On the Atlantic Coast

In the sixties and seventies the Atlantic Coast south of Agadir became very popular with back-packing 'Hippies'. They used the 'Hippy Trail' and came via Marrakesh. Most just visited for a day or a week, but some stayed on attracted by the easy life style of the friendly Amazigh. It was an easy life for the youths from Western countries. There were lovely beaches, sun, cheap food and plenty of blow. However when too many came to stay and their lazy beach life started to interfere with the work of the local fishermen the latter revolted. It came to an altercation in Sidi Ifni during which the fishermen cleared the beach. However the Western beach lovers never really went away. The style changed. Forty years onwards the whole coast is being developed. Everywhere the French are building gated holiday villages for the masses and villas for the rich. However villages like Mirleft and Sidi Ifni still ooze a bit of that old hippy ambiance. One of the great perks of the region still is: eating fresh fish straight from the surf on to the BBQ and then to the plate. Everywhere there are flimsy huts in the sand above the flood-line that provide this delicacy.

Tifnit

To the north of Sidi Rabat right between the mouth of the rivers Souss and Massa is the coastal village of Tifnit. I think that here in 670 AD the Arab conqueror Uqba Ibn Nafi reached the Atlantic Ocean. Here he rode his horse into the waves and cried out in frustration: 'If the sea hadn't stopped me I would have continued to conquer all heathen kingdoms west in the name of God.' He turned his horse instead. It took another century before Moulay Idriss finally got the Amazigh to adopt Islam. Although only a few years after the death of the Prophet Mohammed Arab conquerors had brought Islam as far a Uzbekistan in the east, the Magreb or Wild West wasn't as easily converted. It was only during the reign of the Ummayades that Uqba Ibn Nafi succeeded to cross the north of Africa. He did it by doing something no Arab warrior had done before. To solve the problem of army logistics in a hostile area he founded a city. It was about halfway between Jerusalem and the Atlantic Ocean: Kairouan. No wonder that this particular campaign is steeped in myths and stories. The exact spot where he had his 'Talatta, Talatta' moment has never been established. It was somewhere south of Agadir. Why not Tifnit?

Building in Sidi Rabat

When the long narrow stretch of coastal lands became national park there were people living there. There were several families that had claims to land and there were two villages: not only Sidi Rabat but also Tifnit. Some fishermen have built houses inside the face of the cliffs. The population of the endangered Black Ibis has stabilized thanks to the ban on grazing in the National Park. But a new challenge has emerged: illegal housebuilding. It will be hard to stem the tide and bring to a standstill the growing number of dwellings that infringe on the building rules. The culprit is beach tourism. The locals want to profit too from the development of the Atlantic coast south of Agadir. Maybe new built houses are not allowed, but in Sidi Rabat the original homes were not more than huts. Those huts are now transformed into modern villas. In 2014 when I was here with Bert and friends we stayed in one such villa. It was big and luxuriously appointed. From my bedroom I saw renovation work being carried out on a former fisherman's hut. Coming back almost all the huts are renovated. Sidi Rabat is an amazing place to stay if you don't mind it that the village is out of the way and the lack of touristic amenities.

In the Souss Massa National Park

Once upon a time the animals that now only live in the nature reserves of Sub Saharan Africa lived also in Morocco. After the ice age, when the ice retreated northwards the sands of the Sahara drove a wedge between the north of Africa and the rest. The habitats of the flora and fauna were also cut in two. At the time of the first Phoenician inroads into Morocco the country must have been like Paradise. Humans and animals must have mingled freely in the green stretch between the sea, Atlas mountains and the Sahara sands. The Phoenicians were succeeded by their kinsmen the Cartages who ruled the whole of north Africa. Hannibal was the most famous of the Cartages. He crossed the Alps with North African elephants in a bid to defeat Rome. However Rome in the end destroyed Cartage. After that the Romans colonized North Africa. Morocco became the purveyor of 'wild' animals to fight the gladiators in the Roman arenas. They were shipped over by shiploads of hundreds. The Romans must have done a lot of harm to the indigenous wild life, but it took till the beginning of the 20th century to really end the diversity of African fauna in the country. Not even the ostrich remained. In the Souss Massa National Park I could sketch these gazelles.

