For the explorer and author, the desert outpost, irrigated by water from the Atlas mountains, is the perfect place to decompress.
The first thing I notice when I walk into the oasis is the temperature drop. Then, I hear the birdsong and the rustling of the palm trees. The harsh sun dims and there's water and the smell of damp earth. It's easy to understand why desert travellers yearned to reach these havens and why they have become synonymous with peace. I'm an explorer who's walked through many oases with loaded camels, crossing Morocco and the Sahara on foot, but Skoura, a four-hour drive from Marrakech, is a place I visit to decompress.
You may be imagining some kind of cartoon mirage oasis - a sole date palm shimmering above the endless sands. In fact, Skoura has a population of around 3,000 people living in a small town on the edge of the palms with 10 sq miles (25 sq km) of agricultural land. Many visitors to Morocco start in Fez or Marrakech and stop off in Aït Benhaddou, then go down to the Sahara towns of Zagora or Merzouga. Skoura, less than an hour from Ouarzazate, is an ideal stop-off point for a couple of days, or you could combine it with a Marrakech city break. The bus from Marrakech (CTM or Supratours) takes six hours, or you can hire a car (or car with driver) from Marrakech or Fez.
Founded in the 12th century by Sultan Yaqub al-Mansur and developed as an important stop for the trans-Sahara trade, Skoura is in the Dadès valley, nicknamed the Valley of a Thousand Kasbahs, along the old trade routes from the Sahara to Europe and the Middle East. Caravans carrying everything from gold to ostrich feathers used to come up from southern Africa. Over the next three centuries it thrived until the trade started to break up and it lost its importance. Now, it is mainly an agricultural hub - and one of Morocco's biggest date producers.
A visit is not a high-octane, sight-filled adventure. It's a chance to connect with a world that is so unchanged it is almost otherworldly. The houses are built from clay, people eat what they grow and water runs down from the mountains. It is a study in how humans can live with nature and in tranquillity.
There's still a magnificent collection of kasbahs scattered through the trees, but the town is worth a visit for a glimpse of everyday life in rural Morocco. I love the chicken and chips sold in the roadside cafes of the main street. The skin has a perfect crispiness, and it is served with fresh bread, spicy harissa sauce and salted tomatoes. However, I come to Skoura for the peace and to immerse myself in the unique surroundings.
A bicycle, I find, offers the best way of doing this. Many of the lodges have them or rent them, or you can go on a tour with a guide from Skoura VTT Aventures. There is nothing like whizzing down the dirt paths that wind through the date palms. Being on a bike means you can really look around and investigate. It was how I found out there are male and female palm trees. A farmer saw me taking pictures and came over to explain: males are needed for pollination but don't bear any fruit, so there is only one planted for every 20-50 females. In spring, they have big, heavy clusters of pollen-filled flowers. He also showed me how he climbs the palms in his bare feet for harvesting, using a sharp curved scythe and a rope to ratchet himself up the trunk. I decided to have a go, egged on by my new friend, and abjectly failed. October/November is harvest time (Skoura specialises in the fat, soft medjool dates), which brings a bustle of activity and excitement, so it is a particularly good time to visit.
Palms need water, and the oasis is fed by an intricate series of irrigation canals called khettara. I am not an engineering nerd, but these date back more than 2,500 years, so you can't help but be impressed. They bring water all the way down from the Atlas mountains, which you can see in the distance, just using gravity. They look like a series of round tunnels.
Like the canals, the houses are made of the natural materials to hand and are among the best remaining examples of rammed-earth architecture in north Africa. They are naturally cool in the summer and warm in the winter because of their thick walls made of mud and palms or wood. Roofs are flat and there are grass or palm fronds poking out above the gutters to direct the water away. When it rains your house "melts", so constant repair is necessary; many people are now rebuilding with concrete as it is cheaper.
Skoura is a great place to sample traditional local, affordable food. The tagine is an everyday staple. Lamb tagine with vegetables, chicken tagine with olives and preserved lemon and meatballs cooked in tomato sauce are on the menu in all the restaurants. As I live in Morocco, I'm always looking for something a bit different and L'ma Lodge is my special treat. It was created over a period of six years by French/Belgian couple Vanessa and Xavier on the site of an old football pitch. They slowly won over the community by building in a traditional way and planting hundreds of trees in their organic garden. Lunch and an afternoon at the pool is just €25, and all the fruit and vegetables are their own. I often start with a salad with pomegranate and end happily with a pudding fragranced with orange blossom water. Then I float in the pool, full belly up.
Kasbah Amridil is another must-visit, a kind of living museum. The Nassiri family, who founded it more than 300 years ago, are still there and it has all the features of the traditional kasbah construction: a courtyard for the merchants and animals, with rooms and stables round the sides and storeys above where the family and guests eat, sleep and pray, with turrets on each corner of the building once used for defence. The small museum has artefacts from an everyday rural life that is only just beginning to die out. There are some rooms here too, if you want to stay.
For a small town, Skoura has a reasonably wide range of accommodation for every budget. It is not a highly developed spot, which is its great charm; but there is still plenty of choice from about €25 for a double room in family-run Auberge Famille Ben Moro to €89 for a double at Sawadi Ecolodge or more for something really luxurious.
If you want to leave the calm, Ouarzazate, just 45 minutes away, is a bustling desert city. You can visit the film studios (huge productions from Gladiator to Game of Thrones have been made here), ride a quad bike out into the desert or have dinner at one of the many great restaurants. Another interesting option is Aït Benhaddou, an hour away. This red clay town emerges out of a dry river bed, and you can walk up steep winding stairs to get a view of the desert beyond.
But once in Skoura, I always want to stay put. A couple of days in the oasis is like decompression therapy. It is a world away from the crowded markets of Marrakech, the clubs of Casablanca or the surfing vibes of Taghazoute. In times past, Skoura was part of the lifeline of trade for Morocco; now it is a tranquil reminder of how to live in a simpler way.