Benedict163
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Trek within the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco
What is it love walking within the High Atlas mountains of Morocco? In June 2010 several us discovered whenever we did a 7 day trek from Imlil and among Toubkal-Trekking.com guides, whose name is Jamal. It was our first experience of a "guided trek" so we had no regrets at the conclusion.
To start with, we meet up with the c's that's consists of the guide, a cook, and mules and muleteers. The mules perform the work of carrying the camping equipment, a lot of the food necessary for the trek and our heavy luggage, preferably packed in the rucksack. Contrary to popular belief, they use only female mules as their temperament is better suitable for the job. They start working with light loads at about one year this will let you working duration of 27 - Thirty years. Good mules could cost around 950 and may carry approximately 140kg.
Accommodation around the trek varied from camping, refuges or residing in a Berber village house. The camping ground sites were often idyllic, usually through the side of your stream or river - perfect for summer swimming - and included a dining tent which provided defense against heat of the sun and in the night shelter from your cold as well as occasional rain. In June, even as learned, it is still snowy through the night once we camped above 2,000m.
We stayed per night in the Toubkal refuge which at 3207m is about 1000m underneath the summit of Toubkal (4167m) This is a large, modern refuge with dormitories of varying sizes, good showers plus a large communal area with roaring fire - essential when we found its way to a snow storm! Our food here was still served by our cook, though we could also buy snacks from the refuge shop. You can find stunning views from your refuge up on the Toubkal summit and back the valley.
One night we stayed in the Berber village house in Amsouzerte Village. This village, like many on the trek, has no electricity, so lighting and heating (for the showers) was by bottled gas. Again our food was made by our personal cook - a tasty chicken tajine - the chicken being bought in the village. Incidentally, it is easy to find the villages with electricity as virtually every house includes a large white satellite dish on the flat roof, clearly visible as you approach the village.
On another occasion, as a result of bad weather Jamal arranged for all of us to settle in a pilgrims' hostel in the shrine of Sidi Chamarouch. This is an odd experience since the shrine attracts many pilgrims who arrive when walking or mule and remain the evening. The shrine itself is barred to non-Muslims, but fortunately the hostel isn't! Because always we slept on the floor on comfortable sleeping mats that your mules carried. We only necessary to provide our personal sleeping-bags - and we were glad we'd brought warm ones. At altitude it is always cold through the night. Sidi Chamarouch, as a result of pilgrims and trekkers who pass through, is filled with small stalls and shops selling snacks, carbonated drinks and souvenirs. It was almost surreal following the barrenness on most from the trek.
trek high atlas
Our three mules carried our food that has been supplemented with fresh foods, particularly eggs, fresh bread and meat, bought in the villages in route, though there aren't shops as we know them within the High Atlas villages. Every one 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.
Breakfast was an earlier meal and consisted of a fashionable drink (tea, coffee with dried milk), bread, jam, chocolate and cheese spreads and honey. It was enough to face at 6.30 each day! We then set off for your morning's trek.
After our departure the muleteers packed everything up, loaded the mules and would overtake us around the trail and be able to welcome us, around midday, with mint tea then a freshly prepared picnic lunch - complete with blankets to sit on! Lunch would be a cold buffet, typically pasta, sardines (Morocco is really a major world producer), tuna and salad, as well as - Lahcen's speciality - a fashionable dish of potato, tomato and chick peas or even a Moroccan omelette.
When we finished our day's walk, usually mid afternoon, we were always offered mint tea. After 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. Supper was usually soup plus a meat or vegetable tajine prepared in the basic ingredients (potatoes and carrots were peeled by the cooks) and cooked very efficiently on a small gas stove. Whenever feasible there was clearly berry (melon, oranges). No alcohol though, until you sneak some together with you.
The majority of the walking we did was along narrow stony tracks, sometimes very faint and rarely waymarked. Without a guide it might are already quite simple to acquire lost - yet we might meet young kids herding goats in remote valleys or on high peaks, miles from the village. One time a new boy aged about 14 had seen us from his village within the valley at risk of a pass at 3,500m together climbed up over 1000m to satisfy us at the top. When we found its way to a biting wind in the summit he previously beaten us and set up in a row the six bottles of Coke he had carried on top of him that she hoped we might buy. We did but higher productivity of admiration for his toughness and entrepreneurial spirit than desire for a fizzy drink. He packed away the empties and set off again along the valley as part of his Wellingtons.
As we approached the villages we had the tiny cultivated fields, with crops of potatoes, maize, tomatoes and oats and wheat. Within the fertile valleys were orchards of cherry, walnut and apple. Young kids were herding goats or approaching school, women were carrying heavy bundles of fodder cut from your fields for your cattle, men were tilling the fields. Once we saw a massive tipper lorry carrying about forty workers returning to their villages. Bit by bit the standard Berber way of life is evolving as tracks are widened and become passable to trucks, holes are prepared for electricity pylons plus more villages are linked to a mains supply.
But June is still the time of the transhumance for a lot of in the mountains, the going up of whole villages from the valleys for the high summer pastures. We got empty villages being gotten ready for summer occupation. They were flanked by mountain pastures and extensive, old networks of irrigation ditches. One shepherd we met was wondering where everybody else was: he previously apparently tripped per week or so too soon and it was now needing to return down the valley!
We carried only day packs so when we knew we might meet up with the mules again at lunchtime, we carried only essential items: water (purified stream water), snacks (brought along with us from England) and additional clothing as they can be cold at altitude. Walking poles are incredibly useful and good boots essential for not per day trek from Imlil. The walking itself is not so difficult and Jamal ensured that people maintained a leisurely pace, allowing sufficient time for stops, photo opportunities and scenery gazing. Also, he took pride and pleasure in explaining to us the Berber life-style. We many userful stuff here about their language, culture, religion, agriculture, family life - and mules! Additionally we found that the indigenous fauna from the area includes foxes, rabbits, wild goats and squirrel, but were assured it is too cold for snakes and scorpions - at least whenever we have there been!
The majority of us suffered to some degree with altitude sickness during the first few days. We were glad that when we reached the Toubkal refuge we'd acclimatised, helped by daily climbs over passes of more than 3000m by camping at altitude. Within the refuge we met another party of walkers who had walked up from Imlil in one 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 because we discovered, they were not fit or sufficiently coupled with to descend.
