Mediterranean Garden Society

Optional Post-AGM tour to the High Atlas – Thursday 11 November to Monday 15 November 2021

The photo at the top of this page shows a view of the Tizi n Test Pass in the Atlas Mountains. We will visit this spectacular location during the Pre- and Post- AGM Tours (photo: Wikipedia)

Day 1 - Thursday 11 November - Marrakech / Taroudant
After our closing dinner on Wednesday 10 you will have the morning at leisure in Marrakech before departing for Taroudant at 14.30. Buses will be parked at 14.00 at Hotel 2Ciels, Gueliz and Bab Lakssour city gate in the Medina.

Day 2 - Friday 12 November - Taroudant / Tiout
We start by exploring the spectacular garden of Dar Al Housson with current owner Ollivier Verra. The first Ossart and Maurières build and their home, the garden developed over time eventually spreading out to cover 15 hectares. The Guardian has called the garden "a sort of Kew Garden conservatory with the roof off" thanks to over 900 species of succulents, grasses, palms, fruit trees, climbers, shrubs collected from all over the world by the designers and selected for their drought resistance. (Taroudant receives 300ml of water a year and classifies as semi-arid).

Al Hossoun (Ossart and Maurières)

We then walk through surrounding olive groves to visit two other privately-owned properties designed by the duo. Both gardens showcase some of their iconic design elements: rammed earth walls, geometric layouts, garden rooms and different levels. Plantings involved are a broad range of steppe plants. In the second garden we see a more economical garden display featuring wild plants imported from the Mexican pampa where the couple now reside.

We return to base to set off for on a scenic drive through the Sous Valley to the Tiout oasis. We observe at close quarter the ecoregion referred to as “Mediterranean Acacia-Argania dry woodlands and succulent thickets”. The terrain is a desert-like, rock-strewn moonscape, studded with small trees which look quite like olives. Argan forests cover about 8280 square kilometers of Morocco and constitute the great UNESCO Arganeraie Biosphere Reserve created in 1989 to protect this magical tree whose fruits give one of the most expensive vegetal oils in the world. It is quite normal to see groups of goats grazing high up in the trees and under the trees we will be searching for rhus, euphorbia, senecio, cytisus, launea and other ground hugging shrubs.

On arrival, we lunch under Berber canvas before enjoying a walk through the oasis accompanied by a local farmer to see and hear about traditional oasis life, farming and local customs of sharing irrigation water.

We proceed to a guided visit of Taitmatine de Tiout one of the four original female cooperatives established in 2002 by the NGO Ibn Al Baytar. That organization is spearheaded by the amazing Professor Zoubida Charrouf whose tireless work for the promotion of argan oil production and export is empowering Moroccan women in rural areas.

Return to Dar Al Housson for downtime, "apero" and dinner together.

Tiout oasis (Wikipedia)

Day 3 - Saturday 13 November - Taroudant City and Outskirts
Today we head into Taroudant. The town is known as the "Grandmother of Marrakesh" because it looks like a smaller Marrakesh with its surrounding ramparts of the same color. In the sixteenth century, the Saadi dynasty briefly used Taroudant as a capital before it moved its royal seat onwards to Marrakesh. Today, the town is still an important hub in southern Morocco well known for its handicrafts, jewelry design, Berber crafts and woodwork.

First up is a stop just outside the town to visit an exquisite walled garden built by an expatriate art collector. Then onwards into the heart of the medina to explore three unique restructured traditional “dars” (townhouse built around a courtyard) and “riads” (townhouse built around a garden). Once inside these fresh, tranquil spaces, the bustle and tussle of the medina drifts away and we can appreciate exquisite tiled surfaces; sculpted doorways and arches; intricate mosaics and mirrors; plant-filled ceramic pots and all the vibrant colors we have come to associate with the distinctive Moroccan aesthetic. Always water cools the atmosphere - in pools, rills, fountains or in a simple petal-strewn basin. Always greenery calms the whole and the soul.

