Continuing on a bit further south from our last episode in Telouet, we follow Azdean on his summer tour down to Aït Ben Haddou, southern gateway to the High Atlas mountains and their stunning scenery and hiking. Aït Ben Haddou is a small town but is known for its traveller services, restaurants and accommodation, and its welcoming hospitality.
In this episode of Destination Morocco podcast, Azdean sits down with Mr. Mustapha, who works at the restaurant l'Oasis d'Or (Golden Oasis), a popular restaurant located on the main road through town. Mustapha speaks extensively about Berber culture and how they have embraced tourism as a way to present their culture and provide a unique experience to tourists from around the world. He speaks seven languages, which he attributes to interacting with diverse tourists, as well as a reflecting a common Moroccan trait of having a knack for language. Although, as Azdean points out, there are certainly pockets of Morocco where people are not only unilingual, they may speak only Moroccan Arabic (Darija) or the Berber (Amazigh) language, the original indigenous language, without really being able to communicate in the other.
So it's not a given that all Moroccans are polylingual, but we have certainly met quite a few examples on the podcast who are! And it is an impressive thing to see. Mustapha even speaks Russian and Mandarin, thanks to the many Chinese tour groups that have been coming through Aït Ben Haddou and Ouarzazate over the last few years.
Mustapha also discusses the establishment, menu, and services of l'Oasis d'Or, highlighting its welcoming approach to customers and how the staff operate as a big family. Azdean, with his eye for hospitality and service, praises the restaurant's generosity and the quality of its food, voicing optimism for l'Oasis d'Or's plans to open a new hotel in the near future.
On the theme of languages, we welcome you to join us live on YouTube on Wednesday, February 14 at 12 pm EST for our next live Q&A session, where we'll be talking about languages in Morocco, particularly the difference between Berber and Darija. Azdean and Sam will teach us a few useful phrases for travellers. Always handy, especially if you're heading off the beaten path for some real cultural immersion, which is the theme of our recent series of episodes!
l'Oasis d'Or, Aït Ben Haddou
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Join us for our monthly Q&A's! Live on Destination Morocco's YouTube, Facebook and LinkedIn pages, the 2nd Wednesday of each month at 9am Pacific/12noon Eastern/6pm Central European time.
Azdean [00:00:04]:
Welcome to the Destination Morocco podcast, the show that takes you away to the beautiful country of Morocco. I am your host, Azdean Elmosutaquim. In each episode we explore moroccan culture, history, attractions and activities. Real and practical information coming from experienced travellers and native Moroccans, like myself. And now let's go exploring.
Azdean [00:00:52]:
Welcome back to another amazing episode of Destination Morocco podcast. And today we have a very special guest, Mr. Mustapha, all the way from Aït Ben Haddou. He works at a restaurant, waziz dora, which means golden oasis. Mr. Mustapha, would you please introduce yourself to the audience and tell us a little bit about yourself?
Mustapha [00:01:18]:
First, I'd like to thank you so much for the. Absolutely. I am Mustapha. I was born in Dadès Valley and Rose Valley, as you knew. It's a touristic area.
Mustapha [00:01:30]:
Absolutely.
Mustapha [00:01:31]:
And we say it's opportunity because we received many customers worldwide and that gives us the courage to study and to learn many languages. You can speak more than three?
Mustapha [00:01:44]:
Oh, absolutely. Can you share those languages with the audience?
Mustapha [00:01:48]:
Yes, I speak french, berber mother language first Arabic, French, little bit of Spanish, Holland language, Japan, chinese and russian language speaker. I can speak Russian fluently. English.
Mustapha [00:02:03]:
Then you forgot Darija, which is our slang.
Mustapha [00:02:05]:
I'm not very good in Darija. Okay.
Mustapha [00:02:11]:
Just for the audience to understand. Mr. Mustapha is from the Dadès Valley region, which it's really, really common for people from different parts of the south. They only speak Berber and they don't speak the Darija language, which is just incredible. I have some family members that are the same way. They speak in Berber. Darija, not so much. So this is very intriguing.
Mustapha [00:02:35]:
And Mashaallah, I mean praise you, it's six, seven languages. It's beyond incredible. So go ahead pc Mr. Mustapha.
Mustapha [00:02:44]:
So for us it's not just working in tourism, it's more than university. I see. Because when you meet people in many countries, you feel like that, you offer something and you accept many ideas and you feel happy when someone, for example, say your level is good or you have to do this and this and this and this. It's for us and our culture. You can present your culture, especially berber culture is a huge language and unfortunately many people don't know many things. And the first question we get here, why Berbers? Exactly. Because I ted to give the normal idea about this nickname.
Mustapha [00:03:28]:
Absolutely.
Mustapha [00:03:29]:
And offer why, for example, you are living in caves, why you are in mountain, why you like freedom more, why you are in tolerance like this, why you work in other big family, all these things. It is more important as our king said before, hassan, too. He said, with time, you will receive many customers who are not.
Mustapha [00:03:55]:
You can say it in a different.