The Black Ibis

The stretch of Atlantic coast between mouth of the rivers Souss and Massa is since 1991 a National Park. It is an area of sand dunes, grazed steppes, sandy beaches, cliffs interspersed with wetlands. The steppes are now reserved for the gazelle and the Black Ibis. The Black Ibis used to be plentiful between Morocco and Turkey, but has become endangered due to urbanization and over grazing. The area is home to three of the four breeding grounds of the bird. It is now 95% of its population in the entire world. The Black Ibis breeds in the holes in the cliffs where they are safe from predators. Since the foundation of the National Park grazing on the lands behind the cliffs became prohibited for sheep and goats. This ensured that the population of the Black Ibis has now more or less stabilized. In the fall of 2014 when we were staying in Sidi Rabat Abdelrahman took us for a trip along the top of the cliffs between Sidi Rabat and Tifnit. There is no road but the ground is flat and firm. We could take the car. Driving slowly and carefully we came upon a flock of about twenty Black Ibises right at the edge of the cliffs. They were very close! We immediately stopped and I got my sketchbook out. We kept very quiet and I could make this drawing without disturbing them. It took about half an hour to get the birds on paper. All the while they acted as if we weren't there at all. Later when I read up on the Black Ibis on the Internet I saw posts by ornithologists who were proud to have seen a couple of birds from afar. Then I realized how lucky I had been.

On the Atlantic coast

Leaving Al Massira Airport in our rented Hyunda i10 darkness had descended. Fortunately Bert and I knew the road well and Bert also has an App on her phone that works as a GPS. It doesn't have every location in Morocco as we discovered later, but it promised that it would bring us to Sidi Rabat. If you have driven the road once you can always retrace it. It's that easy. All you have to do at every roundabout is follow the signs for Tiznit on the N1. There are a great many roundabouts before we turn off for Sidi Rabat and that turn off is not at a roundabout. We left Agadir to the right. After driving through a string of merrily lit up villages we finally came to the dark countryside and eventually the turn-off. The road goes in a straight line through the flat agricultural land. In a small village at the t-junction we take a right and after 8km we are in Sidi Rabat where the road ends in the sand of the beach. Sidi Rabat is situated in what is the Souss Massa National Park home of the Black Ibis. It's there where Abdelrahman has a B&B. I don't know if it is his entirely. I think he co-owns it with Germans. Foreigners can not 'own' anything outright. That is the prerogative of the people whose family originate from here. But whether it is because of the Germans or Abdelrahman the B&B in the dunes is excellent. Before bed Abdelrahman makes us a Omelette Berbère in a tagine. We fall asleep with the sound of the ocean in our ears. In the morning we wake up to the sound of twittering birds. We walk in the cool sea air to the beach where I make the first sketch of this trip.

Agadir

When we booked out trip to Iligh we had decided that we wouldn't spend the first night in Agadir, but coming from the airport directly turn south and stay right on the Atlantic Ocean at Les Dunes B&B in Sidi Rabat. Agadir is an ginormous conglomeration that stretches forever more south and eastwards. To the south it melted together with the towns of El Melloul and Inezgane two busy and chaotic hubs. Agadir was founded by the Portugese and became an important port under the name of Santa Cruz Do Cabo De Gué. But I'm sure there was already a settlement there before the Portugese came. In 1541 the Moroccan Saadi dynasty took over and build a stronghold on top of the mountain that still dominates the town: hence Agadir. By the middle of the 17th century when Michiel De Ruyter used the port, it was still known among traders as Santa Cruz. I still remember that when I was at secondary school in the winter of 1960 an earthquake completely destroyed the town with the loss 15.000 people. It was the first time I heard of Agadir. However the stronghold on the mountain didn't suffer. The inscription in Dutch 'Vreest God ende Eert den Kooning 1746' (Fear God and honour the King 1746) is still there. Nowadays a rather similar inscription in Arabic graces the side of the mountain: for God, King and Country'. Agadir is the biggest holiday town of Morocco. Actually it's not bad for a town mostly dedicated to sun worshipping, scantily dressed, white, heathen, foreigners with a lust for alcohol.It also services the agricultural output of the Souss plain.