Most Saharan Berbers are still living the same way they did 10 centuries ago in the Western Sahara and the Atlas Mountains. They are both a tourist attraction and an international lesson on “how to live in harmony with the land and the neighbors Allah gave you.”
The Arab invasion of North Africa during the seventh century brought about the Arabization and eventually the conversion of the Berbers to Sunni Islam. However, the Berbers still retain some of their ancient beliefs and customs.
They call themselves the Shilha people or Ishelhien and are an ethnic subgroup primarily inhabiting the High Atlas, the Sous Valley, the Western coastal regions of Morocco, and the Northwestern Sahara. They are from the same ethnic group as the Tuareg, the Kabyle, the Shawia, and the Guanche.
Although the Ishelhien adopted Islam, they have held on to their traditional language, culture and religious customs to varying degrees.
Living a traditional nomadic existence in the Moroccan dessert, they still use camels as a mode of transportation as much as they use 4-wheel-drive Land Rovers and Jeeps. Many still live in tents, with the floor covered by hand-woven kilims and carpets created by the women on homemade primitive looms.
The majority of the men wear the traditional blue cloth turban of the Tuareg, though some today wear other colors. The turban is used as a head covering against the intense Saharan sun, but also serves an important function during a sand storm. The cloth of the turban can be used as a breathing filter to keep from inhaling the fine sand.
Modern tourism has brought the Berbers in contact with other nationalities and ways of life. The older generations still cling to their nomadic life and traditional djellaba robes, living in tents made of woven camel hair or straw-covered huts. But many of the men and boys of the younger generation have adopted blue jeans, khakis, and sneakers even if they still wear a djellaba over their western clothing.
The older women also still wear the traditional Islamic all-covering abayas and head scarves as well as partial face coverings.
The younger generation, however, favors much less restrictive garb and feel free to show their faces to the world.
The tajine is the preferred method of cooking including meats and vegetables cooked in this traditional conical implement. But other dishes like chicken kebabs rubbed with savory spices roasted in an open fire are also part of the desert menu, as well as roast camel’s head and sun-dried and salt-preserved camel hump covered with a spicy paprika and garlic paste (camel bastirma).
The more popular tajine dishes include a cooked carrot and green-olive cold dish; “Russian” salad of cubed potatoes, cubed carrots, shelled brazed peas, and brazed celery slices in a mayonnaise studded with oil-cured black olives; roasted green peppers; pastina in tomato and onion sauce; angel-hair pasta baked in chicken stock, studded with corn and pumpkin-seed kernels and sprinkled with ground cinnamon; baked eggplant slices covered with melted cheese; and roasted potato and apple slices spiced with cinnamon, ground cloves, and cracked black peppercorns in a light tomato sauce. Their mainly vegetable-based diet creates some very interesting and savory dishes.
Their desserts are much simpler, such as ripe dates stuffed with roasted and crushed pistachios, dried black figs, or dried apricots reconstructed in a light sugar or carob syrup.
For tourists, there are luxurious camping sites with tents featuring wall-to-wall carpets and king-sized beds with fine Egyptian linen. Tented dining rooms have air conditioning and linen-covered tables and chairs.
When we returned from our camel ride to our camp site, Berber musicians greeted us with traditional drumming and singing.
If the above are of interest to you, contact the local representative of the Moroccan National Office of Tourism to get information about their programs or how to book one of the more comfortable tourist camps at the edge of the Sahara. Alternatively, consult your travel professional.
Manos Angelakis is one of the founders, the former Managing Editor for 25 years, the current Managing Editor Emeritus, and Senior Food & Wine Writer of LuxuryWeb Magazine. He is an accomplished travel writer, photographer, and food and wine critic based in Hackensack, New Jersey. As a travel writer, he has written extensively about numerous cities and countries. Manos has also been certified as a Tuscan Wine Master and has traveled to wine-producing areas in order to evaluate firsthand the product of top-rated vineyards. In the past year, he has visited and written multiple articles about Morocco, Turkey, Quebec City, Switzerland, Antarctica, and most recently the South of France. Articles in other publications include Vision Times and Epoch Times.
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