Dadès River
Encyclopedia
Morocco
Morocco , officially the Kingdom of Morocco , is a country located in North Africa. It has a population of more than 32 million and an area of 710,850 km², and also primarily administers the disputed region of the Western Sahara...
, located at 31.0025°N 6.5266667°W.
Geography
The Dadès River rises in the High AtlasHigh Atlas
High Atlas, also called the Grand Atlas Mountains is a mountain range in central Morocco in Northern Africa.The High Atlas rises in the west at the Atlantic Ocean and stretches in an eastern direction to the Moroccan-Algerian border. At the Atlantic and to the southwest the range drops abruptly...
and then turns south crossing through the Dadès Gorge, then westward between the High Atlas and Anti-Atlas
Anti-Atlas
The Anti-Atlas or Lesser Atlas or Little Atlas, is a mountain range in Morocco, a part of the Atlas mountains in the northwest of Africa. The Anti-Atlas extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the southwest toward the northeast, to the heights of Ouarzazate and further east to the city of Tafilalt,...
mountain ranges. The river finally meets the Ouarzazate River, which then enters Draa River
Draa River
The Draa is Morocco's longest river . It is formed by the confluence of the Dadès River and Imini River. It flows from the High Atlas mountains south-ward to Tagounit and from Tagounit mostly westwards to the Atlantic Ocean somewhat north of Tan-Tan...
.
Dades Gorge is easily accessible by taxi from nearby Tinerhir. The scenery is significant with views of interesting rock formations. The valley itself is made lush and green by the river, while the surrounding area is rocky desert. There are simple communitities still living here in traditional houses. Women can be seen washing laundry in the river and laying it to dry on the surrounding bushes.