Atlas Film Studios - Ouarzazate

Atlas Film Studios - Ouarzazate

Founded in 1983, ATLAS STUDIOS is the biggest Film Studio in Africa (one of the largests in the world), it is located in the west side of the city of Ouarzazate in Morocco. The site is spread over 20 hectares and offers all necessary services and equipments for productions: exterior and interior sets, production offices, workshops, stables with trained animals. More than that, the studio offers accommodation in the Oscar Hotel inside the studio for the stuff and film crew. Since 1983, the studio was expended many times due to the reliable climate and weather conditions.

Here is a Youtube video about what you would see inside the Atlas film Studios:

Many films and TV series used Atlas studios services because of the nature of the area that can mimic the natural environments of many countries.
Here are some famous Movies and TV series productions that used Atlas Studio services:

• Lawrence of Arabia
• Patton
• The Jewel of the Nile
• The Living Daylights
• The Mummy
• Gladiator
• Kingdom of Heaven
• Asterix & Obelix: Mission Cleopatra
• Babel
• Game of Thrones
• Atlantis
• The Amazing Race 10
• The Grand Tour

Most sets of many movies that were filmed in Atlas Film Studios are still in place, that's why the studio also became a popular tourist destination and offers a guided tour inside. (Entrance costs 50MAD per person).

At Hyper Morocco Tours all our Sahara Desert tours starting from Marrakech pass by the city of Ouarzazate, so in case you are interested in taking a look, we can add a stop to your trip at Atlas film studios or another one of the film studios located there,  We always try to provide you with the best experiences by giving you multiple choices.. cultural trips, camel trekking, sleeping in berber tent in the heart of the desert, berber clothing tryouts...
For more informations and booking please feel free to contact us

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Ait Ben Haddou - Ksar - Kasbah

Ait Ben Haddou - Ksar - Kasbah

Aït Benhaddou (in Berber: ⴰⵢⵜ ⵃⴰⴷⴷⵓ; in Arabic: آيت بن حدّو‎‎) is an ighrem (in Englissh it means a fortified village) (called ksar in Arabic), along the former caravan route between the Sahara and Marrakech in Morocco. 
There are different versions about the history of Ait Ben Haddou, but they all agree that this place exists since the 13th centuary. It has been expanded and rebuilt throughout history several times, especially in the 17th centuary.. At first it was a stop of Caravanes coming from "Timbuktu" in the south of the great Sahara. Then it became a place where merchants used to meet and exchange their products. 

The name "Ait Ben Haddou" comes from the first family that had a Kasbah in the place (a Kasbah is a fortified big house that belongs to one big family), usually wealthy powerful families live in Kasbahs surrounded by a wall with a surveilliance tower at each corner, to prevent attacks from the enemies.. and Ait Ben Haddou (or the family of the sons of Haddou) was the first family to live on the hill before other families and tribes that are allies started building their houses and kasbahs there.
There used to be about a hundred families in the village but once life became safer they all moved to the other side of the river because it is close to the main road (the village used to be totally isolated when it rains and the level of water in the river is high. and also to get access to running water and electricity.. 
Currently there are only about four or five families that are still living in Ait ben Haddou, the rest of buildings  is just ruins or shops and cafes for the tourists, even if there are bridges now and the village have access to water and elecricity.

Ait Ben Haddou now is an important tourist attraction in the south east of Morocco, it is a major stop in all the desert tours starting from Marrakech to Merzouga in the Sahara Desert, or starting from Fes or any other place and ending in Marrakech.
There re also few camels there for people that are into Camel Trekking.
Most citizens attracted by the tourist trade live in more modern dwellings in a village on the other side of the river, although there are four families still living in the ancient village. Inside the walls of the ksar are half a dozen (Kasbahs) or merchants houses and other individual dwellings, and is a great example of Moroccan earthen clay architecture.

Aït Benhaddou has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1987, link: http://whc.unesco.org/en/list/444

Several films have been shot there, including:

Sodom And Gomorrah (1963)
Oedipus Rex (1967)
The Man Who Would Be King (film) (1975)
The Message (1976)
Jesus of Nazareth (1977)
Time Bandits (1981)
Marco Polo (1982)
The Jewel of the Nile (1985)
The Living Daylights (1987)
The Last Temptation of Christ (1988)
The Sheltering Sky (1990)
Kundun (1997)
The Mummy (1999)
Gladiator (2000)
Alexander (2004)
Kingdom of Heaven (2005)
Babel (2006)
One Night with the King (2006)
Prince of Persia (2010)
Son of God (film) (2014)
Also used in parts of the TV series Game of Thrones.

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