Camping in Cascades D’Ouzoud, Morocco

When looking up where I should spend the night while traveling to the Cascades D’Ouzoud in Morocco, I consulted my Lonely Planet and found that near the waterfalls themselves there were several campgrounds and a hotel out of my budget range.

However, it was able to suggest a more affordable hotel in a nearby town called Beni Mellal not worth seeing which I ultimately ended up sleeping at.

With only a sleeping bag and no tent, I assumed that camping near the waterfalls would not be possible. When I finally did arrive the next day, I made friends with a Moroccan who was currently working on a campsite for tourists (the Manu Chao campgrounds) and was shown some of the accommodations away from the main road on the way to the waterfalls.
To get to the waterfalls there are two options.

The first one is to walk down a long and wide staircase to the bottom and take a cheap boat to the other side. Conversely, you can also walk down a more difficult trail (which may be hard to find by yourself, but with luck someone may be nice enough to show you the way for free) which passes through several campgrounds. My new friend took me down the more difficult trail as the easier one was being constructed on, on which there were quite a few campgrounds.

What I discovered was that there were not only plots of land for people to pitch a tent and camp in the traditional sense, but local entrepreneurs had also provided the option to pay for an open air space on a platform for those without tents. One place, the Bob Marley campgrounds, even had indoor options, changing rooms, and food on request.

In short, the Cascades D’Ouzoud offered a large and various selection of budget sleeping options that were allotted a mere one line in the Lonely Planet guides.

Whether you have a tent and the works or nothing but the clothes on your back, this off the beaten track destination can accommodate anyone and will without a doubt provide a more communal and festive atmosphere for travelers than Beni Mellal and save you the trouble of finding a taxi to the waterfalls in the morning.

Photo Credit Arnaud 25