Morocco's Physical Geography

PHYSICAL FEATURES
Morocco is made up of a variety of Terrain. You can see snow capped mountains and dry deserts all in this one tiny little country. There are the Atlas Mountains; they are beautiful snow-capped mountains. If you were to visit them you good go hiking or mountain biking. Morocco also is home to a part of the Sahara Desert. In the Sahara you can only see beautiful sand dunes and people riding on camels, it would be a nice break from the city. In Morocco there is the Souss Masa national Park. In this park there are sand dunes, beaches, and a lot of different types of birds. One of the types of birds is called the Northern Bald Ibis. One of the main conservation efforts of this park is to help the Northern Bald Ibis. This National Park is also near the Souss Valley, which is home to many citrus trees and the argan tree, which you will read more about later.

PLANT & ANIMAL LIFE
There are many types of plants in the many different regions of Morocco. There are evergreen and pine trees on the Atlas Mountains. In other regions of Morocco there are a lot of shrubs and mastic trees. I know shrubs aren’t very exciting, but Jujube trees are. In the same region where the shrubs are present, there are a lot of Jujube trees that produce jujube fruit. In the desert area of Morocco there are generally not very many plants, but there is one exception: the oasis areas. In the oasis areas of the desert, there are often willow trees and tamarisks. Tamarisks are small trees or shrubs that produce flowers. Olive trees grow throughout a lot of Morocco. There is an interesting tree, it is the argan tree, that only grows in one place; the Souss Valley of Morocco. This tree produces oil, and often you’ll see goats climbing in it.



There used to be a lot of lions in Morocco, but now they are becoming extinct from the area. Even though the lions have gone away, there is still a big-cat living around the area; the panther. Some other animals such as the fox, jackal, camel, and goat live in Morocco. Gazelles and birds are other common inhabitants of Morocco. One of this country’s main exports is seafood, so it is not surprising that a lot of the marine animals that live on the cost are tuna, sardines, and anchovies. All of these fish are popular seafood items.


CLIMATE
The coastal parts of Morocco have a nice neutral temperature. It stays around 60-70 degrees all year. The non-coastal parts of Morocco can reach temperature extremes. This is because the non- coastal areas have a lot of desert area. It will get very cold in the winter, and very hot in the summer. In the Atlas Mountains, temperatures are cold yearlong.The mountains almost always have some snow on them. In the winter, Northern Morocco becomes really rainy, and Southern Morocco becomes dry. During the summer, Morocco is mostly sunny.