The Dades Valley stretches out between the peaks of the High Atlas and the Jbel Sarhro mountain range.

Also known as 'The Valley of One Thousand Kasbahs', it is the most prominent of the oasis valleys that dominate southern Morocco.

The river Dades cuts a steep gorge, known as the Dades Gorge from melt water high up in the snowfields of the Haute Atlas.

It then flows on through the broad Dades Valley in a south-westerly direction towards Quarzazate.

In the past the people of this region lived in a large number of small Kasbah settlements scattered across the fertile river plain.

More recently, however, they have been leaving the valley and been congregating in larger villages along the valley's edge, leaving only a few Kasbah to be populated and maintained in perfect condition.