Tazzarine a hébergé un saint marabout descendant de la tribu des Aroussi, qui donna le dernier grand opposant aux français, El Hiba. Son culte est encore vivant.
A relatively minor but impressive invasion of locusts in southern Morocco. It is easy to imagine the damage that could be caused by larger swarms.
A "no-smoking middle schools, high schools and companies" operation has been launched in Morocco's major cities, a first small step in the fight against tobacco.
As in French, fireplace or foyer (almessi) defines the family. The oven (afarnou) gives its name to a much sought-after bread in Morocco, which every Berber housewife knows how to prepare!
Wheat is threshed on dedicated areas of land (threshing floors) covered with stones or on terraces. The same word, Anrar, is used for football pitches.
Did you know? In Morocco, as in many other countries, smoking is banned in public places... incredible, isn't it?
There are many Amazigh words for rivers, streams and watercourses, no doubt to better appreciate this rare resource that is so essential to nomadic pastoralists!
Tizi means mountain pass. A mountainous country, with its three Atlas mountains, Morocco offers visitors many vertiginous tizi, the best known of which are between Marrakesh and Ouarzazate, on the one hand, and Taroudant on the other.
There are many words for sheep in Berber, depending on their colour, behaviour and age. Anougoud refers to the young male sheep that will be killed at Eid time, and also to its meat.
The tent (Axam in Berber, khayma in Arabic) is the home of nomads. The ‘people of the tent’ are the family unit, the nucleus around which daily life is organised.
Morocco is not a vegetarian country, so it's difficult to eat vegan or vegetarian food, although there are restaurants in the major towns.
The Berber house is most often built of earth and is square in shape, or fortified, like a kasbah. In some Berber towns, such as Azrou or Ifrane, there are "European" houses.
They are called reg or hamada, from two Arabic words. In Berber, the stone desert is called Amerdoul. Most of Morocco's deserts are like this.
Unless you have really specific treatments, there's no need to splash out on medicines and parapharmaceuticals before coming to Morocco. You can find a lot of things easily on the spot.
Tazzarine is a small town on the edge of the Drâa valley, unloved by guidebooks…
I like this old image, which clearly shows the cultural gap between the two worlds. A gap that is still there, despite the suits and ties worn by the employees, and that goes way beyond clothing!
