Alnif

Alnif is in Saharan Morocco.

Understand

Alnif is a small dusty desert town famous for its supply of trilobite fossils. Here you can buy authentic fossils or arrange a tour of the fossil beds to try your hand at prospecting.

Get in

Alnif is a small town on the N12 highway between Rissani and Zagora. The R113 highway runs from Alnif north to the N10 highway and Tinghir.

Local buses run between Rissani and Tazzarine and will drop you off at Alnif. There is at least one bus at 11:30 from Rissani directly to Alnif for 20 dirham, 2 hr. The grand taxi for that distance is 25 dirham. From Tazzarine the grand taxis are frequent and cost 25 dirham.

Buses also run north to Tinghir. Like most local buses, the schedules are sporadic and buses are somewhat infrequent, but with some patience you shouldn't have any problem getting in and out of Alnif to any of the larger hubs in the area.

Get around

The town stretches along the highway and can be accessed entirely on foot.

Do

Take a tour of the fossil beds with any of the local shop owners. Yusuf and Ihmadi Fossils seem to be the two largest shops. Yusuf speaks French and Ihmadi speaks French and English. Yusuf will do a tour for free if you promise to buy some of his fossils.

The fossils sites are located all around Alnif. One of the sites is located on the outskirts of Alnif and can be accessed on foot from Alnif. Though it might be hard to find the specific fossil bearing seam on your own, if you ask, I'm sure a local kid could show you the way.

Buy

Both Yusuf and Ihmadi Fossils shops offer authentic and well priced fossils. If you don't like negotiating, then check out Ihmadi Fossils where everything is sold at a fixed and labeled price.

Eat

There are a couple of cafes in town.

• 1 Restaurant Kasbah Meteorites, ☏ +212-535-783-809. Kasbah Meteorite is a hotel 13 km west of Alnif, a small Berber town on the road connecting Marrakech and Ouarzazate to Rissani in Sahara Desert. 

Sleep

There are 2-3 hotels in this town which offer affordable overnight accommodation. Nothing special but perfect for resting your wearing body after a long day prospecting for fossils in the desert heat.

Go next

• Rissani
• Zagora
• Tinghir