Here are some shots from the Fes market. Notice the camel heads in the first photo, that was a surprise when I first saw them, ha. They do sell camel meat and you can order camel on menus throughout various parts of Morocco.


Fes is known for their tanneries where they dye all kinds of hides. It is quite a smelly process to do so. The first step once the hide is ready to dye is to soak the hide in the milky mixture you can see in the photos. The mixture is made in limestone compartments with cow urine, water, and salt and also a mixture of water, pigeon poop, and salt. Once the hides are soaked in the pre-mixture, they are ready for the colors. The colored dyes are created from natural items like saffron for yellow, poppy flowers for red, and cedar wood and henna for brown. The type of hide determines how long the hides soak in the dye. Since sheepskins are softer hides, they only need to be dyed for 3-5 hours whereas camel and cow hides need to be dyed up to 2-3 days. Sheepskins are used for making shoes and camel skin is used for making coats.