Pink villages
On the slopes.
Holger Uwe Schmitt — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Holger Uwe Schmitt — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Holger Uwe Schmitt — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Holger Uwe Schmitt — CC BY-SA 4.0 · Holger Uwe Schmitt — CC BY-SA 4.0
The Ameln Valley is a mountain valley in the heart of the Anti-Atlas in southern Morocco, near the town of Tafraoute in Tiznit Province, Souss-Massa, about 73 km east of Tiznit and 99 km southeast of Agadir in a straight line. Tafraoute itself has about 6,000 residents. In Shilha the name Tafraoute means a basin into which water drawn from a well is poured, and by extension a valley. The town lies in a small valley at the foot of Djebel Lekest, a pink granite mountain shaped by erosion. Mountains surround the area, with olive and almond groves, argan and fig trees. Small villages of pink and red houses step up the granite slopes, topped by white minarets, with palm and almond groves around them. Huge rock walls in pink and orange rise behind and glow copper at sunset, and strange rounded granite boulders lie scattered about. Visitors walk between the valley's villages on paths through the groves, some drive to the nearby painted rocks, and climbers come for the granite walls. The almonds blossom in late winter, the loveliest time to visit; summer is very hot.
On the slopes.
Copper sunsets.
Winter blossom.
Near Tafraoute, Tiznit Province, Souss-Massa, Morocco
Late winter and spring.
By car from Tiznit or Agadir.