Charm in the desert

Charm in the desert
Marocco
Magazine: August 2007

In the maze of stands overfl owing with tempting offers you can fi nd hills of seasoned and spicy olives, fl at and round loaves of bread and mountains of dried dates, while smells of roast meat intertwine with perfumed tea and the torrid desert wind. But the voices of Marrakech fall silent once you enter the Riad Enija, an ancient palace transformed into a fantastic designer hotel. An apt fusion of European design and Arab atmosphere, the Riad Enija epitomizes the elegant, exotic and cosmopolitan spirit that makes Marrakech one of the most fascinating places in the world. Charm in the desert

A mysterious population thousands of years old, the Berbers live a semi-nomadic life in the Sahara, Sahel and Atlas mountains

In a Berber tent
After about forty straight kilometres, having passed Ait Barka, the landscape becomes an arabesque carved into the mountainous view. We reach Ouarzazate after four hours. From here we head for Skoura and then turn left toward Tondout, penetrating the heart of the Atlas Mountains. We follow a riverbed and arrive in the Berber village Imi-n-Oulaoun. Ibrahim Boukyoud invites us to visit his “gite d’etape” (hostel). We continue on towards Amjgag and Amsker, Berber settlements. From here we go south towards the course of the Gorges du Dadès, encircled by a confusion of red haematite mountains and enormous drop-shaped rocks. At dawn we turn into the Gorges du Dades. We spot a solitary Berber tent and the family invites us inside. We start up a surreal conversation using gestures with the father, mother and little girl, smiling, breaking fl at bread and sipping boiling perfumed tea. The path then brings us to descend into the Gorges du Todra again toward Tamttaouchte. Once again on a paved street, we travel the 162 km to Erfoud, a “port” to the sea of sand. We will cross the desert on the Algerian border, leaving the path and camping for two nights distant from everything and everyone. We spend the night in lovely Berber styled rooms in the Auberge Kasbah Derkaoua, the last inhabited outpost.

The “perfect” dune
Before nightfall we searched for the perfect dune to pitch our tents and light a fi re under the half-moon surrounded by enormous stars. At sunrise we arrive at the poor village of Merzouga in order to blow up the tires and fi ll the gasoline tank. We have in front of us 360 kilometres almost all of which are off-road along the Algerian border. We head southwest. In certain zones the ground is very dry, in others the sand is as fi ne as powder. It is exciting to run the vehicle over the ‘tchott’, ex-salt lakes transformed into depressions in the ground and as smooth as billiard tables. We camp on the dunes in Agoult and the following day we ascend through a lot of dark rocks that slow us down. We cross Zagora and drive along the magnifi cent Vallèe du Draa, dotted with palm groves and country villages with a backdrop of snow-capped mountaintops. Tufts of clouds fl oat in the turquoise sky. The sunset is already touching Ait Benhaddou when we arrive in the fortifi ed village where Bertolucci shot a few scenes from “The Sheltering Sky”, painting the walls of the ksar a red gold. And fi nally, our home for the night, this time will be the fascinating suite in the Dar Ahlam, buried within the palm groves of nearby Skoura.

Well being and beauty “Berber style”
In Marrakech, nicknamed “the Esoteric”, ancient beliefs in magic have survived as well as therapeutic traditions inherited from the Berber civilization and Saharan peoples that have used the caravan route for almost a millennium. “Remedies (vegetable and animal) are varied and often “outlandish”. Ostrich fat is considered miraculous for rheumatism, fennel is useful for purifying the kidneys, basil (used quite rarely in cooking) fi ghts stress and insomnia and, if planted around the house, repels insects. Peppermint, the base for the “Berber whisky” (mint tea), has wondrous tonic, stimulant and digestive properties. Infused cinnamon and cloves are good for infl uenza while cardamom helps asthmatics to breathe better. Nutmeg is a potent antiseptic. Quite popular (with women) are the love potions, such as rose-petal tisane mixed with mandrake, mimosa, lavender and basil. Instead, the men buy various recipes for “Moroccan viagra”. You are guaranteed to fi nd the little bottles of kohl, the black antimony sulphide powder that cleans impurities from the eyes, strengthens eyesight and makes eyelashes grow creating a deeper and more mysterious gaze. And then there are the henna masks that, other than adding colour and strengthening the hair, hydrate the body as well.

The secrets of Argan oil
Argan oil is extracted from the cold pressing of seeds from the Argan tree (Arganias Spinosa), a tree that grows along the Atlantic coasts of south-western Morocco and it is used both as a “therapeutic” nutrient (it enhances the absorption of Vitamin C, strengthens the immune system and is both a haemodynamic and anti-infl ammatory) and as a curative massage oil. Its high Vitamin C and polyphenol (antioxidant) content has made it a fantastic beauty product for dry and aged skin. Mixed with Eucalyptus it is used for massages to treat rheumatism, added to arnica oil it heals muscle sprains and pain and with rose water becomes an anti-wrinkle cosmetic.

Berber food & tajine
Morocco offers one of the most varied and tasty gastronomies in the world, thanks to the numerous infl uences that enhance it. The Berber infl uence is extremely important, providing the basis for the magrebino cuisine: tajine, harira (meat and vegetable stew), couscous and Argan oil. Another Berber infl uence is the habit of drinking aromatic mint tea, known as “Berber whisky” many times a day. Instead, olive oil, almonds, fruit and vegetables came from the Moors and milk, grains and dates from the Bedouin Arabs. The word tajine refers both to the cooking method and the earthenware container in which certain kinds of food are prepared. The tajine dish is made of a round plate for the base with low borders and a cone-shaped lid of the same material that resembles a Chinese hat. They are the most common pots along with the double-decker “couscoussière” for making couscous. Cooking in the tajine retains the steam emitted by the food inside preventing it from drying out too much during lengthy cooking and holding in spices and fl avour. Some of the tastiest recipes: mutton tajine with plums, duck with pear, candied fi gs and carrots, chicken tajine with lemon and olives, lamb with fi gs and almonds or with pears, cinnamon and honey.