Agadir

17 October 2022

Agadir is a city of contrasts and seems in a continual tension between the established old city life and the encroaching new developments.

Along the sea front are the new developments; high end apartments, hotels, clubs and restaurants with ongoing construction of new sites and landscaped parks. One street back and you find the old town thriving along with a busy Souk.

I'm staying in an old 60s style hotel in the administrative area - built after the earthquake of 1960 which practically flattened the city. It's quiet, clean and locally based. I have breakfast next door with workers at the government offices and can stroll down to the sea front in 5mins.

A strangely curious place frequented by Moroccan tourists, European retirees and young people from all corners of the world.

I took a day trip today to an area to the north of Agadir known as Paradise Valley.

The route took us through areas covered in Argan trees and we made a stop at a organic farm producing Argan products, processing local honey and growing herbs. The medicinal value of all of these products was explained showing how important the locally produced products have been for these communities for centuries.

Paradise Valley lies in a deep gorge which used to have a deep flowing river running throughout its length with deep pools where people would swim. It is now a dry barren area desperately in need of rain, which has been sparse for the last 3-4 years. The drought has not only effected the land in this area but also the tourist industry which used to thrive around this once popular swimming and hiking area. A very dramatic evidence of climate change over a relatively short period of time.

I hiked up to the original source of the river and found a dry river bed throughout. Water emerged about half way along the hiking route and very silted pools were used by some bathers near the drinking stalls. This whole area is very different now to the lush green valley that friends described from a decade ago