At the foot of Jebel Kissane, which flanks the river Draa for a few dozen kilometres, on the road that was constantly travelled by caravans heading south from Ouarzazate during the Middle Ages, is Agdz, a town of typically small houses plastered in red lending them a particularly rural appearance. Agdz is the centre of one of the five main oases in the valley dominating a series of cliffs, literally cut out by the Draa and rather interesting geologically as their unusual stratification lends the mountain a curious striped appearance. A colourful and lively market – distant reminder of its commercial past – is held in the central square of the town where, surrounded by characteristic small shop and cafés, one can buy spices, rock salt, fabrics and metal items decorated in the local style.
THE RIVER DRAA
The river Draa rises in the High Atlas from the confluence of two streams, the Dadés and the Ouarzazate, and in ancient times was the longest in Morocco. It might now seem strange, but both polybius and pliny in the fifth book of his Natural History, mention that originally the ‘flumen Darat’ was in fact crocodile infested. Today, instead, the Draa after struggling to carve out its route for about 40 Kilometres between the Anti Atlas and Jebel Sargho flows languidly for 250 Kilometres in a green valley dotted with oases and ksour. Then, at Mhamid, the river course disappears into the sands. Only during some particularly rainy years do its waters manage to reach the ocean.