The KASBAH OF AIT BEN HADDOU

The kasbah-town of Ait-ben-Haddou is located in the Unila valley, south of Télouet, the stronghold of Glaoui, a valley which was a traditional crossing point for caravans connecting Marrakech to the south of the Sahara2.
Sunset over the ksar It is a vivid example of traditional southern Moroccan architecture, on the side of a hill at the top of which was a collective granary (an Agadir).
The village is presented as a set of earthen buildings surrounded by walls, the ksar, which is a type of traditional pre-Saharan habitat.
The houses are grouped together inside its defensive walls reinforced by corner towers.
Some of its dwellings appear to be small castles with their tall towers decorated with mud-brick patterns.
The oldest construction date from the seventeenth century.

The KASBAH OF AIT BEN HADDOU

The site would have been one of the many counters of the trade route which linked Saharan Africa to Marrakech - one can still see a fondouk (caravanserai) there.
All around this douar a group of villages is gathered. At the foot of the hill flows the Oued Maleh, whose name means "salt river".
The water is unfit for consumption because it is very loaded with salt 3.