Climbing Up the Hill at Ait Ben-Haddou

While our guide here at Ait Ben-Haddou seems to be very knowledgeable, he was seemed to be going too a good a job as a tour guide and translating into three languages to keep his clients happy. This meant that we were stuck in the same place for a while while we could have been spending the rest of the time exploring the fortified village. I was hoping to get the signature photos of Ait Ben-Haddou which can only be taken from afar. Looking out from where we were, I can see people in the distance particular in a small mound just outside the village. It seems to be the perfect spot for photos. I was thinking that I should just ditch the group and go there but I was concerned that if I abandon the group, the bus might leave without me and I won’t have a way to get back to Marrakesh. Actually, this isn’t true since I should be able to go to a neighboring city and catch a bus from there but why tempt fate.

Slowly but surely we were making our way up the hill where Ait Ben-Haddou is. While it make look a bit intimidating to climb when you first see the hill, the path actually winds back and forth the hill to make the climb much easier. I would assume that much of these parts of the fortified village are original since they wouldn’t have been filmed for the movies. It would only be the ones out in front that would have been added. As we climb up, you can see how there are less structures now and the houses start to give way to desert like features.

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