Merja Zerga Lagoon

Merja Zerga is a shallow lagoon of about seventy square kilometres behind the dunes at Moulay Bousselham, connected to the Atlantic by a narrow channel and fed by fresh water from the Drader; that mix of salt and fresh, with extensive mudflats, makes it one of the most important wintering wetlands in North Africa. Counts run into the tens of thousands - flamingo, spoonbill, avocet, black-tailed godwit, curlew, shelduck, marsh harrier - and it is a Ramsar site. It was also the last known Moroccan wintering ground of the slender-billed curlew, a bird now generally considered extinct, and the record of its final sightings here in the 1990s is part of why the site is watched. Local boatmen take visitors out in flat punts to the flats and channels, which is far better than trying to see it from shore; agree the price and the length of the trip first.

The landscape

• Tens of thousands of birds - flamingo, spoonbill, avocet and waders through winter.
• A Ramsar wetland - seventy square kilometres of lagoon and mudflat behind the dunes.
• Boat access - flat punts poled out to the flats by local boatmen.
• A lost bird's last ground - the final Moroccan records of the slender-billed curlew.

When to go

November to March for the wintering flocks. Half a day.

Good to know

There are no hides or visitor facilities - the boat is the infrastructure. Agree prices and duration with boatmen before setting off. Village accommodation is basic. Summer brings domestic holidaymakers and far fewer birds.

Nearby

Larache and Lixus are north; Kenitra is south.