About 15 miles south of the desert town of Erfoud, a small watercourse, empty for all but a few days a year, is the place chosen by Frenchman Michel as the site of his Auberge Kasbah Derkaoua. Just beneath the surface of the seemingly barren desert lies an artesian water source that Michel has used to fashion a veritable oasis. Beneath the shade of the thousands of trees which he has planted and watered with the dedication of the obsessed, his adobe hotel has slowly grown into one of the most coveted addresses in Morocco. Subtle sculptural forms borrowed from the local vernacular, the horseshoe arch in the arcades and bedroom doors and the crenellations on the roofs, give the simple architecture a distinction. You won’t spend much time in the small bedrooms, each with its own gas-fired bathroom, but rather in the deep shade of the garden, lying on a cushioned bench reading, or dozing in a tent or sunning yourself by the small plunge pool. Behind the hotel is Michel’s thriving farm with sheep, cows, goats, chickens and horses for riding.
With old-fashioned politesse Michel inquires after all of his guests at dinner in the evening, with a grey parrot on his shoulder and a trail of dogs at his heel. His otherworldly charm was honed first as a méharist in the French army’s camel corps, and then as a teacher in the Algerian Sahara.