Ait Benhaddou

Sat 3/2/24

We woke up early today before 6am as we slept early last night. It was not yet Subuh prayers until 6am. It was cold in the night, there was no heating in the riad, so we had to rely on the blankets provided. Breakfast was only ready at 9am, so after hot shower (luckily they have hot water) and Subuh, we went to the rooftop to the see sunrise at 7.20am, where we got a glimpse of the sun as the view was obstructed by other buildings.

When it was 9am, there were still no trace of our host, so I had to knock on the door requesting for breakfast as per agreed timing. The host just woke up, so we waited a bit for them to prepare breakfast of bread, jam, honey, olives, eggs and amlou (Moroccan peanut butter made up of argan oil, almond and honey) with mint tea and orange juice.

Moroccan breakfast

After breakfast, we left Marrakech for Ait Benhaddou where we will be staying for 2 nights. The drive took 4.5 hours with multiple stops for taking pictures, covering a distance of 166km through the N and P roads (no highway) with plenty of gendarmerie (rural police) and passing through the meandering Tizi N'Tichka pass with elevation of 2205m, linking the south-east of Marrakesh to Ouarzazate through the High Atlas mountains. It lies above the great Marrakesh plains, and is a gateway to the Sahara. The road was constructed along the old caravan trail and is now part of National Route 9 (from Wikipedia)

Tizi_n'Tichka pass

mountains on the way to Ait Benhaddou

We arrived at our accomodation Kasbah Tigmi El Janoub at 2.30pm, booked through booking.com cost EUR 37.50 (RM 197) for 2 nights with breakfast. Our acommodation here also did not have heating and had to depend on the blankets provided. It was cold at below 10C. We did have hot shower though.

our room at Kasbah Tigmi El Janoub

our room at Kasbah Tigmi El Janoub

view at Kasbah Tigmi El Janoub

Shortly after check in and refreshing ourselves, we went out for lunch at Chez l'habitant tamdakht not too far from our hotel. We had one chicken tagine, a local pasta, yogurt apple dessert and mint tea for MAD 200 (we were 2 persons). I found about the place from google maps search, but I think it is better to go to Ait Benhaddou town about 10 minutes away, where there are more choices of restaurants. We waited for 45 minutes for the food, although this was conveyed when we enquired about the menu.

lunch at Chez l'habitant tamdakht

 yogurt apple dessert

After the late lunch, we went back to our kasbah and walked to the village behind our kasbah where we discovered the river Asif Ounila which runs until Ksar Ait Benhaddou, and an aqueduct providing water for irrigation to the villagers' farm.

We enjoyed the sunset from the Kasbah balcony before retiring to our room. The next day we will be venturing to Ksar Ait Benhaddou, a Unesco World Heritage site. 

sunset from the Kasbah balcony

Sun 4/2/24

Today we had our breakfast at 8am and it was served as per the agreed time. We had the same set of Morrocan breakfast of bread, honey, olives, eggs and amlou  with mint tea, coffee and orange juice. We headed to Ksar Ait Benhaddou, just 7km, 10 minutes away.

our breakfast

We parked at nearby Hotel le Kasbah. We walked to cross the river Asif Ounila and took some pictures. You could enter through the river via the museum entrance with a 20 MAD fee. However, we chose to enter via the bridge. There is no entrance fee via the bridge. 

Ksar Ait Benhaddou from across the river Asif Ounila

river Asif Ounila

bridge over river Asif Ounila

A bit about Ksar Ait Benhaddou - it is a ksar, group of earthen buildings surrounded by high walls, located along the former caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakesh, is a traditional pre-Saharan habitat. The houses crowd together within the defensive walls, which are reinforced by corner towers. From Wikipedia and Unesco site

We spent the whole morning at the Ksar soaking in the views and taking photos from various spots and angles. 

in the Ksar Ait Benhaddou

Ksar Ait Benhaddou

Ksar Ait Benhaddou

canyon view from Ksar Ait Benhaddou

canyon view from Ksar Ait Benhaddou

village view from Ksar Ait Benhaddou

Ksar Ait Benhaddou

We had lunch at Restaurant Vue Panoramique Tamlalate right in front of the bridge, opposite the ksar with a great view of the ksar while having lunch. We had tagine chicken vegetable and tagine chicken lemon, 2 orang juice and a bottle of water for MAD 120.

tagine chicken lemon and vegetable for lunch

After lunch, we went back to our kasbah and rested for the afternoon. We ventured out again to the nearby village towards the river after 5pm and went back to enjoy the sunset from the balcony of our kasbah. We had some packed bread and muffin for tonight and then retired for the day. Tomorrow we would be heading to Boumalne Dades.

river behind our accommodation

river behind our accommodation

view nearby our accommodation