Day 161
4 hrs, 3 .0 kms
Day total: 16 hrs, 21.3 kms

On past Asfaru there’s a temporary metal bridge, suggesting that at some point this river flooded, wiping the old bridge out. Here the terrain changes from wide open valley with gentle hills around to cliffs that narrow more and more up ahead. This is no Toudra Gorge—but it does give the area a bit more of an exciting feel. Up ahead the road climbs up to avoid the cliff. It’s almost dusk, but I still decide to gamble and try to follow the riverbed to the next village rather than the road.

I switch to sandals so I can ford the wide stream, with an imposing cliff on one side. Up ahead, at the top of the cliff is a castle with an imposing earthen tower… I’m trusting I’ll be able to find a path up there… And to make things a little more interesting, it starts to rain a little bit.

It’s all but dark when I reach Tamdakht, and pick my way along the side of a cemetery—barely recognizable with a propped up rock marking each tomb… then I clamber up and down the terraces looking for a way up to the castle—a little bummed because I can’t get a good shot of it due to the dim light . Finally I find away around it… and enter Tamdakht.

Here there are several castles. One is actually a grand kasbah-turned-hotel… I don’t know if it was restored or built from scratch. Anyways, whoever fixed it up did an excellent job keeping the traditional look of a earth castle… although I’m pretty sure it’s got concrete and re-bar reinforcement in there somewhere…. In the morning I’ll have to get a couple better shots of it.



Unfortunately both this hotel and the other next to it cater to folks that aren’t such pennypinchers as myself. This whole are does seem to cater to tourists—but not so much the low budget kind. So I wander around thinking through my options: A. Cough up the extra money for a nice hotel. B. camp out C. try to catch a ride back to Ait Ben Haddou. D. Continue down the road and see what else there is.

I choose D—reluctantly . I kind of doubt there are going to be any more hotels nearby… also, I’d really like to see these tall Kasbahs in the daylight…

On down the road I stop in a little shops to get some water and ask the fellow if he knows of any cheap hotels around.

"Oh, there’s a gite right around the corner."

Sure enough, 30 meters ahead, down a little alley is a house with "gite" painted on the wall. Looks like this is my lucky day. I quickly negotiate a very reasonable price, which includes supper, and I’m lead to a traditional carpeted room, where I’m served tea. In another room are a couple of middle age European women who it seems are on a guided hiking tour.


Not much to do after dark, except down the dark road to buy some stuff at a store, then coming back, where I join 3 Moroccan fellows for couscous, the host and 2 guides that are with the European tourists. We chat, watch TV for a bit—a nice atmosphere. I enjoy this sort of "semi-hospitality", to stay with the locals, learn a bit about life in their village, and yet not feel like I’m freeloading off of them.