Hello everyone, and welcome back to Skoura, a rare palm oasis in Southern Morocco, an island of green in a sea of rock and sand. After a long journey from the desert town of Merzouga, my friends and I were eager to stretch our legs and explore this miracle of nature. While enjoying a brief Moroccan tea break on the roof of our kasbah (yes, many people still live in traditional kasbahs) turned guesthouse, we spied out over the surrounding area and chose our destination.
At this point, I didn’t really know much about Skoura, besides the fact that it was a desert oasis and on the way to Marrakech. After days in the cold, dry desert, and before that being in the cold and wet in Fes, I was really just excited to be in a warm place with some nature. On our way out of the guesthouse, we confirmed the location of our destination, “palm grove?” and the old man simply pointed toward the trees in the back of the property. We follow the man’s guiding point down a dirt path, and in the direction of green.
This is a picture from as we were leaving our kasbah, which is the taller mudbrick building on the left.
A few steps later, and we are in another world. We follow the canal and are greeted by tall, vibrant palm trees, which add a burst of tropical freshness that makes us almost forget we are surrounded by dry, rocky desert.
Passing each property, you can see how many of the locals have diverted the water to irrigate their farms. This clever bit of engineering has allowed the local Berber community to maintain a reliable agricultural and trading center here since medieval times.
Following the irrigation ditches takes us down a mysterious path, where reminders of the past are everywhere. Peeking through the bushes is like peeking through a window into another time, where nomads, warriors, traders, and farmers met in the mighty kasbahs (fortified homes) for feasting and deal-making. If you listen hard enough you can still hear the trance-like beating of drums and rhythmic clashing of krakebs whispering in the wind, luring you deeper.
Through the brush and the trees we notice a large ruined structure.
We follow the ruined outer wall to an opening, which was likely once a doorway.
The expansive grounds are overgrown with different trees, palms and other vegetation. Judging by the size of the structure, however, it isn’t hard to imagine a powerful person once lived here, and these might have once been well manicured gardens.
We scramble over a collapsed section of the wall and into an internal courtyard. Standing on top of the rubble, looking out at this ruined kasbah, I couldn’t help but think about that scene in Kingdom of Heaven, where Orlando Bloom is fighting off a Saracen siege on a breached section of wall.
Skoura is on what's called the “Route of 1,000 Kasbahs” and large fortified buildings like this one were once the key to Moroccan kings protecting the important trade that happened in this area.
Many of the building’s foundation and rooms are still standing, even the stairs, which I took up three stories, before the disrepair became too alarming and I turned back.
I wonder about what happened here, how did a place seemingly so powerful collapse? Was it war? Natural disaster? Or simply just the unconstrained weathering of time?
Following my curiosity up the hill from the main building, I found more structures, and something else I was not expecting.
This seems like a good place to stop for today. I hope you enjoyed reading about my journey through Skoura, and stumbling upon a forgotten Kasbah. Please consider joining me for part three, where I’ll share more surprising discoveries in Skoura.
If you would like to read more about my adventures in Morocco, please consider checking out some of my previous posts, including:
Abandoned On the Route of 1,000 Kasbahs - A Journey to Skoura, which can be found here.
Or my unexpected day sandboarding in the Saharan Desert town of Merzouga, which can be found here.
All photos were taken by me. Have a great day!