El Ma’moura, Cork oak forest between Rabat and Kenitra, Morocco
El Ma'moura is a cork oak forest stretching between Rabat and Kenitra, extending from the coast far inland across a wide plateau. The area combines dense woodlands with open spaces, punctuated by small villages and farmland integrated throughout the landscape.
Organized forest protection efforts began in the early 1900s when pest outbreaks threatened the cork oak trees and prompted management initiatives. These early interventions shaped how the forest has been maintained and continues to influence its structure today.
Local communities have woven their daily lives into this forest landscape through farming and herding practices that still shape how the land looks today. Walking through the area, you notice how people and nature coexist rather than being separate, with settlements and agricultural patches integrated throughout the woodland.
You can enter the forest from either Rabat or Kenitra via clearly marked trails that make navigation straightforward. An ecomuseum on-site provides information about the woodland ecology and helps visitors understand what they are seeing.
This forest holds one of the world's most important cork oak concentrations, making it a global center for this tree species. The sheer density of these trees in one place offers visitors a rare chance to see an entire ecosystem built around a single species.
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