Mustapha [00:03:56]:
Language, who are not interested about food or about. They are looking for other things.
Mustapha [00:04:02]:
Absolutely 100%.
Mustapha [00:04:04]:
Our drink in our culture, our language, many things.
Mustapha [00:04:08]:
I totally agree, Mr. Mustapha, because the number one request we get from our guests is they are really, really more interested in the berber culture in the Amazon. And they want to spend some time with berber family, with the nomad, with the locals and stuff like that. So I encourage you and everybody else that we have met, you guys are doing an outstanding job showcasing our culture the right way. So what else can you tell us about you? What else can you tell us about your restaurant?
Mustapha [00:04:40]:
For our golden restaurant, it is special restaurant here in Aït Ben Haddou, because we work as a big family. And the owner is very kind. He starts from when he was child. He is orphaned.
Mustapha [00:04:57]:
Oh, wow.
Mustapha [00:04:58]:
And he guided tourists in Timre. Timre in Tudra Valley all his life. He spent it with tourists. He is very, very kind with the people. And I think here there is one point I have to say it. Oh, absolutely. Money, if you are kind and you have everybody talk about you, is more better than money. I think I told you the opportunity.
Mustapha [00:05:21]:
And he moved to this place because it's a very famous place where they filming many movies. And we work as a big family, as he said, offering to tourists, me, your experience, your skills, your balance, and almost 30 or 40% they are living here and they help them family. And then.
Mustapha [00:05:44]:
Okay, so let me just make sure I understand what you're saying. So basically, the owner, since he was a kid, he was just a hustle and bustle of the streets. Coming also from dad's valet timber area. And he moved to Aït Ben Haddou. And his love for tourism, his love for people, he made it on his own. And he finally built this place and opened it. And he has an amazing team, you and everybody else. And it's a big family more than anything else.
Mustapha [00:06:10]:
And the main concern is just serving the guests and making sure that they have a really good experience versus just looking out just for the money and making money. So I can see that. I mean, we just had lunch here. It was incredible. We had a salad. We had some chicken skewers. Really, really delicious. Very nice.
Mustapha [00:06:27]:
And then we had tanjin with kaftan vegetables. Just amazing. And we see the service, the attention to detail. And this is what anybody who's coming to Wazistoh is going to experience. And also the owner has welcomed us and you as well, with open arms. We're very grateful. Really, really appreciated. So last time I was here, obviously was four years ago, passing through.
Mustapha [00:06:48]:
A lot of things have changed for me. Well, most of them in a good way. But I do see a lot of competition. And I see the reason why you're standing out. It's because of the staff more than anything else. The food is incredible. But the hospitality that you have shown us, you don't know us. We just showed up.
Mustapha [00:07:07]:
We said, hey, can we do this? And you said, please, go ahead. So we're very grateful. So what else can you tell the audience? For example, what's your most favourite dish or your famous dish?
Mustapha [00:07:18]:
We have almost seven or eight entries entrees. We start with a mixed salad or vegetable soup. Then we have three options of vegetarian. I see we have Tajin, vegetarian, vegetarian cuscos or vegetarian pizza. Azdean cafeteria cuscos and many sorts of pizza. Pizza.
Mustapha [00:07:42]:
Okay.
Mustapha [00:07:43]:
Chicken and skewers of chicken is with rice and vegetables. And we try to hospitality as well, because our owner said to customer, if you are not satisfaction, don't pay.
Mustapha [00:07:57]:
If you're not happy with what we.
Mustapha [00:07:59]:
Have given you, happy what do not offer, just walk away. Even if you don't have money. So you can come back or you can send it to drivers. You feel like you are at your home.
Mustapha [00:08:09]:
Yes.
Mustapha [00:08:10]:
Everything is very flexible.
Mustapha [00:08:12]:
Yes.
Mustapha [00:08:12]:
Even you forgot your money, your mobile, you will find it in reception or someone will send it to your network.
Mustapha [00:08:19]:
They'Ll ship it to you. Okay, I got you. This is definitely service. Wow, that's incredible.
Mustapha [00:08:25]:
And our team, there is some speak different languages. As I said, this restaurant is specially for Chinese.
Mustapha [00:08:34]:
Oh, for Chinese?
Mustapha [00:08:35]:
For Chinese. And we offer some chinese food.
Mustapha [00:08:39]:
Oh, nice.
Mustapha [00:08:39]:
Some Asiatic as well as when Chinese was here. Because they start with Morocco, I think three years or four years before COVID Yes. And we received many of them, but Chinese who are living in different countries.
Mustapha [00:08:54]:
Okay, so I did see this myself, because when I came in 2019, we did the supper Aït Ben Haddou, we did the kasba. It was just incredible. I've seen buses and buses of chinese clients and they have a special and certain permits and deals with the government. But I did not know that basically your biggest target audience is actually Chinese or Asia. So that's very interesting. And also because of that convention at that time, I believe it was 2017. That's what made Aït Ben Haddou a little bit more famous than especially shift Chefchaouen. It just kind of blew up because of that exposure, which is very interesting.
