A Ruined Kasbah & A Dry Riverbed - On the Catastrophic Edge of Skoura's Lush Oasis

Hello, and welcome back as I explore a lush palm oasis nestled in Southern Morocco’s vast sea of rock and sand, stumbling upon the ruins of a forgotten kasbah (fortress).

After wandering through the main building, I came to a hole in the wall. Outside, I can see a hill with a few more structures at the top.

We head up the hill, over and around mounds of dried clay, and I wonder how much of this hill was actually just collapsed ruins, which had been weathered down to bumps on the path by years of erosion. At the top, we find a few smaller ruined buildings, which are in much worse shape than the main building I just left.

I wander into the largest of them, which still has part of the second and third stories intact.

When coming to the staircase it is clear that this building had experienced some heavy water erosion, much more so than the other building.

I am able to climb up the washed away staircase to the second story.

I am surprised by just how stable the second story still seems, with much of the wooden structure solidly still in place.

When I get up to the third floor, the ground seems a lot less reliable, so I do not venture far from the stairs.

I started to notice that much of the wooden beams that would have been in place throughout the other smaller structure were missing. My guess is that they were taken away to be used in other buildings some time after the structures were abandoned. The main buildings still had many of these wood pillars in place, which is why much of it was still accessible, and not as devastated as these smaller buildings.

Coming out of a breach in the wall, I found something which I was not expecting.

Just beyond the ruins, just a few meters back downhill was an opening which overlooked what appeared to be a large dry riverbed.

We sit and rest here for a little while and gaze out across the vast open space. I think the view is quite beautiful with the mountains to one side, and some epic sky views on the other.

Looking at the map, I can see that the oasis picks back up again at the other side of the dry river bed. I imagine there must have been a great flood that swept through this place long ago, which cut violently through the oasis.

Looking back at the ruined kasbah, I can't help but imagine that perhaps this large fortified home played some defensive role, as it seemed to occupy a strategic position overlooking the river.

My curiosity is piqued by the small clay box-structures scattered across the river bed.

As I get closer to one, it is clear they are furnaces, which have been abandoned long ago. Seeing the furnace up close makes me feel a little sad, as I imagine each ruined furnace was probably once surrounded by someone's home. Homes which have clearly all been swept away in a flood. I wonder if the people here had time to escape, and how quickly the flooding came. Walking along the dry riverbed, amongst these ruins, I am reminded of just how insignificant we all are in the face of mother nature’s great power and fury.

I hope you enjoyed reading about my experience exploring these ruins, and discovering the dry riverbed. Please consider joining me for my next post in Skoura, where I follow the dry river to another part of the oasis, which is home to the best preserved kasbah in Morocco.

If you would like to read more about my adventures along Morocco’s Route of 1,000 Kasbahs, please consider checking out some of my previous posts, including:

Exploring A Rare Desert Palm Oasis & Discovering A Ruined Kasbah, which can be found here.

Abandoned On the Route of 1,000 Kasbahs - A Journey to Skoura, which can be found here.

All photos were taken by me. Have a great day!