Taghazout

Taghazout was a small Amazigh fishing settlement on a rocky headland, part of the Chleuh coast between Agadir and Cap Rhir, living on sardines, a little farming in the valleys behind and the argan trees on the slopes. Its name is Tamazight, and the village had no particular importance in the histories of the Souss, which were written around Agadir's port and the inland market towns.

That changed in the 1960s and 1970s, when travellers driving south through Morocco found the long right-hand waves peeling off the points north of the village. Anchor Point, 3 km north of the village, became known to surfers abroad, and a small counterculture scene grew in the village alongside the fishermen, with rooms rented in family houses and cafés opening along the front. The 1960 earthquake that destroyed Agadir had left the coast north of the city largely untouched, and Taghazout stayed a village while the city was rebuilt as a resort.

From the 2000s the state took an interest in the coast. Taghazout Bay, a large planned tourism zone of hotels, apartments and a golf course, was developed on the bay between the village and Agadir, and the coast road was improved. The old village kept its own character, growing upwards and outwards with guesthouses, surf camps and yoga retreats, and drawing longer-staying visitors and remote workers through the winter, while the fleet of small boats still works from the beach below.

Two ways of life share a small space. One is that of a southern Moroccan village: Tamazight-speaking, Muslim, organised around family, the mosque, the market at Aourir and the fishing season. The other is the international surf culture that arrived in the 1960s and never left — board racks, dawn checks of the swell, camps full of Europeans in winter, and a local generation of Moroccan surfers who now compete and coach.

The meeting has been mostly easy, but it has rules. Villagers expect visitors to cover up away from the beach, to keep noise out of the residential lanes at night, and to treat the fishing beach as a workplace rather than a photo backdrop. Alcohol is not part of village life, and Ramadan changes the daytime rhythm even at the height of the surf season.

The wider Souss culture is present too: argan oil pressed by women's cooperatives in the hills behind, Chleuh music at weddings, and the hospitality of tea offered before any conversation about business. Yoga and wellness retreats have added a third layer since the 2010s, and the village now has more studios, vegan cafés and long-term visitors than anywhere else on this coast — a mix that some residents welcome for the income and others find has pushed rents beyond local reach.

A few thousand people live in the village, while the neighbouring town of Aourir counted about 22,000 at the 2004 census; with Tamraght between them they form the built-up strip along this part of the coast. Fishing continues from the beach with small open boats, selling to local buyers and restaurants, but tourism is now the main employer: guesthouses, surf schools, camps, cafés, vans, board repair and construction.

The seasons are pronounced. From September to April the village is full of surfers and long-stay visitors, and rooms are hard to find; in the heat of summer the crowd shifts to Moroccan families on holiday; late spring is quiet. Many young men from the village work as instructors and guides, and families rent out floors of their houses, which has raised incomes and rents at the same time.

The pressures are those of a small place that grew quickly: water supply on a dry coast, waste and drainage, building on the slopes above the village, and traffic on a narrow coast road. Banana plantations in the Tamraght valley and argan and almond groves in the hills provide the other local income, and Agadir, half an hour south, supplies the hospitals, offices and big markets.

Fish comes first. Sardines, sea bream, mackerel, sole and squid are grilled over charcoal and served with bread, tomato and onion salad and cumin, or cooked as a tagine with peppers, potato and chermoula, the marinade of coriander, garlic, cumin, paprika and lemon. Fried fish in paper and bowls of fish soup are the cheap staples along the front.

The Souss supplies the rest. Argan oil, pressed from the kernels of trees that grow on the slopes behind the village, is used for dipping and dressing, and amlou — argan oil blended with roasted almonds and honey — is the breakfast spread. Bananas from the Tamraght valley are sold at roadside stalls, along with prickly pears in summer and honey from the hills. Tagines of chicken with preserved lemon and olives, and barley couscous on Fridays, are the standard Moroccan meals in village kitchens.

Breakfast is the meal the surf camps have made their own: msemen and harsha with honey, olive or argan oil, eggs, olives, yoghurt and fruit, alongside smoothies and coffee. Mint tea, very sweet and poured from height, runs through the day, and freshly pressed orange juice is sold on the main street and in Agadir's market.