La ville et la région Oualidia
Si vous rêvez de tranquillité, sur d’immenses plages de sable fin, dans un cadre enchanteur qui n’a cependant rien perdu de sa couleur locale…. Arrêtez-vous à OUALIDIA…. la perle de l’Atlantique. Sur la route côtière, entre El Jadida et Safi, c’est la plage la plus calme de la côte atlantique. L’océan forme une lagune au bord de laquelle détente et sérénité sont assurées. C’est l’endroit rêvé pour ceux qui veulent décompresser, se retrouver, établir des contacts avec une population hospitalière, restée proche de la nature. ou se trouve Oualidia ?
Et puis, bien sûr, la plage, le farniente, de nombreuses ballades. Soleil et ciel bleu assurés. Birdwatching   Oualidia is in the centre of one of the richest birdlife habitats in Morocco and an important resting area for migrating birds in Spring and Autumn. The coastal wetlands, sands and saltpans, the jagged reefs and the lagoons of Sidi Moussa and Oualidia shelter a huge range of species - pink flamingoes, avocets, stilts, godwits, storks, waders, terns, egrets, warblers and many others.
Des pêcheurs vous proposeront de déguster le poisson frais qu’ils feront griller à même la plage ou qu’ils vous livreront à domicile. Vous pourrez aussi découvrir la cuisine locale dans les petits restaurants environnants, ou faire vous-même votre marché au souk du samedi. L’ostréïculture, pratiquée sur place, rend ses huîtres célèbres. C’est un site privilégié pour les adeptes du jet-ski ! Le régal des vacances ! A d’autres périodes, c’est la chasse qui vous mobilisera, aux alentours, dans la forêt.
Les monuments de Oualidia
Cafés à Oualidia
Restauration à Oualidia Restaurant Thalassa, which has set menus for around 50dh, and, on the right as you enter El Jadida, Le Parc à Huitres No7, which serves and sells oysters.

OUALIDIA, 78km from El Jadida, is a stunningly picturesque little resort - a fishing port and lagoon beach, flanked by a kasbah and a royal villa. The kasbah is seventeenth century, built by the Saadian Sultan El Oualid (after whom the village is named) as a counterweight and alternative to El Jadida, then held by the Portuguese. Until Sultan Sidi Mohammed took El Jadida, the extensive lagoon made an excellent harbour and, as late as 1875, a French geographer thought that "by a little dredging the place would again become the safest shipping station on the whole Moroccan seaboard". The royal villa, which now stands empty, was built by Mohammed V, who celebrated many birthdays and other family events here.

Today, most Moroccans know Oualidia for its Japanese oysters ; Morocco's first oyster farm was launched here in 1957 and nowadays it harvests some 200 tons a year, most of which are sold locally. But the town really deserves to be better known as a resort: its beach is excellent for surfing and windsurfing, the atmosphere is relaxed, and swimming is safe and easy.

Region von Oualidia

The first good beach beyond Cap Blanc is at SIDI ABED , a small village with a café-restaurant and a scattering of villas, 27km from El Jadida. A couple of kilometres before the village, and on the right travelling towards it, is Le Relais (tel 02/334 5498, fax 334 5063; 200-400dh), with showers in the rooms and toilets on the corridor, and year-round, except for Ramadan, it's a restaurant: worth a stopover if you have time.

The coast hereabouts is an alternation of sandy beach and rocky outcrops, and past SIDI MOUSSA , 37km from El Jadida, it's backed by huge dunes, then, towards Oualidia, cut off by a long expanse of salt marshland. From here on south, for the next 70km or so, bird-watchers are in for a treat but Sidi Moussa is attractive to non-twitchers, too, with its estuary-like lagoon, its beach, and a very pleasant hotel , the Villa la Brise (tel 02/334 6917, fax 334 6933; 150-200dh), with French cooking, a bar, and a swimming pool that's full in summer. It's a popular base for fishing parties.

South of Sidi Moussa, the roadside is flanked by saltpans and by extensive plastic hothouses, for intensive cultivation of tomatoes and other vegetables; 63km from El Jadida, there's a Friday souk at SOUK EL DJEMAA , as the name suggests.

Bird Habitats Around Oualidia

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Oualidia
Destination Guide
Bird Habitats Around Oualidia
Practicalities The 70km of coast between Sidi Moussa (36km south of El Jadida) and Cap Beddouza (34km south of Oualidia) is one of the richest birdlife habitats in Morocco. The coastal wetlands, sands and saltpans, the jagged reefs, and the lagoons of Sidi Moussa and Oualidia shelter a huge range of species - flamingos, avocets, stilts, godwits, storks, waders, terns, egrets, warblers and many small waders. Numerous countryside species come in, too; golden oriole and hoopoe have been recorded, and flocks of shearwaters are often to be seen not far offshore.

The best watching locations are the two lagoons and the rocky headland at Cap Beddouza.