Amezrou
Most travelers, at best, stop in Zagora or Amezrou for only 1 night on a speeding visit to the Erg Chigaga dunes past M'hamid. Although the physical experience of walking in the Saharan sands is not to be missed, staying a few days in Amezrou can ultimately offer a far more rewarding and interesting desert experience. Here you slow down and start to see past the hot, harsh landscape; you get to meet the resilient, independent Drawa and Berber locals, and see the hidden lushness of the oases they live in.
On the southern edge of Amezrou in the former Jewish kasbah, or Mellah, are the village's silversmiths. The craft was historically the domain of Berber and Arab Jews (they controlled the silver trade along this former caravan route) until as recently as the early 20th century, when they then began to migrate to Casablanca, France, and Israel. The skill was passed on to Amezrou's Berber Muslims and continues today in its traditional form. Abdullah Chjai has been designing, molding, melting, and making silver jewelry by flame, wind bellows, hand, and hammer for the past 25 years. The designs come from traditional Berber, Drawi, and Sahrawi symbols. His sons have followed in his footsteps and are happy to show visitors the process on their rooftop workshop above Maison la Kasbah (tel. 0524/846598) on the southern edge of Amezrou village.
Squeezed between the imposing Jebel Zagora and the Oued Dra and its peaceful, fertile palmeraie is where the best accommodations can be found and cultural tours of the town's ksour, palmeraie, and silversmiths can be organized.
Most travelers, at best, stop in Zagora or Amezrou for only 1 night on a speeding visit to the Erg Chigaga dunes past M'hamid. Although the physical experience of walking in the Saharan sands is not to be missed, staying a few days in Amezrou can ultimately offer a far more rewarding and interesting desert experience. Here you slow down and start to see past the hot, harsh landscape; you get to meet the resilient, independent Drawa and Berber locals, and see the hidden lushness of the oases they live in.
On the southern edge of Amezrou in the former Jewish kasbah, or Mellah, are the village's silversmiths. The craft was historically the domain of Berber and Arab Jews (they controlled the silver trade along this former caravan route) until as recently as the early 20th century, when they then began to migrate to Casablanca, France, and Israel. The skill was passed on to Amezrou's Berber Muslims and continues today in its traditional form. Abdullah Chjai has been designing, molding, melting, and making silver jewelry by flame, wind bellows, hand, and hammer for the past 25 years. The designs come from traditional Berber, Drawi, and Sahrawi symbols. His sons have followed in his footsteps and are happy to show visitors the process on their rooftop workshop above Maison la Kasbah (tel. 0524/846598) on the southern edge of Amezrou village.
Squeezed between the imposing Jebel Zagora and the Oued Dra and its peaceful, fertile palmeraie is where the best accommodations can be found and cultural tours of the town's ksour, palmeraie, and silversmiths can be organized.
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