Aït Benhaddou · People Still Live Behind the Mud Walls

Aït Benhaddou is a fortress village of rammed earth and straw stacked up the hillside, wall upon wall climbing the ridge — a staging post on the Saharan trade routes, and a set for a great many films.

Most of its old residents moved across the river; only a few families still live inside, showing hand-woven rugs to visitors. The walls have to be patched once a year, or the rain and the wind eat them.

From the top of the village the riverbed below is dry. The locals say the famous thing here is not the walls; it is that the walls have stood this long.

Historical Mysteries / Ouarzazate · Morocco / Time immemorial