The Anti-Atlas , also known as Lesser Atlas or Little Atlas , is a mountain range in Morocco , a part of the Atlas Mountains in the northwest of Africa . The Anti-Atlas extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the southwest toward the northeast, to the heights of Ouarzazate and further east to the city of Tafilalt , altogether a distance of approximately 500 km. The range borders on the Sahara to the south.
32-598: In some contexts, the Anti-Atlas is considered separate from the Atlas Mountains system, as the prefix "anti" (i.e. opposite) implies. The summits of the Anti-Atlas reach average heights of 2,500–2,700 m (8,200–8,900 ft), with a few peaks reaching higher. To the north lies a plateau at 1700–1800 m in height. To the south lie the Sahara highlands at approximately 700 m. On the heights of Ouarzazate ,
64-595: A UNESCO World Heritage Site . Film is a major industry in Ouarazazate and constitute a major part of its economy. Its success is due to the presence of desert landscapes and historical architecture, the availability of trained technicians, low productions costs, and Morocco's streamlined process for obtaining film permits. Most productions are from the USA or Western Europe, but the number of Indian and Chinese productions has also increased in recent years. According to
96-420: A sacred mountain in the region and for the inhabitants, it can be seen from afar and from all over Anzi and its surroundings, in addition to the fact that climbing it is dangerous and many of those who ventured to climb it lost their lives. There are many stories, myths and folk tales told about this mountain, but they lack reliable sources. One of the folk tales says that Sidi al-Madani decided to take refuge in
128-593: A specific angle of view and people see it from afar, so it is called people's finger. On a geological level, Mount Adad Madani is composed of quartzite and rhyolite that dates back to the Precambrian era as noticed by French scientist François Cuzin who visited the area in March 1996 as part of an expedition to the region. In some places this geological formation that belongs to the Precambrian can be found in
160-655: A study published in 2020, about 20 to 50 foreign film and television productions are shot in Ouarzazate every year. In 2017, the heads of Moroccan film studios claimed that about 80 percent of staff used on film productions were Moroccan. Atlas Studios is the largest movie studios in the world in terms of land area. It was established in 1983. Movies were shot here including The Living Daylights , Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra , Lawrence of Arabia , The Man Who Would Be King , The Mummy , Kingdom of Heaven , Gladiator , Hanna , and Babel . It
192-738: Is a mountain of the Western Anti-Atlas with a height of 1,470 meters (4,820 ft) above sea level. It is located 75 kilometers (47 mi) northeast of the city of Tiznit in the Aouguenz commune in the Chtouka Aït Baha region of the Souss-Massa region in southern Morocco . The mountain is located in the center of the Argan Tree Biosphere Reserve. The name Adad Madani is a corruption of
224-442: Is a noted film-making location, with Morocco's biggest studios inviting many international companies to work here. Films such as Lawrence of Arabia (1962), The Man Who Would Be King (1975), The Living Daylights (1987), The Last Temptation of Christ (1988), The Mummy (1999), Gladiator (2000), Kingdom of Heaven (2005), Kundun (1997), Legionnaire (1998), The Hills Have Eyes (2006), Salmon Fishing in
256-518: Is also a Jewish cemetery, which is no longer in use. During the French period, Ouarzazate expanded considerably as a garrison town, administrative centre and customs post and a church (Eglise Saint Therese) was built in 1931. It is home to the Kasbah Taourirt , which was the kasbah of the former caïd and later owned by T'hami El Glaoui . The Krupp field gun which secured Glaoui power
288-593: Is displayed outside the kasbah today. The city was part of the route of the 2006 and 2007 Dakar Rally . The nearby Ouarzazate solar power station , co-funded by the Arab League, was connected to the Moroccan power grid in February 2016. On 1 November 2023, Ouarzazate along with Casablanca joined UNESCO’s Creative Cities Network . Ouarzazate is at an elevation of 1,160 metres (3,810 ft) in
320-580: Is endangered by overgrazing , and in the south little but thorn shrubs remain. The transition to the desert is gradual towards the south. The Moroccan citron is cultivated there, and used as Etrog in Jewish rituals. The Anti-Atlas area is a traditionally Berber region, inhabited by the Chleuh group. It is sparsely inhabited and there are no large cities in the area. The main town is Tafraoute , which has been described as "Morocco's Berber heartland." Often
