The part-wild, part-cultivated property where The Mothership is taking root is situated just 10 minutes from Tangier’s city center.The 8 acres sit on the flank of the legendary Old Mountain, overlooking the Strait of Gibraltar above steep cliffs, where the sunrise comes down the Mediterranean to the east. On a clear day, southern Spain is visible 23 km away due north across the Strait. Two small creeks converge at the bottom of the property, and secret path leads down to the rocks, where bathing in the refreshing  waters of the Strait.

The stunning biodiversity of Northern Morocco – at the botanical crossroads of Africa, the Arab world, and Europe – is evident everywhere on the land. Indiginous plants grow beside varieties planted over the past 2 decades by local and international gardeners, including a growing assortment of dye plants. There are several types of eucalyptus that grow alongside native trees including the local pine, walnut trees, acacias, palms, Portuguese laurels, as well as ferns and oaks from the Rif. And a huge, iconic 150-year-old Morton Bay fig tree centers the valley garden, next to the main house.

This botanical story continues into the adjacent National Park, once owned by Ion Perdicaris, a wealthy Greek-American who (like the Moroccan, Phoenician, Roman, Spanish and French transplanters who came before) introduced various new species of plants.The city of Tangier took possession of this forest in the twentieth century, and it is now maintained and laid out with marked paths for the inhabitants of Tangier and visitors to the city.