OUARZAZATE AND THE DRAA

Ouarzazate - easily reached from Marrakesh (5hr by bus) - is the main access point and crossroads of the south. East of the town stretches the Dadès River, the "Valley of the Thousand Kasbahs" , as promoted by the Ministry of Tourism. South, on the other side of a tremendous ridge of the Anti-Atlas, begins the Drâa Valley -125km of date palm oases, which eventually merge into the Sahara near the village of M'hamid. It is possible to complete a desert tour through and out from the Drâa, heading from the valley's main town, Zagora, across piste roads west through Foum Zguid and Tata to the Anti-Atlas, or north into the Djebel Sarhro (an October to April trekking), or east across to Rissani in the Tafilalt. However,

most visitors content themselves with a return trip along the main P31 between Ouarzazate and Zagora: a great route, taking you well south of anywhere in the Tafilalt, and flanked by amazing series of thurred and cream-pink-coloured ksour.