Valley of Roses
North of Kelaa M’Gouna, 45km east of skoura, laced with the bloom of
thousands of small pink roses, cultivated into hedgerows dividing the plots. In
the 10th century, pilgrims returning from Mecca brought Rosa Damascene back with them to
Morocco. These peppery scented flowers have developed a resistance to the cold
and dry conditions in which they are no grow. Each spring, rose-picking
produces 4000 to 6000 tonnes of petals that ferry by trucks to Kelaa M’Gouna’s
two local distillation factories, where they’re distilled into the rose oil
that forms the basis of all the moisturizers, hand creams, rose water, perfume
and other rose-related products. The rose festival takes place after the
harvest, most of the time in late May or early June, to celebrate the new
year’s crops with inhabitants coming down from the environs with music and
dancing.