Mustapha [00:09:35]:
I did not know. So tell us a little bit more please.
Mustapha [00:09:39]:
Aït Ben Haddou, as you said, it's famous. And that means that many other customers will come to find out.
Mustapha [00:09:47]:
Absolutely.
Mustapha [00:09:48]:
Here in Aït Ben Haddou, as you see, because people here, they are very poor. They work before agriculture. Then when the tourists find out the country, they move to work in restaurants, hotels. But if there is no tourists here, everything is stopped. And I think UNESCO thought about these people to help them because it's not allowed to guide your. Even if you are with your customer, it's not allowed to guide them to.
Mustapha [00:10:20]:
Oh, I see.
Mustapha [00:10:20]:
To the customer.
Mustapha [00:10:21]:
To the customer.
Mustapha [00:10:21]:
You should chose local guides here just to help. And everybody, when there is tourism, everybody is happy, even animals. You find me animals here and the people take what all they need.
Mustapha [00:10:39]:
So this is something that I did not really know in my last visit. So basically you cannot go with your customers to the kaspa, but you have to hire a local guy to go with them, especially if they're going to go all the way up and take pictures and look around. So that's really, really interesting. Obviously tourism is huge in Ait bin Hadoo and we have seen that during the pandemic when everything stopped, everybody suffered. So now Ait bin Hadoo is really dependent on tourism more than anything else, especially agriculture, which is just what's available right here. So tourism really puts Ait bin Hadu in the map and it supports a lot of local businesses, a lot of local families.
Mustapha [00:11:22]:
Yes. When we talk about tourism in Aït Ben Haddou, we cannot forgot one person. He passed away six months ago is Musa. Musa, he's very famous. He's a guide of Japan because he cannot talk.
Mustapha [00:11:36]:
I see.
Mustapha [00:11:36]:
And many guides of Japan chose this man to help them to guide tourists and they offer some tea to Japan customers in his house. Unfortunately, we lost this man as well. So it's Musa.
Mustapha [00:11:53]:
Okay, good to know. So this has been very interesting. I want to ask you, Mr. Mustapha, anything else you want to let the audience know that we did not cover in this episode or any questions that you would like to ask me or that I have not asked you already.
Mustapha [00:12:09]:
We are thinking now about something which is we can give the image about our culture because we are not here just for offering food. Yes. And as you see, you said you have been here long ago, so we ted to change everything, to change menu, to change design, to change even the web. So you continue and we try to give normal information. For example, you meet some customers who are talking normally, but you have to talk about politics, about even you don't want. It's a huge conversation. So we try to give normal idea. And unfortunately, I met many customers before they moved here to Morocco.
Mustapha [00:12:58]:
They thought that all Morocco's artefacts, they take care. So you have to change this idea. And they say, for example, when I meet customers, they said, I'm sorry, I thought that Moroccans. I said, no. For example, in our culture we say, azul, azul, azul. What does it mean? Azul, Azul? That means, as come to my heart. That means we accept everyone. Everyone.
Mustapha [00:13:29]:
We accept different cultures, we accept many people. Even in our walls you can see the symbol of Jews, of jewish culture. And you try to change this.
Mustapha [00:13:42]:
Yes. The perception.
Mustapha [00:13:43]:
Yes. And they say it depends on you. If you have good idea, you will meet good people. If not, you will meet someone who will steal you. We try to keep our positive energy. Absolutely. When we meet people and we are, thank God, we received many customers and they come back many times. So it is something perfect.
Mustapha [00:14:12]:
Excellent, Mr. Mustapha, really, really appreciate it. This has been an amazing episode for our listeners. We're very grateful for you, for the owner, and also just want to let the audience know that Wazis Dor also have a small hotel that it's being worked on. It's going to be expanding in the near future and it's going to be able to host a lot more guests. The restaurant is massive. It's big. It has different parts upstairs, downstairs, and it opens every day at 08:00 a.m..
Mustapha [00:14:43]:
Perfect. And for anybody who wants to have a really good, authentic Aït Ben Haddou experience and Amazigh/Berber experience, this is definitely a must stop. So thank you so much.
Mustapha [00:14:57]:
You will come again. Again and again. Thank you. And we have idea to build another hotel because it is just the sound. But the problem with leads here, we are waiting for summer. Okay, when summer, we receive another season of Italian and Spain.
Mustapha [00:15:17]:
Oh, my goodness.
Mustapha [00:15:17]:
For now, we start right now. But we don't have much time because we received many reservations. But I think this year, next year, inshallah. Inshallah, God willing, maybe you will find your room here in our heart.
Mustapha [00:15:34]:
We would love to come back. We would love to stay in your hotel. Thank you so much. This concludes our episode for today. We have so many more. We are in the heart of the south of Morocco and it's going to be a lot of fun, a lot of information, incredible content for our business.
Mustapha [00:15:52]:
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you again. Thank you.
