Travel Reference
In-Depth Information
National Parks
With cities encroaching on natural habitats, the Moroccan government is setting aside pro-
tected areas to prevent the further disappearance of rare plant and animal species. Toubkal
National Park in the High Atlas Mountains was the first national park to be created in 1942.
After the vast Souss-Massa National Park was founded in 1991 outside Agadir, Morocco
created four new national parks in 2004: Talassemtane (589 sq km) in the Rif; Al-Hoceima
(485 sq km) in the Mediterranean, with outstanding coastal and marine habitats along the
Mediterranean that include one of the last outposts of osprey; Ifrane National Park (518 sq
km) in the Middle Atlas, with dense cedar forests and Barbary macaques; and the Eastern
High Atlas National Park (553 sq km).
The endangered Houbara bustard is making a comeback with the release of 5000 captive-bred
birds into a 40,000-sq-km protected zone in Morocco's eastern desert - among the largest rein-
troductions of any endangered species in the world. Bustards are notoriously diicult to breed
in captivity due to their intricate mating behaviour and nervous disposition.
Today Morocco's 14 national parks and 35 nature reserves, forest sanctuaries and other
protected areas overseen by Morocco's Direction des Eaux et Forêts are conserving species
and advancing natural sciences. Park staff are tracking the region's biodiversity through
botanical inventories, bird censuses, primate studies and sediment analyses. These studies
are critical to understanding the broader causes of habitat loss, in Morocco and beyond; the
Spanish and American Park Services have studied Morocco's parklands to better under-
stand bio- diversity concerns.
Parks have proven a boon to local wildlife, but a mixed blessing for human residents.
While national parks protect local ecosystems and attract tourist revenue, access for local
communities to water, grazing land and wild plants harvested for food and medicine has
been limited or cut off entirely. But by conserving parkland, the Ministries of Tourism and
Agriculture aim to help local ecosystems flourish, gradually restore arable land and ulti-
mately benefit local communities with ecotourism that provides a profitable alternative to
kif cultivation. In the near future, fees for park admission may be instituted to support the
parks' conservation, scientific and community missions. Meanwhile, the best sights in Mo-
rocco are still free and visitors can show their appreciation to local communities by sup-
porting local NGOs along their route.
