Between Kelaâ M’Gouna (which means « Fortress of the M’Gounas) and Boumalne du Dades stretches the Roses Valley, narrow, hanging on the slopes of the mountain. The entrance of the valley, in Imassine, is like marked by huge round rocks that seem to be just laid on the ground in a precarious equilibrium. One small village follows the other, a long avenue of 22 kilometres of traditional adobe houses, which richness is hidden in gardens that one can’t see from the road, gardens of roses which fragrance is everywhere in May, a few days before the harvest

Rosa Damascena supports cold and dry conditions, and could have been introduced in Morocco by pilgrims coming back from Mecca around 1.100. At first it was cultivated for local use, as roses water, but now also for exportation and perfume industry. Currently, 3 to 4 thousand tonnes are harvested each year, during a week that ends with the Festival of the Roses.

Distillation is made in two factories in the region. In April and May it is possible to visit Kelaâ’s factory, set up in a former kasbah.

In Kelaâ there is also a dagger factory, in the mellah, where the Jewish craft is perpetuated, with handles and sheaths made in cedar wood or in camel bones, ornate with silver, and fixed on blades coming from another small village a few kilometres away.