Jorf Khettaras

Useful Information

Location:	R702, Fezna Ouled Jellal (31.5306654, -4.4956572)
Open:	All year daily 7-19:30. [2024]
Fee:
Classification:	Qanat
Light:	Incandescent
Dimension:
Guided tours:
Photography:	allowed
Accessibility:	no
Bibliography:	Mohamed Beraaouz, Mohamed Abioui, Mohammed Hssaisoune, Jesús Martínez-Frías (2022): Khettaras in the Tafilalet oasis (Morocco): contribution to the promotion of tourism and sustainable development, Built Heritage volume 6, Article number: 24 (2022). pdf Mohammed El Faiz, Thierry Ruf (2010): An Introduction to the Khettara in Morocco: Two Contrasting Cases, In: Water and Sustainability in Arid Regions (pp.151-163). DOI researchgate Dale R. Lightfoot (1996): Moroccan khettara: Traditional irrigation and progressive desiccation, May 1996Geoforum 27(2): pp. 261-273. researchgate DOI
Address:	Jorf Khettaras, R702, Fezna Ouled Jellal, Tel: +212-632-449-749. Khetara Fezna, R702, Fezna Ouled Jellal, Tel: +212-661-987943.
As far as we know this information was accurate when it was published (see years in brackets), but may have changed since then. Please check rates and details directly with the companies in question if you need more recent info.

History

Description

This place is called Jorf Khettaras or The Khettaras, and Khetara Fezna after the small village Fezna, which is located a few hundred meters east. Actually, it is just a few underground rooms along the R702 which offer access to the restored section of a Khettara. A Khettara is a form of irrigation system developed in the 15th century. The water was transported through underground canals from the aquifer to the farms for irrigation. The construction of these khettara was a communal task, they were built and maintained by the whole village. Khettara is the name in Morocco, in Iran they are called qanats and in Algeria foggaras.

The site is quite unspectacular above ground. There is a sculputure of a red camel, and some structures which look like wells. The well actually has a crude wooden winch with a rope and a leather bag for collecting water from the canal below. The wells were used to provide fresh air to the people working in the canal, and to transport loose rocks, sand and gravel out during the construction, and later during maintenance work. So the main purpose of the winch is pulling out rocks, not water. However, the canal is today dry, and so visitors go down a modern staircase into the canal, and walk along the former water canal.

In the last decades, Morocco had multiple problems with lower rainfall. Desertification grew, formerly irrigated land could not be irrigated any more, due to a lack of water. Many traditional aquifers, which were used by the khettara to collect water, dried up. And modern technology, modern pipes and canals, replaced the khettara. Unfortunately, they are very labour-intensive, and thus more expensive than a concrete pipe. But there are two developments which partly reversed the destruction of khettara. The first is the increase in rainfall in the last years which refilled the aquifers, and the other is the realization that those khettara have cultural importance.

This site is located in the area where the number of khettara is the highest in Morocco. The continental side of the Atlas mountains is in the rain shadow, it is the beginning of the Sahara desert, and all human inhabitation is restricted to some kind of irrigation. The government plans a new museum, which is called Écomusée des Khettaras which is dedicated to the local khettaras, and might be built right here, west of Jorf. The planning gives an estimated investment of MAD 11.5 Million (1 Million EUR). By the way, écomusée is the French term for an open air museum, it has nothing to do with ecology.