Ziz Gorges
- For other uses, see Ziz (disambiguation).
The Ziz Gorges are a series of gorges in Morocco defined by two artificial gates at both their southern and northern ends. At their southern end is the dam of Hassan Addakil and an artificial lake. At their northern end is the Tunnel de Légionnaire built by French colonial troops in the 1930s in order to create a passageway to the Ziz Valley. The gorge is a result of the Ziz River cutting through the Atlas Mountains.[1]
Hills up to 320M high line the 100-200M wide arid canyon, and the area is an extremely fertile zone of ancient fossils- just tossing a rock at the top of one of the hills cracked it open, revealing a perfect fern, and I was able to buy a perfect trilobite with eyes (usually broken off) at a large fossil shop in the middle of the mostly empty canyon. A medium size town is located in the middle of the 80km long canyon.