A river flows through it

Today's visit to the Cascades d' Ouzoud, has been a "must see" event since we heard about them last year. Cheated a bit today, as the post title is lifted from a Meryl Streep film, but it describes everything we saw so well.

This simple map is painted onto the wall of the restaurant here at the campsite. The river or "oued"

From Zebra, the gently flowing river continues through olive groves and meanders along side the golden wheat fields. There are simply constructed terraces holding back the red earth and creating flat ground for fruit trees.

Then the valley widens a little and  the  tranquil waters of a small lake, sometimes used by local fishermen, can be seen from the bridge. Surely this isn't the waterfall? Hush and listen....there is a muted roar reaching us from the right.

Now that's what we call a cascade!! Not quite as full as earlier in the Spring, but cleaner. It is brown as mud when full of the winter snow melt. This is the first level, before the river throws itself a further 100 metres to the gorge below.

In the plunge pool, carved out by the force of the falling water, boatmen take visitors to the foot of the cascade, where they are immediately saturated by the spray.

I'm getting a stiff neck just looking up and I am only half way to the top. It really is spectacular.

Visitors come from Morocco too, not just the coach loads of tourists, whose busses are parked some distance away. We don't think that we would be very happy doing our travelling being herded from place to place and following a person carrying a flag!

There are both Macaque monkeys and Barbary apes being fed by the souk owners, so they are used to people. Some walk along the hand rails of the walk ways, posing for pictures, whilst others swing through the fig trees. A very cheeky one gave Sue's head a gentle scratch.

This young one was quite happy for me to get up close and personal.

Every now and then a short rest is required. There are footpaths and steps cut into the earth which provide access, and platforms set in the paths, enable you to marvel at the majestic cascades, whose spray creates a permanent rainbow, arcing across the gorge

These are the sides of the gorge, where the perpetual moisture has created amazing patterns in the soil and bare rock

Thundering and then splattering on the ledge below.

From the top, you can glimpse the torrent throwing itself over the edge .

and this flume just looks as though someone has turned on a tap

This was our final glimpse of the falls, as the water pours over the reddish cliffs, crashing off a succession of rocky ledges into the canyon of Wadi el-Abid.