Tafilalt Palm Groves

The Tafilalt is the oasis where the Ziz and Rheris rivers spread out and disappear into the sand, and it was historically among the largest palm groves anywhere - the northern end of the trans-Saharan trade route, where caravans from Timbuktu and the Sahel arrived with gold, salt and slaves and were met by merchants from Fez. Sijilmassa, the city that ran that trade from the eighth century, stood here; it declined and was destroyed and its remains are a low field of mounds and wall stubs outside Rissani, still being excavated. The Alaouite family, which has ruled Morocco since the seventeenth century, came from here, and the mausoleum of Moulay Ali Cherif at Rissani is their ancestral shrine. Around it are dozens of ksour in the palms in every state from lived-in to melted. The grove has suffered badly from bayoud disease and falling water tables.

Highlights

• A caravan terminus - the northern end of the trans-Saharan trade route.
• Sijilmassa - mounds and wall stubs of the city that ran that trade, under excavation.
• The Alaouite shrine - the family mausoleum at Rissani, ancestral to the ruling house.
• Ksour in the palms - dozens, from occupied to collapsed into the ground.

When to go

October to April; summer here is among the hottest in Morocco. A day or two.

What to expect

Sijilmassa is a low ruin field and needs interpretation to mean anything. Non-Muslims cannot enter the mausoleum. The grove is visibly declining from disease and water loss. Summer temperatures pass fifty degrees and are dangerous.

Nearby

Merzouga and the Erg Chebbi dunes are south-east; Erfoud is north.