it, or our visitors call it, moroccan Hollywood, but I call it personally Moroccan, or Molly wood. I call it Molly wood. The cinema industry started in this area from the early 50s. A lot of American movies and French movies, moroccan movies had been shot there, egyptian movies also. There is a couple of large studios in this area of where's is that by different international companies of work there, in addition of filming industry, there is a huge Casbah called towering it.

AZDEAN: 21:26

 Yeah, that's. That's a really nice one. Yes, the.

DRISS: 21:29

 Casbah of towering it, by the way, in where's is that is really worth the detour, with the beautiful, exceptional Architecture. It's the representative of the southeast of Morocco. When I say where's is that, I mean the capital of the southeast. People start their desert tours and desert journeys from where's is that? Towards Zagora, then Muhammad Lrislan, or either towards Mersuga via the road of 1000 Casbah. I also want to add that what is that is very well famous nowadays by a large solar power station which will spread within the whole Morocco, and Moroccan government is thinking actually to export it outside of Morocco To African countries or European countries why not in the future?

AZDEAN: 22:17

 That's very interesting. I know it's the largest solar system in Africa. It's in really good spot, but you can see it actually going from it to go on towards Mersuga. It's on the left-hand side.

DRISS: 22:27

 It's on the left-hand side. You can see it for a distance. Can see over three millions of mirrors over there.

AZDEAN: 22:34

 Yeah, very interesting. Wow, okay, perfect. So now we move to day six. Day six we have words. Is that an Imli? And what makes Imli such a popular destination for tourists visiting Morocco, especially when it comes to hikers, light hikers or people that really love to hike in general?

DRISS: 22:55

 From where's is that? Towards Imli village? It takes about five hours of driving along this road. You will enjoy the beautiful and dramatic landscape of high Atlas Mountains. Through this winding road crossing the highest Mountain, you're gonna drive up to the elevation of 2260 meters high, so that's almost 7000 feet. You will explore numerous of villages before you get into Imli. The village is also a part of high Atlas Mountains. It's a beautiful village located at the elevation of 1800 meters high above the sea level. It is very known as the best destination for hikers. They come from different countries all over the world to ascend the Tupac Mountain, which is the highest Mountain in North Africa, rising up to an early 4,167 meters high above the sea level. This mountain started to be known since the early 20th century by the climbers who explored and created the trails to go up to Ascent this mountain. People can take easy hikes as well, just wandering around the villages and beautiful lush and green valleys. They can also taste a cup of tea with locals or they can be invited or hosted for a meal with the local Berber family. People don't go just for hiking, or only for hiking, to the higher class mountains, but they go also to explore the unique culture, the hospitality of local people. It is very worth to visit this area, really nice.

AZDEAN: 24:35

 I completely agree.

DRISS: 24:37

 Very popular destination for hikers in the whole Morocco. Hikes can be taken also in different parts of Morocco, not only Imlil, but Imlil is like the first destination for hikers, Definitely absolutely.

AZDEAN: 24:51

 That's incredible. So that concludes day 6. Now we are into day 7 and basically day 7 we're going to go from Imlil back to Marrakesh, where the itinerary started. So, in terms of distance between Imlil and Marrakesh, what is the driving time between Imlil and Marrakesh?

DRISS: 25:10

 The driving time between Imlil and Marrakesh is about 1.5 hours. I see it is very close to Marrakesh and it is one of the popular destinations for visitors to Marrakesh, especially people who don't have enough time to see most of Morocco. They go, actually they take this journey which is the most popular from Marrakesh towards Imlil to the hikings to explore the area. They can take 3 days to tour from Marrakesh to ascend the Tupacal mountain and then back again to Marrakesh.

AZDEAN: 25:44

 I see that's very interesting. So now we have completed the whole itinerary. Do you want to add anything else to this itinerary?

DRISS: 25:51

 This is a very unique itinerary. I highly recommend this itinerary for our travelers who are interested to visit Morocco, because booking this tour with us will make you explore the deep of Morocco, the real and the hidden gems of Morocco. Most of them are in the south-eastern of Morocco, so it is highly recommended for people to take this tour. Very interesting and very knowledgeable tour.

