A Short Trek in the High Atlas

In April 2023, Ian led an all women group of friends, who had come together from the UK, Canada and Australia for a long weekend of 50th birthday celebrations.  They celebrated by walking 50km through the beautiful High Atlas Mountains of Morocco on our High Atlas 50km Trek.

The sun is setting. When it set last night it bathed the whole valley below us in a pinkish/orange light. Tonight, it drops behind the trees and all we can see is a smoldering glow on the horizon. The campfire is lit, mint tea heavily sweetened with sugar is being sipped and the bleating of goats being driven down from the mountain to their village shelters echoes through the twilight.

Moments like this are why we come to Morocco, to the land of the Atlas Mountains, with Berber villages tucked away in the folds of the rock. We have feasted at the end of our day of walking. Our support team have brought us platters of fresh salad, bowls of fluffy couscous and tagine, named after the iconic Moroccan pot, which, when the lids are theatrically whipped off, are shown to contain a fragrant stew of beef with prunes in a rich, thick gravy. We feel like we have earned this after a spectacular but tiring day. A day that ended with us bathing tired feet in the river whilst sipping a Casablanca beer similarly chilled in the tumbling mountain meltwater.

Today has shown us all what walking in the Atlas Mountains is really about, why it is such a wonderful experience and how, in spite of it's increased popularity, there are still many areas where you can escape the tourist crowds and have a truly authentic experience. We walked twenty- five kilometres today under a high sun with little shade, but it was spectacular and the effort was more than equalled by the reward. We passed through Berber villages tumbling down improbably steep slopes, surrounded by intricate irrigation channels and terraces of onions, cherries, apples and walnuts. Goats peeked out from ramshackle stables, children watched us cautiously from darkened doorways and elderly ladies bent double under bundles of animal fodder eased past us on narrow passes. 

We dropped from rocky paths that traversed the slopes below the villages, into a verdant valley where the snow melt streaming from the Toubkal massif, provided fertile soil. The dusty reds and ochres of the mountain were replaced by bright greens and blues as the water poured through the valley, like an oasis. We stopped for tea, always more tea, enjoying the sugary boost in a cool, darkened tea house before the long climb up to the Aguersioual Pass where we snacked on local walnuts and dates and watched birds of prey wheeling high in the cerulean sky above us. And then, after lunch, we climbed again through stunted stands of gin scented Juniper, past remote corrals for goats and sheep and over the pass at Tizi Oudite, over two thousand metres above sea level, before descending with ominous clouds behind us to our campsite at Tizi Oussem. The clouds passed harmlessly by and we now sit by the fire, watching our chef cooking the delicious flatbreads that accompany every meal in a blackened pan on the campfire. 

The stars are coming out above us, a multitude unaffected by light pollution, and amongst the gentle buzz and hum of the insects, our mules issue an occasional bray just to remind us they are still there and very much part of our team.

Tomorrow, we have one more day to make the most of our short but sweet experience walking in the Atlas Mountains and then we are heading on to the famed exoticism of Marrakesh. We will climb out of the village and over the Tizi h'Mzik, stopping to drink in the views and refresh ourselves at the entrepreneurial fresh orange juice stall that sits atop the pass. We will drop steeply down towards Imlil, the trekking capital of Morocco, before our guide, Ibrahim, will lead us proudly through his home village to a beautiful tumbling waterfall and then onto the shaded picnic spot. There we will finish our walk with a barbecue, and will lounge in the shade of trees and reflect on a truly spectacular adventure shared with friends and the warm, welcoming people of these beautiful mountains.