Maryam El Gardoum’s Morocco
An interview with 24-year-old 5X Moroccan National Surfing Champion and women’s surfing advocate, Maryam El Gardoum.
Local Currents is a series about surfers that live or have lived in a place we often visit, sharing with us their local recommendations and intel about their homes.
Thermal: Hi Maryam, tell us a bit about yourself. Where are you from and how’d you get into surfing?
Maryam El Gardoum: I grew up in a small fishing village called Tamraght, which is right next to Taghazout, Morocco. In this village, it’s known for banana farms and fishing. But as I was growing up, tourists would come to Tamraght and started teaching local boys to surf and giving them surfboards, so surfing started to really develop in this area. Taghazout is now one of the most famous places to surf in Morocco. A wave called Anchor Point is here—a right pointbreak—and that wave really put us on the map.
I’ve heard of that wave. Were there many other women that surfed in your area, growing up?
Growing up and surfing in this area, as a woman, it was hard for me, to be honest. I live in a community where people don't let girls or females normally do sports, or even go out if they want, so it's not easy for a woman. But, I'm thankful to have parents who didn't stop me doing the things that I love, and one of them was surfing. Although, even when my parents let me go out surfing, people did start talking, saying, like, surfing is only for boys. Or, that physically, it’s too hard for women to surf; they’re not strong enough—stuff like that. Or, they’d say, surfers just drink and do drugs. That was how they saw surfing. But I challenged myself, and started surfing at 11 years old. I entered my first contest and won and at 14, I entered the national Moroccan contest, made it all the way to the finals, and won. I ended up being the Moroccan national champion 5 times.
Wow. That’s amazing! And, lately you’ve been teaching other women to surf too, right?
Yeah, I'm taking some of local girls to surf with me. But not if the waves are too big; their safety is a big responsibility, you know? I’m also beginning a surf instruction and coaching business called Dihya Surf Morocco. But, yeah, in this area, there’s not a whole lot of local women that surf here. It’s a little more open-minded in the north, like in Casablanca and Rabat, but down here is a bit more traditional. There are a lot of Amazigh (Berber) indigenous people here, so surfing is pretty new to this culture. Some girls I teach keep surfing and some do not, but I tell them: If you want to surf, you will do it with your heart. If you don't want to, it's up to you.
What are your favorite waves in Morocco?
In my area it's Anchor Point. Which, is a long righthand pointbreak. Second, is a spot called Dracula, which is a little dangerous because of sharp rocks getting in, but I like it because it doesn't get busy like Anchor Point. Way less crowded. In the south of Morocco, in Dakhla, there's a beach break and a long right-hander. The spot name's is Lassarga. In the north of Morocco, my favorite wave is in Sale. it's a beach break, a really open wave, with rights and lefts.
What are some of your favorite things to do in Morocco besides surf?
If there is no surf, where I live, there's a place that’s a small desert next to the ocean. We go there to do sand boarding. Which is really fun. Sometimes we’ll do a sunset picnic there, too. We also go cliff jumping into water at a gorgeous place called Paradise Valley. You can also do horseback riding, camel riding, and buggy riding (quads) around there too. We go hiking a lot to small villages. In Essaouira you can go kite surfing, too because it's a really windy place. I never tried it, but I would love to do it.
What is your favorite Moroccan food?
Of course, it's couscous. That’s my favorite one. In Morocco, we eat it every Friday, so for me, the best day is Friday, because I eat couscous [laughs].
That tracks. What are your three favorite restaurants in Morocco?
Oh, this is a hard one. My number one, is: Sunset. It's a small restaurant in Taghazout that does burgers. A French couple owns the place. The second one is Chez Othman, also in my hometown. They do fresh barbecue fish with big salads. The third one is Ocean Vagabond, in Essaouira. Essaouira is also probably my favorite city in Morocco. It's one of the oldest cities and it has a really nice history. It’s super traditional and has so much to see there. Super nice hotels with riad Moroccan architecture… Essaouira is my favorite place to visit.
Is there anywhere in Morocco that you have not surfed that you’ve always wanted to?
There’s a place that a lot of Hawaiian surfers love, Safi. It’s a long, barrelly, righthander that is very powerful. I’d love to surf there one day.
And, so where is the best place to actually learn to surf in Morocco?
Surf Maroc in Taghazout has a surf camp, surf school, accommodations, they have everything. Taghazout is a great place to learn.
Top three sights to see in Morocco, in your opinion?
There’s really beautiful places in the Atlas Mountains. Especially, a little village called Imlil. You can do hiking there and go to the biggest mountain in Morocco, which is Toubkal. I really like it when it's snowing, it’s really nice, such a nice view! The second site would be Chefchaouen, a really pretty town, painted all blue. And third one, I would say, is the city of Marrakesh. Marrakesh is so old and you can explore so much the city and seem to find something new there every time.
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