Geography of Morocco

The Morocco is a country of the North-West of the Africa. Its long coast giving on the ocean Atlantique finishes beyond the Straits of Gibraltar on the the Mediterranean.

In the south of Morocco is the territory disputed the Western Sahara, asserted and under control mainly by Morocco, in spite of the not-recognition of this sovereignty by the international community. In the east and south-east, Morocco is bordering on the Algérie. At some distance from the coast Atlantique the Islands the Canaries and Madeira are. In the north of the strait of Gibraltar the Spain is.

The capital is Rabat. Among the remarkable big cities one finds Casablanca, Agadir, Fès, Marrakech, Meknès, Tangier, Oujda, Ouarzazate, Laâyoune.

Physical geography

Mountains

Approximately 1/3 of the Moroccan territory is covered with mountains which reach rather impressive heights. The Morocco contains 4 principal assembly lines, and it is the only country of the the Maghreb to lay out of an immense assembly line the Atlas. Initially in the North of the country, the mountains or Djebel of the Rif border the the Mediterranean. More the high summit of Rif reaches 2456 m and it has as a name djebel Tidighine. The Rif proposes the surfaces varied according to altitudes of its areas. In fact, in the west, one finds especially a thorny vegetation (Sapin S, pine S, Cèdre S, etc). Other side, it pushes there arid steppes and maquis and even more in the east, one finds there the hemp, which is not however to collect. More far from the Mediterranean shores and more inside the country, it is possible to notice three other immense chains: the Average Atlas, the High Atlas and the Anti-Atlas, where we find a diversity of the landscapes once again.

Plains

These plains often have very great extents. Stretching mountains of the Rif until the Average Atlas, the basin of the Sebou (36 000 km ²) is composed of low plates, of river, some hills and of the fertile plains which allow the culture of several food.

In fact the plain of Gharb is one of smallest plains the occupying 3000 km ² all the same. One finds there sugar beet fields, rice, sugar canes, of tobacco. This plain is distinguished from the others by the presence of the forest of Mamora where one made there the exploitation of cork oaks and eucalyptus.

The desert

To the south of the country, the erg Cherbi, near the Algerian border, vastest is extended from stones and sand inside Morocco. Certain sand dunes can reach 200 m height.

Land borders

  • 1.559 km with the Algeria (its layout is not recognized officially, which goes back to the Guerre of sands)
  • 443 km with the the Sahara Occidental
  • 16 km with the Spain (enclave of Ceuta: 6 km and enclave of Melilla: 10 km)

Climate

The Moroccan climate is at the same time Mediterranean and Atlantic, with one dry and hot season doubled one cold and wet season, the end of the hot period being marked by the rains of October. The presence of the sea attenuates the variations in temperature, moderates the seasons and increases the moisture of the air (400 to 1000 mm of rains on the littoral). In the interior, the climate varies according to altitude. The summers are hot and dry, especially when breath the sirocco burning or the chergui, Vent of summer coming from the the Sahara. With this Season, the average temperatures are of 22°C with 24°C. The winters are cold and rainy with freezing and snow. The average temperature evolves/moves then of - 2°C with 14°C and can go down until - 32° C. the Morocco pre Saharan and Saharan has a dry desert climate.

Ecosystem with the Morocco

Hydrography

Morocco has much river (rivers and wadis) such as:

Large rivers such as Bouregreg, Oum Errabiaa, Moulouya, and Sebou, very variable flows between the seasons, and also year by year have. Many less important rivers (" oueds") can even be dry part of the year (or even several years of continuation in the pre-desert zones). The lack of water, but also the great variability of the flows, represents a major problem for Morocco, in particular for agriculture (irrigated or not)…

Fauna of the Morocco

The diversity of fauna is in theory a true treasure, but it is absolutely put at evil by all kinds of destruction. Among some exceptional species, one can quote:

  • the wader S

  • the Brush garzette
  • the Pink flamingo
  • the Vulture percnoptère
  • the Golden eagle
  • the Stag of Cruelty
  • the Squirrel of Cruelty
  • the Dromedary
  • the Hedgehog of Algeria and the Hedgehog of the desert
  • the Jackal gilded threatened; it disappeared from whole areas… In Morocco, one confuses it with the Loup which does not exist in Africa.
  • the Hyena striped, in fast track of extinction (it is victim of poisonings and sorcery)
  • the Fennec, rare.
  • the Fox of rueppel, very rarefied…
  • the russet-red Fox
  • the Lynx caracal, threatened of extinction.
  • the Serval, threatened of extinction.
  • the Panther. An individual was killed three years ago in the High Atlas by a poacher… It is in the total indifference threatened of immediate extinction!!!
  • the Gazelle dorcas and Gazelle of Vat in rarefaction
  • the Monkey nest egg, threatened by slow death of the cedar plantation and the captures by the traffickers…
  • the Dolphin
  • the subspecies of the Cobra of Egypt, Naja haje legionis or Cobra of North Africa rarefied considerably and disappeared from whole areas, victim of the spectacles inherited cruel times prevailing in the large hotels of Agadir and besides, and on the place Djemaa-El-Fna de Marrakech, with the irresponsible complicity of those of the obliging tourists…
  • many Couleuvre S and some Viper S. In Morocco, contrary to the local prejudices, the majority of the snakes are inoffensive (17 species out of 25) and the few species of poisonous snakes existing never attack!
  • a species of all small digger boa, Eryx jaculus
  • the Shark S
  • about thirty species of scorpion S (of new species are almost each year identified in Morocco), one or two only is potentially dangerous for the man (e.g. Androctonus mauretanicus), in particular for the small children. However, a scorpion never attacks and the punctures are always accidents… Often the consequences of the punctures are worsened by the intervention of the marabouts and other inefficient people who appear much more dangerous then than the accused scorpions… Because ignorance and the misinformation kill!

The lion of the Atlas disappeared (exterminated) with the state sauvage" , the last in 1943. There are however although mixed with other subspecies around fifty in various zoos of the world of which a score with the zoo of Temara". The engravings recently discovered in caves close to Ouarzazate indicate that Crocodile S, leopards and elephant S lived in these places before their extinction (extermination). Similar engravings also exist in all Sahara. On the other hand, the birds are still relatively very present with a great diversity of species, although the Autruche with red neck, e.g., was completely exterminated, thus at the Sahara that the Outarde will houbara. A rather great number of species of Snake S (25 including 17 nondangerous species; 8 the other remaining ones never attack and are less widespread!), and of Lézard S are present at Morocco, of which an important percentage the endemic ones. However many are the threatened species. They are victims of ignorance, cruelty and irresponsibility as regards ecology…

Flora of the Morocco

The Morocco has a rich flora in fact of its strategic position, indeed it has two maritime frontages adding up more than 3500 km of which 450 in the Mediterranean it receives from this fact the current charged with rain of the ocean which accumulates against the mountainous barrier of the Atlas what allows strong precipitations has Rabat, Casablanca, Fès and the formations of snows has Ifrane and Azrou and in the high summits of the atlas, while the south and the east remain arid. More than 4500 species are configure the Moroccan flora. The variations of the climate and the relief are element fundamental to explain such a floral richness. The botanical interest of the Morocco is intense and one will quote only the 2.500.000 hectares of forest which contain:

See too

External bonds

  • Lépidoptérologie in Morocco: The site of Michel Tarrier

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