AZDEAN: 26:20

 That's amazing because one thing that I know for a fact I am originally from Tluwet, which is basically on the first day of the itinerary, and have been to Beit ibn Hiddu and I live in Marrakesh as well. So that drive between Marrakesh and Tushka I've taken it probably close to a hundred times. Tluwet is almost invisible to people going from Marrakesh to Wersezet, because you have to pay attention. As soon as you pass Tushka, which is also called the Tushka Pass, you have to look for the sign on your left hand side and you have to exit the road. It's just dirt roads and there are hundreds of villages just hidden and nobody would see them. It's part of the country, but it's just amazing and what I have noticed being, as a kid we traveled Marrakesh to Tluwet and when we used to go, we used to go in not an 18 wheeler, of course, but it's like 14 wheeler and we put everything that we're traveling with the gear and everything the blankets, everything, the kitchenware, because the mountains there's not much of that stuff back then. This is back in the 80s, early 80s and mid 80s, and so it's just fascinating. So one thing that you're going to get doing this itinerary is the change of scenery. So when this says, for example, the distance between Marrakesh and Tluwet ibn Hiddu is about four or five hours, it's actually going to take you a little bit longer because you're going to make quite a few stops and those stops are really really what makes that trip. The destinations are incredible, for sure, but between even me as a local, between Tluwet ibn Hiddu, I know when I visited last time it took me about 45 minutes to an hour but I had to make at least four or five stops along the way and I left around my village I would say 6.15, 6.30 am. The view is just incredible because I wanted to get to Ibn Hiddu before it gets busy, before it gets touristy, before it gets too crowded. Then it's not really fun, you know, at least for me. So I can just imagine it's the same way for a lot of visitors, a lot of tourists, whether you're traveling by yourself or traveling in a private group or just a regular group or with your family and friends. So the key to these destinations is always arrive early. I cannot really recommend it enough. This itinerary is amazing. I remember that valley. I remember gorge. You know Todra gorge. It's just so many hidden gyms. It's absolutely worth it. Scorch, just this itinerary is just, it's really, really, really incredible. Just to give you a perspective, you can spend six months Leaving Marrakesh, starting with Imli, doing the southern tour of Morocco, just doing home stays, just doing villages. In six months you will not see the same place, the same village again. It's so much stuff to see. Just to give you an idea how rich the southern part of Morocco. Personally I believe it doesn't get enough credit, but there's so much to see the people. The people are actually what make really the experience that the hospitality. The burbans in Tlewat are different than the burbans in ita bin haddou, even though they are close to each other I mean it's a one-hour drive, but I did not do is a little bit more advanced when it comes to tourists, when it comes to foreigners, where it comes to different cultures. Because of their location, they have been exposed to those things for decades versus other villages. I actually have been to a village when I, just when I go into the village, it looks empty because everybody's inside just looking at you. You know they just want to see who you are there. You know, curious, they don't know who you are, but then you know your cousin shows up and you know, you go and walk in together. Then he knows somebody and somebody knows him, recognize him. Then they come out and they greet you. It's like hey, cup of tea, cup of tea, cup of tea throughout the whole village. So you know, the burbans culture is incredible. It is amazing, amazing culture. What are we gonna be doing? You know, just like I said in earlier, this episode we're gonna be covering quite a bit of the south side of Morocco, the southern part of Morocco. It's not even the tip of the iceberg that we have talked about. When it comes to the southern part of Morocco, the local cultures, the nomads. We haven't talked about the money. Get to Mersuga. You can spend some time with them. You can do so many things in here for the listeners. If you have any suggestions, if you have any Questions or a topic that he wants to cover and in specific episode, we can do that. This is gonna be with us. We're gonna do mini series where we're gonna cover every day as an episode. So we're probably gonna do six or seven episode because we want to do the south of Morocco the right way. So much to talk about, it's just not enough time in one episode to cover all of them. So this is gonna be definitely back with us and we'll do mini series with him so we can talk about everything that it's south of Morocco. He has a lot of stories to tell. You know with his experience, his background. When we say Berber to a lot of people it seems like it's one person in one language, but in fact it's not. There many tribes Speak same language. It's called Berber, but it's different from Mersuga than where I'm from the Atlas Mountains. Then we need go to Seuss, a different part of Morocco, mesa. Then we need go again to the north side to Reef a mountain, so that you know just the Berber it's. It's not just one word, it's a whole nation. It's incredible. So I'm really looking forward to those episodes. For me personally, I want to learn so much and I know it's gonna be extremely Informational for the audience. So I'm really, really, really excited for those episodes and I can't wait for you to listen to them. So now the other question that I have for you what is the advice that he would give someone who's planning a tour to southern Morocco for the first time? What type of advice would you give them as a professional tour leader?

