Skoura
Skoura Ahel El Oust
Skoura is a palm oasis on the road between Ouarzazate and the Dadès Valley, founded in the twelfth century by the Almohad sultan Yacoub El Mansour. The oasis is unusual in southern Morocco for its density of well-preserved kasbahs: more than a dozen significant tighremts and several smaller fortified residences are scattered through the palmeraie, including Kasbah Amridil, Kasbah Aït Ben Moro, Dar Aïchil, and the Kasbah of Ben Abou.
The oasis was a strategic node on the trans-Saharan trade and on the routes connecting the agricultural regions of the Drâa and the Dadès. Its prosperity through the medieval and early modern periods produced a denser concentration of fortified residences than is typical for an oasis of its size.
Most of Skoura's kasbahs are in private family ownership. Several have been restored and converted into small luxury hotels or restored as private residences; others are in significant disrepair. The palmeraie itself is under pressure from groundwater depletion and urbanisation pressure spreading from Ouarzazate, which compounds the conservation challenges facing the kasbah landscape.