352-507: Is one of the few habitats for the Ajkal dracaena draco trees, which was discovered by chance by the French scientist François Cuzin while traveling to the area in 1996. This discovery has drawn botanists and scientists to the tree's habitat to unravel the mystery of its existence in the region. The word "Ajkal" means "suspended" or "inaccessible" in Amazigh . Mount Adad Madani is considered
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#1732765117503384-589: The Precambrian , and is much older than the Atlas mountains. The Anti-Atlas range developed even later. A fraction of the Avalonia microcontinent, the Anti-Atlas range formed in the Paleozoic ( c. 300 million years ago), as a result of continental collisions. North America, Europe and Africa were connected as part of two former continents , Euramerica and Gondwana , which ground against one another to create
416-491: The massif is cut through by the Draa valley , opening towards the south. The range is strongly fissured, particularly in a southerly direction. The Anti-Atlas area is a traditionally Berber region, inhabited by the Chleuh group. It is sparsely inhabited and there are no large cities in the area. The main town is Tafraoute , which has been described as "Morocco's Berber heartland". There are cave paintings in certain areas of
448-574: The 16th century, Sheikh Abu al-'Abaas Ahmed bin Abdellah al-Wizkiti al-Warzazi, emir of the qasba of Ouarzazate and father of Lalla Masuda , helped establish Saadi control over the Sous - Dra'a region. Ouarzazate was home to a thriving Jewish community. In 1954, about 170 Jews lived in the Mellah. The "Old Synagogue", a synagogue said to be nearly 300 years old, is located in Ouarzazate. There
480-556: The Anzhi region, which consists of schist and sandstone . Also a type of brown and red soil on the slopes can be found. The climate of the mountain and the region is not well studied due to lack of data, but compared to neighboring regions, the average annual precipitation in Tiznit and Tafraoute is less than 200 mm (7.9 in), while Anzi and Tanalt are, respectively, 234 and 351 mm (9.2 and 13.8 in). Mount Adad Madani
512-563: The Sufi zawiyas in the area later known as the poor of the Aydawaltit sect, would make a pilgrimage to the shrine, where they built a night shelter at the top of the mountain; they also dug a cistern to collect rainwater for drinking. Another story said that Sidi Hammad or Moussa visited the tomb of Sidi Ayza or Ali in Tizkin and prayed at the place called al-Marka'a where people still pray at
544-608: The Yemen (2011) and The Wages of Fear (2024) were shot here, as was part of the TV series Game of Thrones . It was the filming location for the fictional city of Agapenta in the fourth season of the Netflix series Outer Banks . Its name comes from a Berber phrase meaning "without noise" or "without confusion". For a long time, Ouarzazate was a small crossing point for African traders on their way to northern Morocco and Europe. In
576-471: The distances between one village and another are great, without any human presence in between. There are Neolithic cave paintings in certain areas of the range. The landscape of the Anti-Atlas is marked by picturesque kasbah (small castles) in many places in the region. During former times, the kasbah was important as a place of shelter and as a supply depot for kinsmen. Close to these settlements, terraced fields with dry-stone retaining walls cover
608-531: The door of the desert , is a city and capital of Ouarzazate Province in the region of Drâa-Tafilalet , south-central Morocco . Ouarzazate is a primary tourist destination in Morocco during the holidays, as well as a starting point for excursions into and across the Draa Valley and the desert. The fortified village Aït Benhaddou west of the city is a UNESCO World Heritage Site . The Ouarzazate area
640-762: The former Central Pangean Mountains . Evidence shows that the Anti-Atlas Mountains were originally formed as part of the Alleghenian orogeny that also formed the Appalachians , formed when Gondwana (including Africa) and Euramerica (America) collided. There are indications they were once a chain of mountains far higher than the Himalayas are today. More recently, in the Paleogene and Neogene Periods (66 million to ~1.8 million years ago),
672-497: The landscape. However, increasingly houses are vacated and fields are left uncultivated. With the continued migration from the land, the irrigation systems necessary for agriculture are also decaying. 30°00′N 8°30′W / 30.000°N 8.500°W / 30.000; -8.500 Ouarzazate Ouarzazate ( / ˌ w ɑː r z ə ˈ z æ t , - ˈ z ɑː t / ; Arabic : ورزازات , romanized : Warzāzāt , IPA: [warzaːˈzaːt] ), nicknamed