After a light lunch in a terrace-planted botanic garden we retrace our steps to the buses to depart for countryside and our visit to the Claudio Bravo Palace built by the artist to house his paintings and collections. Constructed on a grand scale, the palace and gardens are clearly meant to impress… from the imposing towers flanking the entrance door to the vast Menara-style pavilion and pool, to the mass plantings of grasses, to endless rows of citrus stretching as far as the eye can see towards the mountains.

We visit the interiors and the gardens before returning to Dar Al Housson and en-route visit two last Ossar and Maurières gardens, both on a more domestic scale than the palace we have left behind. Designed for relatively small plots of land and with a focus on low maintenance these charming gardens are nevertheless home to at least 200 different species of carefully selected plants in large part propagated at Dar Al Housson.

“Apero”, dinner, farewells and thank you to Ollivier and his team for a wonderful three days.

Claudio Bravo Palace (Palais Claudio Bravo)

Day 4 - Sunday 14 November - Taroudant / Tiz n Test / Ouirgane
We depart early for the High Atlas mountain range, one of the three atlas ranges strung out diagonally across Morocco. We are accompanied by Stefano Doglio, a botanical tour leader who, through tours for well-established names such as Greentours, Bob Gibbons and ATS Nature, has come to know the High Atlas and its flora and fauna intimately. Our journey takes us 2000m and over the panoramic Tiz n Test pass. The road is winding and long (170 kms) but the scenery is uniquely spectacular and plenty of stops for botanizing, photos, a picnic lunch and a visit to Tinmel a beautiful 12th century mosque of the Almohad dynasty are planned.

As we climb out of the plains, we enter the ecoregion “Mediterranean woodlands and forests” where at moderate altitudes we encounter xeric forests of Aleppo pine, holm oak, junipers and the Berber thuja (Tetraclinus articulata). There are several imposing localized Cupressus atlantica (Atlas Cypress) and, the once extinctbut now re-introduced, Cedrus atlantica (Atlas Cedar) to admire. Further up we reach a “steppe arborée” habitat with blond needlegrasses and tough low-growing thymes under a shorter or "elfin" forest.

As we descend, across the mountain slopes we see evidence of Berber tribes and their highly distinctive culture and traditions. Villages with stone or clay houses tiered on the rocky slopes, craggy fortified agadirs (collective granaries), kasbahs (feudal castles used for defense right into the twentieth century) and agdals (or garden in Berber) the walled agropastoral enclosures which have preserved the system of Berber nomadic pastoralism for centuries.

We arrive at La Domaine de La Roseraie where a completely contrasting garden awaits us together with welcome cup of tea! Nestled into a hollow, 25 hectares of verdant flower beds, olive trees, fruit orchards, roses and aromatics are cared for by Mohammed and his team. We get a close up look at the traditional irrigation system – water is diverted from the Nfis river through sloping canals and then distributed by diverters into the beds twice a week. Winding paths through the estate offer unique views over the Toubkal range. It is an enchanting place.

Check-in, downtime and dinner together.

Tinmel Mosque in the High Atlas mountains

Day 5 - Monday 15 November - Ouirgane / Marrakech

A gentle early morning walk and botanizing in the Ouirgane Valley starts the day - there are many wonderful local species to seek out and Stefano knows where to find them. Then we begin another scenic drive across the Tizi Ouzla pass (1000m elevation) and down into the magnificent gorge of Tougramane where we picnic before returning to Marrakech. We should arrive in the city at about 15.30 so participants need to take this account when planning their departure flight or next leg. The buses will arrive to the city and to the airport. Please book your own accommodation if necessary.

Pre Tour Price (identical to Post Tour)
The Pre Tour costs 685 euro per person and includes 4 nights accommodation, all visits, guides, transfers, meals. There is a single accommodation supplement of 185 euro for those requiring a single room.

Disclaimer
This programme is as complete and accurate as possible at the time of publication but may be subject to changes. If you take part in a Mediterranean Garden Society event, you do so entirely at your own risk and neither the Mediterranean Garden Society, neither the organizers, nor the leaders of these events are in any way responsible for the safety of those taking part. Travel insurance is mandatory.

 

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