Beni Snassen Mountains

The Beni Snassen are a compact limestone massif rising to about 1,530 metres between Berkane, Oujda and the Mediterranean, cut by gorges - Zegzel is the best known - and terraced with citrus and olive on every workable slope. The plateau at Tafoughalt sits around a thousand metres and is cooler than the plain, with holm oak and thuya. The archaeology is what gives the range international standing: Grotte des Pigeons at Tafoughalt has been excavated over decades and has produced Iberomaurusian burials, along with pierced Nassarius shell beads dated to more than eighty thousand years ago, among the earliest evidence anywhere of deliberate personal ornament, and evidence of very early tooth decay associated with a diet heavy in acorns and pine nuts. The cave is a working excavation and access is restricted; the interest for a visitor is the range, the gorges and the plateau air.

What you actually see

• A terraced limestone massif - citrus and olive worked up to 1,530 metres.
• Gorges through the range - Zegzel and others cutting north to the plain.
• Grotte des Pigeons - a site that produced shell beads over eighty thousand years old.
• The Tafoughalt plateau - cooler air, holm oak and thuya above the citrus country.

When to go

Spring and autumn. A day. Summer heat on the lower slopes is severe.

Honest expectations

Grotte des Pigeons is an active excavation with restricted access - do not expect a visitor cave. Roads are narrow and winding. There is little tourist infrastructure. The range is remote from the main Moroccan routes.

Nearby

Zegzel gorge cuts through the range; Saidia and the coast are north.