Marrakech Tanneries

Marrakech has had tanneries at Bab Debbagh since the medina was built - the gate's name means the tanners' gate - and they still work, on a smaller and more improvised scale than the famous ones in Fes: open pits of lime and pigeon droppings for stripping hair, others of tannin from mimosa bark and pomegranate, hides being scraped, trodden and hung, and the smell that goes with all of it. Visitors are shown round by workers or by men who attach themselves in the souks; that second group is the problem. The standard scam is a stranger who tells you the souks are closed or a festival is on, walks you to the tanneries, hands you mint to hold, gives a tour and then demands a large sum, sometimes aggressively. If you want to see them, arrange it at the tannery itself and agree a figure first. The work is hard, badly paid and chemically unpleasant.

What you actually see

• Working pits - lime for hair removal and bark tannin for curing, in the open.
• Hides in process - scraped, trodden, dyed and hung to dry on the walls.
• A named gate - Bab Debbagh, the tanners' gate, since the medina was laid out.
• Hard conditions - unmechanised, low-paid and chemically harsh work.

When to go

October to April; mornings when work is going on. An hour.

Honest expectations

The scam here is persistent and well known - anyone who tells you the souks are closed and offers to show you the tanneries is running it. Agree a price at the tannery before entering. The smell is severe. Photographing workers requires asking.

Nearby

Bab el-Khemis is north; the souks are south-west.