Gregory595

Trek within the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco<br /><br />What is it really like walking within the High Atlas mountains of Morocco? In June 2010 a group of us learned whenever we did a 7 day trek from Imlil using one of Toubkal-Trekking.com guides, whose name is Jamal. It absolutely was our first experience with a "guided trek" and we didn't have any regrets at the conclusion.<br /><br />To start with, we meet up with the c's which is made up of the guide, a cook, and mules and muleteers. The mules do the hard work of carrying the camping equipment, the majority of the food required for the trek and our heavy luggage, preferably packed in the rucksack. Believe it or not, they'll use only female mules as their temperament is much better fitted to the task. They start working together with light loads at about twelve months and also have a working duration of 27 - 30 years. Good mules could cost around 950 and can carry approximately 140kg.<br /><br />Accommodation around the trek varied from camping, refuges or remaining in a Berber village house. The camp ground sites were often idyllic, usually by the side of your stream or river - ideal for summer swimming - and included a dining tent which provided defense against the heat of the sun and in the evening shelter from your cold as well as occasional rain. In June, as we learned, it's still snowy through the night as we camped above 2,000m.<br /><br />We stayed a night inside the Toubkal refuge which at 3207m is approximately 1000m below the summit of Toubkal (4167m) It's a large, modern refuge with dormitories of varying sizes, good showers plus a large communal area with roaring fire - necessary once we arrived in a snow storm! Our food here was still served by our cook, though we might also buy snacks from your refuge shop. There are stunning views in the refuge up for the Toubkal summit and back the valley.<br /><br />Recognized we stayed in a Berber village house in Amsouzerte Village. This village, like many around the trek, has no electricity, so lighting and heating (for the showers) was by bottled gas. Again our food was prepared by our own cook - a tasty chicken tajine - the chicken being bought within the village. Incidentally, you can easily see the villages with electricity as virtually every house includes a large white satellite dish about the flat roof, clearly visible as you approach the village.<br /><br />On another occasion, as a result of bad weather Jamal arranged for people to settle in a pilgrims' hostel in the shrine of Sidi Chamarouch. This was a strange experience as the shrine attracts many pilgrims who arrive by walking or mule and remain the night. The shrine is barred to non-Muslims, but fortunately the hostel isn't! Here as always we slept on the ground on comfortable sleeping mats which the mules carried. We only necessary to provide our very own sleeping-bags - so we were glad we had brought warm ones. At altitude it is always cold through the night. Sidi Chamarouch, due to the pilgrims and trekkers who go through, is stuffed with small stalls and shops selling snacks, carbonated drinks and souvenirs. It had been almost surreal after the barrenness of most from the trek.<br /><br />[http://trekatlasmountains.webs.com/ trek in atlas mountains]<br /><br />Our three mules carried our food that has been supplemented with fresh produce, particularly eggs, fresh bread and meat, bought within the villages on the way, though there aren't shops as you may know them inside the High Atlas villages. All of the food was cooked by Lahcen, our cook. Unlike Jamal who spoke excellent and colloquial English, the muleteers spoke no English in support of Lahcen spoke some French.<br />Breakfast was an early meal and contained a fashionable drink (tea, coffee with dried milk), bread, jam, chocolate and cheese spreads and honey. This was enough to manage at 6.30 in the morning! We then set off for that morning's trek.<br /><br />After our departure the muleteers packed everything up, loaded the mules and would overtake us on the trail and become ready to welcome us, around midday, with mint tea then a freshly prepared picnic lunch - detailed with blankets to take a seat on! Lunch was a cold buffet, typically pasta, sardines (Morocco is really a major world producer), tuna and salad, as well as - Lahcen's speciality - a hot dish of potato, tomato and chick peas or a Moroccan omelette.<br /><br />Whenever we finished our day's walk, usually mid afternoon, we had been always offered mint tea. By the end of the trek our initial enthusiasm for mint tea had waned! Then we had the capacity to relax, explore or talk, often with Jamal concerning the Berber life style. The evening meal was usually soup along with a meat or vegetable tajine prepared from the basic ingredients (potatoes and carrots were peeled from the cooks) and cooked very efficiently over a small gas stove. Whenever possible there was fruit (melon, oranges). No alcohol though, until you sneak some along with you.<br /><br />Most of the walking we did was along narrow stony tracks, sometimes very faint and infrequently waymarked. Without a guide it could are already very easy to obtain lost - yet we would meet young boys herding goats in remote valleys or on high peaks, miles from any village. One time a new boy aged about 14 saw us from his village inside the valley at risk of a pass at 3,500m coupled with climbed up over 1000m to satisfy us at the top. When we found its way to a biting wind at the summit he had beaten us and hang in a row the six bottles of Coke he had carried up with him which he hoped we might buy. We did but more out of admiration for his toughness and entrepreneurial spirit than wish to have a fizzy drink. He packed away the empties and set off again on the valley in his Wellingtons.<br />As we approached the villages we had the small cultivated fields, with crops of potatoes, maize, tomatoes and oats and wheat. Within the fertile valleys were orchards of cherry, walnut and apple. Young children were herding goats or approaching school, women were carrying heavy bundles of fodder cut from the fields for your cattle, men were tilling the fields. Once we saw an enormous tipper lorry carrying about forty workers returning to their villages. Bit by bit the standard Berber life-style is changing as tracks are widened and be passable to trucks, holes have decided for electricity pylons plus more villages are linked to a mains supply.<br /><br />But June remains the time of the transhumance for many in the mountains, the upgrading of whole villages from your valleys towards the high summer pastures. We saw empty villages being ready for summer occupation. These folks were flanked by mountain pastures and extensive, old networks of irrigation ditches. One shepherd we met was wondering where everybody else was: he'd apparently tripped per week or so too soon and it was now having to return down the valley!<br /><br />We carried only day packs and as we knew we'd catch up with the mules again at lunchtime, we carried only essential items: water (purified stream water), snacks (brought with us from England) and additional clothing as they can be snowy at altitude. Walking poles are incredibly useful and good boots needed for certainly not per day trek from Imlil. The walking itself is simple enough and Jamal made sure that we maintained a leisurely pace, allowing plenty of time for stops, photo opportunities and scenery gazing. He also took pride and pleasure in trying to explain to us the Berber life style. We learned a lot regarding language, culture, religion, agriculture, family life - and mules! Additionally we learned that the indigenous fauna from the area includes foxes, rabbits, wild goats and squirrel, but were assured that it is too cold for snakes and scorpions - no less than once we are there!<br /><br />Many of us suffered to some degree with altitude sickness through the first couple of days. We were glad that by the time we reached the Toubkal refuge we'd acclimatised, helped by daily climbs over passes of more than 3000m and also by camping at altitude. Inside the refuge we met another party of walkers that had walked up from Imlil in a single day, a height gain of approximately 1500m. They weren't experienced or very fit and were battling with sore feet and altitude sickness. They designed to climb Toubkal these morning, but as we discovered, they weren't fit or well enough and had to descend.