North of Rabat, we had first stopped at the lagoon of Moulay Bousselham, where we could camp directly at the lagoon, in front of a restaurant, which served us a delicious seafood platter in the evening (34.869940, -6.279698). The next morning, Cordy went on a tour of the lagoon, looking for birds.
Later we visited the archaeological site of an important ancient town called Lixus further north.
Lixus was founded by Phoenicians in the 8t century BC, even before the city of Carthage. It was continuously occupied from antiquity to the Islamic Era, and has ruins dating to the Phoenician, Mauretanian, Roman and Islamic periods.
At the bottom of the hill was a large area dedicated to the production of Garum – fermented fish sauce, an important ingredient in ancient cuisine, which was exported to the countries of the Mediterranean Sea.
But you didn’t think, there would be no birds in this post? The lagoon of Moulay Bousselham was a birder’s paradise. Our guide even took us to a roosting place of Marsh owls, a rare bird in Morocco.
Marsh owls are at home in Southern Africa, but there is an isolated population in Morocco. The owls roost on the ground near avocado plantations, not far from the lagoon.
While driving through the shallow lagoon, we came across many shore birds: Curlew, Whimbrel, White Stork, Great Cormorant, Black-headed Gull, Little Egret, Grey Heron, Spoonbill, Sandwich Tern, Redshank, Greenshank, Greater Flamingo, Black-bellied Plover, Ringed Plover, Sanderling and even an Osprey.
We are now heading to Cape Spartel, the north-western point of Morocco – more soon!