The village of Amtoudi, home to some 300 families, is surrounded by impressive cliffs. Date palms, fig trees, almond trees, apricot trees, olive trees and orange trees stand alongside small fields of corn and barley, as well as vegetable gardens. The inhabitants live mainly from this agriculture. Amtoudi is a stage of our journey to Tarfaya entitled Great South: sublime sea.

 

Two charming and simple guesthouses and a restaurant welcome visitors attracted by so much beauty. We recommend "The shadow of argan trees".  The guest house Tigmi Bulbul was prone to the moodiness of her boss and her cook. Other echoes show, however, that this attitude is far from being permanent...

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The human presence in Amtoudi dates back to more than 10,000 years before our era. Rock carvings that can be admired south of Amtoudi show giraffes and elephants. Shortly after the year one thousand after our era, these populations settled down, hence the construction of fortified granaries dating back to that time.

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Two surviving agadirs

 

The fortified granaries of the Anti-Atlas are usually built in villages, like those of Inoumar, Ikounka and Imchguiguilm, sometimes on the heights. But only those of Amtoudi are perched on top of a rocky mountain.

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Originally, the surroundings of Amtoudi had six collective and fortified granaries, intended to preserve the goods of the inhabitants, and in the first place the harvests, as well as, in case of danger, to serve as a refuge.

 

Four of them have practically disappeared, leaving only a few sections of walls to appear. The other two have survived, having benefited from an essential and considerable restoration.

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Id Aïssa and Aguelly

 

The agadir which dominates Amtoudi and which can be seen immediately above the oasis is called Id Aïssa, which literally means "the family of Aïssa", which also means "Jesus". It can be reached on foot in 40 minutes. Obviously, it climbs! The effort is rewarded on arrival.

 

Dating from the 12th century, this impregnable site and its watchtowers have the reputation of being the oldest Agadir in Morocco. Remained in function very late, until 1956, Id Aïssa has 73 cells, used as bedrooms or to store food. Eighty people could live there. Rainwater was collected by pipes and stored in cisterns. A small mosque has been built above the entrance.

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Smaller, but even more impressive by its dizzying location, the second surviving attic is about ten kilometers away. Follow the guide if you have the time and the interest! You will thus complete a loop that will bring you back to Amtoudi.

 

Salima's paw  Naji

 

These two igoudar (plural of agadir) were successfully restored thanks to the Franco-Moroccan Salima Naji who supervised the work so that these restorations were carried out according to the rules of the art, following traditional methods and in particular, here, the dry stone of the Anti-Atlas, as she did in Tiznit.

 

The architect-anthropologist worked with former local maâlems, custodians of this ancestral know-how, setting himself the objective of convincing the youngest to learn these techniques. It intends to restore confidence to craftsmen who doubt local materials and ancestral techniques. Many Moroccans believe that with the rain, the constructions would not hold. In fact, she says, well-built and well-maintained structures last longer than cement ones.

 

Avoid the all-cement lifestyle

 

What is essential, insists the architect, "is that in Morocco, traditions are alive, certainly losing ground, but not dead like elsewhere". In 2016,  Salima Naji had taken advantage of the COP22 organized in Marrakech to plead in favor of "another architecture". His fight: "Distributing alternatives to an all-cement way of life". According to her, things are moving, slowly: "I have seen people who want change in this country, who want something beautiful, something intelligent, something that looks to the future, but does not forget the past".

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Watch her express herself in the video below.