The Stone Desert

The highest part of the Atlas Mountain range of north Africa is found in central Morocco. Known as the High Atlas, the mountains provide a foreboding background to the various Amazigh (Berber) settlements their presence has enabled. As you head south from Marrakesh, the land transforms into a selenic, arid plateau, interspersed with rocky mounds and gullies. This is Agafay (ⴰⴳⴰⴼⴰⵢ in Tifinagh), the stone desert, where the dust swirls and the camels roam, where the quadbikes hum and the Berber call home.