Mhamid El Ghizlane

M’Hamid El Ghizlane is a small Moroccan rural commune in the province of Zagora located on the edge of the Sahara near the border with Algeria and near the bend of the Wadi Drâa which bends towards the West towards The Atlantic Ocean. From M’Hamid El Ghizlane, which means the plain of the gazelles, begins the immense desert plateau called the Hamada du Drâa with vast dunes which extend over approximately 30 km wide. M’Hamid El Ghizlane is the end of the road and the starting point for excursions in 4×4 or camels towards Lake Iriki or the large dunes of Chigaga. M’Hamid El Ghizlane is also an oasis which shelters a ruined ksar called Ksebt el Allouj, testimony to the intense activity of this region at the end of the 16th century at the time of the Saadian dysnasties and the camel caravans which connected then Morocco with Sudan. M’hamid was for centuries the meeting place for blue men.