Ain Asserdoun Springs

The spring emerges at the foot of the Atlas above Beni Mellal in enough volume to irrigate a substantial part of the plain below, and it is the reason the town is where it is - the name means the mule's spring, from a story about a mule that struck the rock. The water is led through a public garden of terraces, channels, small falls and planted beds, which is the town's park and is busy in the evenings and on Fridays with families. Above it on the ridge stands Borj Ras el-Ain, a small fort rebuilt in the eighteenth century on an older foundation, reached by a path or a road, from which the whole Tadla plain spreads out - irrigated green in the middle distance and dry beyond it. Beni Mellal's orange groves run on this water. It is a local park rather than a destination, and it is a good one.

The landscape

• A working irrigation spring - the water that made the Tadla plain farmable.
• Terraced water gardens - channels, falls and planting laid out below the source.
• Borj Ras el-Ain - an eighteenth-century hilltop fort above the springs.
• The plain from the ridge - irrigated green below and dry country beyond.

When to go

Spring and autumn; evenings when the town comes up. Two hours.

Things to know

It is a municipal park and busy at weekends and in the evenings. Litter is a recurring problem. The fort is small and largely a viewpoint. Summer heat on the plain is severe.

Nearby

Bin el-Ouidane lake is south; Beni Mellal is below.