Mogador Island

The Purpuraires, of which Mogador is the larger, lie about one and a half kilometres off Essaouira and are a permanent biological reserve. Their significance is a bird: Eleonora's falcon, which breeds unusually late in the year so that its chicks hatch during the autumn migration and can be fed on small songbirds crossing the sea, and which nests on Mediterranean and Atlantic islands in a world population of a few thousand pairs. A substantial share of the Atlantic population breeds here. Because of that, landing is restricted and the island is closed in the breeding season, roughly spring to autumn - boatmen in the harbour who offer to take you across are generally offering something they should not. What you can see from the ramparts and the beach is the island itself, the ruins on it including a prison building and a mosque, and falcons hunting over the water in late summer.

History

The Carthaginian navigator Hanno set up a trading post in the area in the 5th century BC, and Phoenician objects have been found on the island. Around the turn of the era Juba II founded a works here making Tyrian purple from murex shells gathered on the rocks of Essaouira and the Iles Purpuraires, the dye of the stripe on Roman senators' togas, and Roman merchants settled on the island under Augustus, leaving a house, objects and coins. After the fall of Rome its trade faded; on 18 November 1866 Sultan Mohammed IV made it a quarantine station for pilgrims returning from the Hajj, and today it is a nature reserve, closed without official permission and a Ramsar site since 2005 (Wikipedia, Mogador Island).

Highlights

• A falcon stronghold - a large share of the Atlantic Eleonora's falcon population.
• A late breeder - chicks timed to hatch during the autumn songbird migration.
• Ruins on the island - a prison building and a mosque, seen from the mainland.
• Falcons over the water - hunting off the harbour in late summer.

When to go

Late summer for falcons over the water; viewing from shore all year. An hour.

Practical notes

Landing is restricted and the island is closed in the breeding season - offers of boat trips across should be declined. The island is seen from the ramparts, beach or a harbour boat that stays off. Binoculars are needed. Wind at Essaouira is constant.

Nearby

Essaouira's ramparts and medina are on the shore opposite.

Key facts