Natural Wonders

Today it was time to get out if the city and see more of the country. We booked a day tour and met our guide early to head to Imi-n-Ifri. There we climbed down into a gorge which is spanned by an amazing natural bridge. It formed 1.8 million years ago. We crossed under the bridge and were rewarded with some really great views.

We hopped back in the car to continue our drive through the Aït Blel Valley. It was precisely as Lonely Planet described it: “like an animated Impressionist painting, with golden wheat fields rippling in the breeze, dotted with red poppies…mountains are striped with gold, orange and purple, with green crops sprouting from stone-walled terraces.” Our destination was the village of Iouaridene. Just outside town, geologists found dinosaur footprints from the mid-Jurassic period (around 170 million years ago), preserved in the now-hardened clay. We were led by a posse of little boys to see prints from both biped carnivores and quadruped herbivores. It was really neat to try to imagine the valley full of dinosaurs.

We continued on to the Cascades d’Ouzoud, a gorgeous set of waterfalls formed by the Oued (river) Ouzoud dropping about 110 m (about 330 feet) into a canyon. We had a nice lunch before walking to the falls…but our way was blocked by…MONKEYS!! Well, maybe not blocked per se, but we did spot some Barbary apes out playing. As the day had warmed up a bit by then, we were pleased to hike down in the cool mist.

What a lovely country!
Click here to see the pics!