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Located between Tetouan, Chefchaouen and Al Hoceima, in the heart of the Rif, Jbel Bouhachem’s Natural Park still awaits you. In the early 2000s, in collaboration with the leaders of the Tangier-Tetouan and Provence-Alpes-Côte d’Azur (PACA) regions, a study of 33,000 hectares of land around Jbel Bouhachem was carried out to identify the Natural Park.At the time, the Parc du Luberon team carried out several studies funded by the PACA region, and we provided our expertise to the drafters of the protected areas law passed in 2010.», recalls Arnoul Hamel, GIS project manager of the Luberon Regional Natural Park. Seven years later, the commune of Boucham, the Tangier-Tetouan region and the SVT Tetouan Teachers’ Association, which made the project a reality through small initiatives, are still waiting for the publication of the implementing decree, without which no natural park – non-national – can be recognized and exist. In the meantime, majorities have changed on both sides of the Mediterranean and the park no longer enjoys the same political support of the regional president.
Nevertheless, Jbel Bouhachem is still worth a detour, as it still has dense forests. If other areas of Morocco also have cedars, especially the Middle Atlas region in the north, Jbel Bouhachem also has magnificent oak forests consisting of tauranga oaks, as well as large numbers of cork oaks and zeyn oaks, recognizable by their large leaves and the appearance of false chestnut leaves. The plains below the forest are covered with large ferns, which are bright green in spring and an incredible golden yellow in autumn. A small cultural breakthrough howin some places, reminiscent of the region’s reputation.
The cork oak forest is wild, but its cork is constantly exploited. The operation takes place in the mountains between 15 June and 15 August, with the cuts clearly marking the widest trunks. Suddenly, they are naked, revealing their orange skin. It takes 8 to 12 years for each cork to grow back. Today, Morocco still has 377,000 hectares of cork oak forest, which represents 6.5% of its natural forests and 15% of the world’s cork oak “reserve”, distributed throughout the western Mediterranean basin. Cork production is stable at around 11,000 tons per year, of which more than 90% is exported.
Moulay Abdussalam
Cork thus radiates the region. In Douar, visitors will be able to discover cork tableware, which are both light and an excellent insulator. However, its most surprising use is certainly at the top of Mount Amal, where the famous Sufi hermit Moulay Abdessalam, son of M’chich, whose own hermitage was located a little further away in Beni Aarous. Overlooking the valley, surrounded by whitewashed stone walls, the tomb stands bare against the sky, with an old oak tree next to it. At the entrance to the sanctuary, like the carpets of the mosque, cork oak barks are nailed to the ground where pilgrims walk barefoot.
They came with sickness and old age to pray to Moulay Abdessalam, whose religious reputation extended to Mashreq in the 12th century. Thus, Abdel Hassan Al Chadili, born in the Rif, went to seek the qotb (pole) of the saints of the East, but in Baghdad he was told that he had to return to his homeland to find his qotb Maghrib. home. On the top of Mount Alam he met Moulay Abdessalam Ben M’chich, who opened his door to God and then sent him to Tunisia to teach. Al Chadili thus became the founder of the Machichia Chadilia tariqa.
Hundreds of pilgrims make the pilgrimage every year between the first and third of July. Moulay Abdussalam claims descent from Idris I and therefore from the Prophet, and every year at this time the king offers a gift to Chorfa Alamiyine, just as he offers a musm gift to every “Chorfa family” in the country. Moulay Abdussalam’s event is therefore an opportunity to bring together his genealogical descendants – the Alamiyine Chorfas – and his spiritual descendants – the members of the Maqiya Chadiliya Tariqa.
Mausoleum. / Dr. Yabiradi
Moulay Yazid Palace
If a small cement road dotted with stalls serving pious gourmet tourists (giant hazelnut and cashew nougat is a local specialty) allows easy access to the hermitage through the town of Moulay Abdessalam, another access is required. A steep path climbs up the mountainside. Paved with large stones by the faithful during successive climbs, this road leads from the valley to the summit of Mount Alam.
At the foot of the mountain lie the ruins of a magnificent palace. Locals say that Moulay Yazid, the son of Sidi Mohammed Ben Abdellah, settled there and was amazed by the beautiful scenery, but he did not want to build his own palace near Moulay Abdessalam’s tomb because he thought he could not match the grandeur of the saint. Moulay Yazid was a rebellious and cruel prince who repeatedly disobeyed his father’s orders and took refuge near the sanctuary in 1788. He claimed to be the leader of the tribe that his father had sent him on many missions, then fled to the Middle East and ended up stealing the gold that his father had given to princes and dignitaries in Syria, Iraq and Egypt in order to be able to return to Morocco,” Zamaneh said. When his father died, he quickly rushed to retake the Sultanate of Fez, abandoning the unfinished palace and ruling for no more than two years.
In the 1920s, residents of the area surrounding this looted palace used unexploded Spanish bombs to blow off its roof and salvage the materials, so today the palace has a very beautiful open-air complex.
The palace of Moulay Yazid. / Dr. Yabiradi
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