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#1732765117503704-617: The middle of a bare plateau south of the High Atlas Mountains , with a desert to the city's south. Ouarzazate has a hot desert climate ( Köppen climate classification BWh ). The city is hot and dry in summer, but can be very cold in winter, with icy winds coming from the High Atlas Mountains. The Kasbah Taourirt is the city's historic kasbah (fortified residence, or tighremt in Berber languages). It
736-584: The mountain after he was living in one of the plains and a soldier of the Makhzen which is the state at that time was passing by his house on his way to carry out one of his missions, feeling hungry, he asked Sidi al-Madani to feed him so he cooked him the only chicken he had. One of Sidi al-Madani's sons was crying out of hunger, so his father fed him a chicken leg. The Makhzeni noticed that the cooked chicken had only one leg, so he asked him why, and he replied that he had given it to his hungry little son. The Makhzeni
768-694: The north and west slopes are locally more wet and agriculturally favorable. Climatically, the mountains are separated from the Mediterranean 's influence by the High Atlas to its north, and therefore they belong to the Saharan climate zone. The driest area is the Jbel Saghro . In the least dry areas to the west and the north, much of the land is covered with thyme , rosemary and other drought tolerant plants, such as argan . The quilt-like cover
800-408: The original Amazigh name Adaz Namdani or Adad Namdani which means people's finger. Also, in another narrative is believed to be named after Wali Sidi al-Madani, or the brother of Wali Sidi Ayza, or whoever is buried in the ancient school of Tizkin who was buried at the top of Mount Adad Madani. There are also those who say that the reason for the name is that the mountain has the shape of a finger from
832-526: The range. The eastern prolongation of the Anti-Atlas is the Jbel Saghro range. The Jbel Sirwa is its northern prolongation, connecting with a section of the High Atlas range . The summit of Jbel Sirwa, of volcanic origin, reaches 3304 m. The Jbel Bani is a much lower range running along the southern side of the Anti Atlas. The basement rock of Africa (the African Plate ) was formed in
864-531: The remaining mountain chains that today comprise the Atlas were uplifted as the land masses of Europe and Africa collided at the southern end of the Iberian Peninsula . Erosion continued to reduce the Anti-Atlas range so that it is today less massive than the High Atlas range to the north. In the Anti-Atlas, the precipitation annually is typically below 200 mm, while the climatic conditions on
896-555: The same path as the Sidi Ahmad or Moussa al-Samlali walked in the 17th-century. Now the poor no longer climb the rugged mountain they just take a car ride to the village of Timjisht, which is near the top of the mountain. There are different opinions about who is buried at the top of Adad Madani, with some sources saying the grandfather of the Shorafaa al-Sabaean tribe, Amer Al Hamel Al Idrissi Al Hassani and others Sidi al-Madani,
928-487: The same place during the Tezkin season near the old school. Then he continued his journey through the neighboring villages, accompanied by his followers, later known as the poor of the Aydawaltit sect. Sidi Ahmed or Moussa is considered the founder of this Sufi order. He then continued on his way to Mount Adad Madani, and it is said that his horse's tracks are still carved into one of the mountain's rocks. The order still follows
960-856: Was also the location of an episode of the television series The Amazing Race 10 and Game of Thrones season 3 . Prison Break season 5 was filmed here. Another large studio in Ouarzazate is CLA Studios , established in 2004. The Cinema Museum, located across from the Kasbah Taourirt, opened in 2007 and is housed in a former film studio. The museum displays film sets, props, and technical equipment from previous productions. 30°55′N 6°55′W / 30.917°N 6.917°W / 30.917; -6.917 Mount Adad Madani Mount Adad Madani (in Tamazight : ⴰⴰⴷⴷⵔⴰⴰⵔ ⵏⴰⴷⴰⵣ ⵎⴰⴷⵏⵉ, also pronounced in Arabic : Adrar Nadaz Namdani)
992-416: Was furious and ordered the child to be brought in and then amputated his entire leg, and he has been disabled ever since. Sidi al-Madani was so angry that he left his village for good and settled at the top of the mountain where no government could reach him. Another version says that the person buried at the top of the mountain is another of the Shorafaa al-Sabaean. Every year, the poor, followers of one of
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1024-466: Was owned and expanded by the Glaoui family in the late 19th century and the 20th century. Built mainly of rammed earth , it is one of the most impressive examples of this type of structure, which characterizes the architecture of the predominantly Berber-inhabited Atlas mountain and oasis regions of Morocco. A short distance west of the city is Aït Benhaddou , a historic ksar (fortified village) and
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