Respecting the Land, Its People, and the Spirit of the Desert
Our team is the last generation to have grown up as children in the desert, previously practising a way of life that was unchanged in centuries. Our parents/grandparents kept farms and livestock in the desert when water was freely available. That way of life became untenable more than three decades ago when the river to this region (the Draa) was dammed near its source and the desert encroached on farmland.
Our responsible travel goals, purpose-driven, aim to support a region of Morocco that has its challenges, educate visitors on the nomadic way of life, and care for our very fragile desert environment.
Tourism is the mainstay in this region of Morocco. Young people normally have to move away from the local village (Mhamid El Ghizlane) to find work elsewhere. We aim to enable unique skillsets and knowledge to stay and work locally.
We aim to support our region of Morocco through providing work to the main breadwinners of families. Young men who are often the main breadwinners of their extended families will be the source of funding living costs for perhaps three generations of their families.
What does responsible travel mean to us?
The longer I have spent in the desert region, the more I think that responsible travel means respectful travel. Respect not only for the local community we work with, our dedicated peer group, but also for the environment. If respectful means deferential, humbling, admiring then it’s all of the above.
The desert is a challenging environment to live and work within and I have the utmost respect for my colleagues who are able to provide such care and comfort for our guests.
I also respect how incredibly beautiful our environment is. If we want to keep showcasing it for future visitors, we need to ensure as light a footprint as possible and take care of precious resources, and people, as far as we can.
How do we see that tourism can support our region of Morocco?
Tourism really is the mainstay of this region. Whether it employs people directly (guides, cooks, camel-handlers, drivers, hotel personnel, etc), or supports them indirectly (shopkeepers, artisans, bakers, camel owners, mechanics, electricians, builders, etc).
Morocco really does have a great entrepreneurial spirit and this is abundant in tourism here. The community at large is mostly connected to tourism in some form.
I also see that when it works well, it’s a great bridge between cultures, and a great leveller.
Who can visitors expect to meet? What can they expect to see?
The majority of our team are indigenous Amazigh, or Sahrawi (whose forebears migrated from much further south, sometimes from outside of Morocco). We have unique, lived experience of nomadic culture, and animal husbandry, which we are very proud of.
We aim to educate visitors not only on the nomadic way of life and our desert heritage, but also on life in an extreme environment such as the desert. We hope to open people’s eyes to simple things such as how precious water is here, and how fortunate we are when it rains.
We hope that people will come to understand about drought and desertification, but also that amongst that there is an abundance of life and biodiversity to be found in the desert environment – beautiful local birdlife, mammals, reptiles, colourful flora, etc. Most people would probably assume that the desert is an empty wasteland, or full of sand, quite the opposite is true…
Above all, I would hope that visitors will appreciate the challenge of working in this beautiful, yet raw, environment.