A few years ago I visited the Massa Valley area and saw cave houses right on the beach. This was such a unique place and i loved it. Well it turns out that our next door neighbours actually own one of these cave houses so invited us to spend a day with them to go and see it and also the Massa sand dunes – so why not!

We set off on the 50km journey fairly early as the forecast for the day was hot, Jackie and Vro, Eric, Karen and me. We packed a few essentials as we would probably have lunch at the house before exploring further afield. The trip is straightforward, taking the N1 south towards Tiznit. With good roads and little traffic we made good time and soon we took a small right hand turn down a small road for about 10km, eventually coming to the top of the cliff and the sea.

Parking up, we made our way down the path to the beach. The views were stunning and there is actually nothing here but a few fisherman huts. As we walked along the beach, we could see two small houses set back in the cliff face, one belonging to Jackie and Vero. They have owned the house for some time, but due to health reasons, they were having to sell the house. The house next door is significantly bigger and the guardian lives here, looking after both houses whilst the owners are away.

The tide was out, so we had a good chance to look around and see the sheer beauty of this place – it is so tranquil and wild – a real place to get away from it all. As we approached the house, you could see that quite a lot of work needs to be done regularly as the sea comes right up to it. The toilet area was pretty much destroyed, but the rest of the house was really nice.

The house has two bedrooms (bed caves) a kitchen area with sweet water well, a living room area with stunning views and a toilet area (washed away by the sea almost). It has electric wiring and power is provided by generator, but candles and torches would be the better option. cooking is via an open fire on the beach.

Jackie soon had the beers and wine out so we sat and watch the sea, eating snacks and drinking ice cold beers. What could be better.

After an hour or so, we decided to go to Tifnit, a small fishing village a few km over. We took the off piste route and soon were driving along dirt roads towards the village in the distance. Tifnit is one of our favourite places – its unspoilt and very Moroccan. Our favorite restaurant is also here – Bab’s – with its tables on the beach and amazing fresh seafood and fish dishes. It is also a favourite of Jackie and Vero’s too as it turns out.

We sat, chatted, ate amazing fish, drank wine and chilled out completely whilst nature’s TV provided the non stop entertainment, a perfect lunch.

After lunch, Eric said we should walk up to the dunes behind the village, so we packed up and walked for about 1 km to the edge of the dunes. These dunes are massive and go for about 5km along the coast. Quad bikes are banned but 4×4’s can still drive over the dunes and there were lots of tracks. As we were a single vehicle, it is too dangerous to go solo, so we stayed on foot.

As always, out of nowhere there was a camel and driver, wanting pictures and money etc, we took a few pics and off he went as quickly as he had arrived. The dunes are beautiful and the area is very quiet so we just kept walking until we all had enough, then returned to the car. Interestingly, there were lots of sea shells right up in the dunes. I have no idea how they got there but can only assume the area was once under the sea, it’s a bit of a puzzle.