What is It- Visitors to Morocco often combine stops at the popular inland destinations like Marrakech and the High Atlas Mountains with trips to the beach resort city of Agadir or the romantic city of Essaouira located in the southwestern section of the country. The scrappy semi-desert land in between consists mostly of small villages and ranches used for agricultural production. A prominent feature of these mountainsides and orchards are hundreds of thousands of twisted argan trees with branches that bear an odd “fruit.”  The hard-shell nuts of the Argan trees produce a bountiful harvest for farmers who use the trees and the nuts to make charcoal, feed animals, and extract argan oil. 

Argan nuts have been described as having “a green, fleshy exterior like an olive but they are larger and rounder. Inside, there is a nut with a hard shell which in turn contains one or more almond shaped kernels.”  The oil produced from nuts has a variety of uses and is often found in perfumes, natural medicines, cosmetics, and food. Companies and stands throughout the region offer all kinds of Argan material to tourists and manufacture products distributed around the world. However, this is no easy task since the husks of an argan nut are extremely hard. Despite numerous efforts to mechanize the process, the most effective method of extracting the useful material is to do it by hand. Women provide most of the labor force for this work through local farm cooperatives and non-profit organizations. 

Traditionally, it was common for farmers to allow their goats to feast on the nuts, partially digest them to soften the hard outer shells, and then collect the regurgitated nuts for easier opening. Today, goats are no longer integral to the processing of Argan oil, but they have become an attraction and money maker themselves. That is because Moroccan goats have the incredible ability to climb all the way to top of the Argan trees to reach the nuts and chew on them. This unusual practice has made the goats a popular sight for tourists who visit the orchards to take pictures. There are orchards close to the towns of Essaouira and Agadir, where farmers bring their goats out to their Argan trees to climb up and pose for pictures in exchange for a small fee. It is common for tour groups to visit these locations as part of a cultural or when traveling to these locations. On our drive from Marrakech to Essaouira, we stopped to see several groups of goats resting under the trees and climbing them periodically with incredible ease to chew on the nuts.

Interesting Fact- As much as visitors enjoy watching the goats climb the trees and hang out there, the treatment of the animals has become a concern to animal rights organizations. Instead of allowing the goats to go about their daily activities and graze in the trees at their leisure, some farmers have attempted to attract attention to their orchards and generate extra revenue by attaching the goats to platforms in the trees through most of  the day. Visitors should use good judgment and try to avoid patronizing locations that engage in abusive practices.

Where to Go - There are many locations in the southwestern part of Morocco with Argan trees and goats on display. People can experience them when approaching Essaouira from Marrakech on the N8 main road or Route 207. They are also frequently on display near Domain Argania south of Essaouira on the N1 road. Your guide or hotel concierge can direct you to a nearby site and often will include a stop at a Berber village or argan shop as part of the excursion. 

When to Go- The coastal areas between Essaouira and Agadir have mild temperatures throughout the year and little rainfall. Once you head a few miles inland to the farmlands, the temperature increases, and it is usually over 75 degrees from May to November and in the 60s during the rest of the year.