Oued Laou ( ar, واد لاو,

Berber Berber or Berbers may refer to: Ethnic group * Berbers, an ethnic group native to Northern Africa * Berber languages, a family of Afro-Asiatic languages Places * Berber, Sudan, a town on the Nile People with the surname * Ady Berber (1913–196 ...

: Asif en Law) is a small town located in northern

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

on the

Mediterranean coast The Mediterranean Sea is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean Basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the north by Western and Southern Europe and Anatolia, on the south by North Africa, and on the eas ...

. The two main cities nearby are Tetouan to the northwest and

Chefchaouen Chefchaouen ( ar, شفشاون, Shafshāwan, ), also known as Chaouen (), is a city in northwest Morocco. It is the chief town of the province of the same name and is noted for its buildings in shades of blue, for which it is nicknamed the "Blu ...

at the southwest. In 2004 the town had 8,383 inhabitants.

Description

The town of Oued Laou draws its name from a small river, hence the name Oued, that empties in the Mediterranean. The river is 65 km long and its headwaters are located near Bab Bered in the western

Rif The Rif or Riff (, ), also called Rif Mountains, is a geographic region in northern Morocco. This mountainous and fertile area is bordered by Cape Spartel and Tangier to the west, by Berkane and the Moulouya River to the east, by the Mediterrane ...

Mountains; it passes near

before receiving water from its tributaries such as Akchour. The average flow of the river is 12 m3/s and drains an area of about 1,000 km2. Oued Laou was mentioned by

Pliny the Elder Gaius Plinius Secundus (AD 23/2479), called Pliny the Elder (), was a Roman author, naturalist and natural philosopher, and naval and army commander of the early Roman Empire, and a friend of the emperor Vespasian. He wrote the encyclopedic '' ...

as "flumen Laud" and described it as navigable: flumen Laud et ipsum navigiorum capax (river Laud, which is also navigable for vessels). The river Laou forms a fertile valley as it approaches its mouth; the valley is known for its fruit orchards.

External links

Pictures of a journey from Oued Laou to Chefchaouen

References and notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laou Rivers of Morocco Tétouan Populated places in Tanger-Tetouan-Al Hoceima