DRISS: 32:03

 First, of them about safety precautions. Make sure that they drink enough mineral water, especially within their visit to the southern of Morocco. Avoid to drink tap water because as locals we do. We do drink it Because we used to it. But for our travelers they should not. They should buy mineral water from any kind of regular stores in the village, along the way, everywhere we can buy water. They need to drink water, especially in the southern of Morocco, because there is a heat. They can be exposed to the heat. It's always hot and sunny over there. One more thing about the dress code I would like to say. It is better if they cover because, like I have mentioned, they will be exposed to the sun most of the time, most of the day. So it will be good to cover their shoulders in case their skin can be affected by sun. If not, then I guarantee that they will enjoy the sun the whole year around in this area. It is highly recommended to visit this area southern of Morocco during the spring or autumn. If people want more heat, they can visit during the summer, which is still good, if they wish to attend some Berber weddings and high Atlas Mountains or south of Morocco Sometimes. It would be very nice for our travelers to bring some like good gears to prepare themselves for this part of Morocco, because we can take hikes, we can go up the mountains, we can walk through the sand dunes, we can like. It would be good to bring clothes, shoes like walking shoes, long pants, short with long sleeves. If they have a hat would be very nice. They should bring their sunscreen Box spray, anything of that. They should bring their own medication, which is good Because we do have medication here. We do have a lot of pharmacies and as Moroccans we can go to the pharmacy and buy whatever we need of medication without using doctor prescription or anything. And I advise people not to eat street food Street food is not Recommended. And no salads during the hot seasons because locals they can wash those salads and vegetable only with local tap water, which can affect stomach for our travelers upset stomach. Taking pictures to locals would be nice if they take permission from local people Before they take picture, because locals are conservative and sometimes they don't feel comfortable with others taking pictures of them. I Highly recommend this part of Morocco for our travelers to visit it because for me it is the most worth part to visit in our country Because it has a lot of hidden gems. For clothes, style, weddings, food, local dresses, culture, architecture and a lot of things mean different things that can be explored and learned by our Visitors, so it is very worth part to visit. If people are interested to learn about and explore deep Morocco, this is highly recommended tour for them.

AZDEAN: 35:20

 This. Thank you so much for doing this episode really, really, really appreciated. Looking forward to the next episodes with you and it's gonna be a lot of fun. A little bit more detail. We're gonna go in depth and talking about each city, each village, each location throughout the southern part of Morocco. Thank you so much, thank you.

DRISS: 35:38

 Thank you so much. Thank you for having me very proud to be a part of your team and Thank you so much our listeners absolutely Absolutely, thank you.

AZDEAN: 35:53

 Thanks for joining us this week on the destination Morocco podcast. Our dedicated show website Destination Morocco podcast that come is where you can find all of our episodes, leave a review, find our social media links and even register as a guest. If you have been to Morocco yourself and would love to share a story, advice or recommendations, you're welcome to participate in our podcast. Whether it's a five-minute story or full conversation, we will guide you through the steps so that you can share your experience with our listeners. We will be back soon enough with a new episode for you as we continue our exploration of the beautiful country of Morocco. See you then.