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Trek in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco
What is it enjoy walking within the High Atlas mountains of Morocco? In June 2010 a small grouping of us found out once we did a 7 day trek from Imlil with one of Toubkal-Trekking.com guides, whose name is Jamal. It had been our first connection with a "guided trek" and that we didn't have any regrets at the conclusion.
First of all, we encounter the team which is composed of the guide, a cook, and mules and muleteers. The mules carry out the hard work of carrying the camping equipment, most of the food required for the trek and our heavy luggage, preferably packed in the rucksack. Believe it or not, they will use only female mules his or her temperament is best suitable for the task. They begin working together with light loads around one year and have a working life of 27 - 30 years. Good mules could cost around 950 and may carry as much as 140kg.
Accommodation around the trek varied from camping, refuges or staying in a Berber village house. The camping ground sites were often idyllic, usually from the side of a stream or river - well suited for summer swimming - and included a dining tent which provided defense against the warmth from the sun as well as in the night shelter from the cold and even occasional rain. In June, once we learned, it is still very cold during the night as we camped above 2,000m.
We stayed a night in the Toubkal refuge which at 3207m is all about 1000m underneath the summit of Toubkal (4167m) It is a large, modern refuge with dormitories of varying sizes, good showers along with a large communal area with roaring fire - essential when we arrived at a snow storm! Our food here had been prepared by our cook, though we might also buy snacks from the refuge shop. There are stunning views from the refuge up on the Toubkal summit and back down the valley.
Recognized we stayed inside a Berber village house in Amsouzerte Village. This village, like many about the trek, does not have any electricity, so lighting and heating (for your 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, you can easily spot the villages with electricity as virtually every house includes a large white satellite dish around the flat roof, clearly visible as you approach the village.
On another occasion, because of rainwater Jamal arranged for us to settle a pilgrims' hostel in the shrine of Sidi Chamarouch. This was an odd experience as the shrine attracts many pilgrims who arrive on foot or mule and stay the night. The shrine is barred to non-Muslims, but fortunately the hostel is not! Because always we used a floor on comfortable sleeping mats that the mules carried. We only needed to provide our own sleeping bags - and that we were glad we'd brought warm ones. At altitude it is always cold during the night. Sidi Chamarouch, due to the pilgrims and trekkers who go through, is filled with small stalls and shops selling snacks, sodas and souvenirs. It had been almost surreal after the barrenness on most from the trek.
trek in atlas mountains
Our three mules carried our food which was supplemented with fresh food, particularly eggs, fresh bread and meat, bought within the villages along the way, even though there aren't shops as we know them inside the High Atlas villages. All 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 a young meal and consisted of a hot drink (tea, coffee with dried milk), bread, jam, chocolate and cheese spreads and honey. This was enough to manage at 6.30 each day! Then we trigger for that morning's trek.
After our departure the muleteers packed everything up, loaded the mules and would overtake us on the trail and be ready to welcome us, around midday, with mint tea followed by a freshly prepared picnic lunch - complete with blankets to sit on! Lunch was obviously a cold buffet, typically pasta, sardines (Morocco is really a major world producer), tuna and salad, as well as - Lahcen's speciality - a warm dish of potato, tomato and chick peas or even a Moroccan omelette.
Once we finished our day's walk, usually mid afternoon, i was always offered mint tea. By the end of the trek our initial enthusiasm for mint tea had waned! Only then do we had time to unwind, 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 your basic ingredients (potatoes and carrots were peeled by the cooks) and cooked very efficiently over a small gas stove. Whenever feasible there was fruit (melon, oranges). No alcohol though, if you don't sneak some along with you.
Most of the walking we did was along narrow stony tracks, sometimes very faint and barely waymarked. With out a guide it could have been 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 young boy aged about 14 had seen us from his village inside the valley heading for a pass at 3,500m and had climbed up over 1000m to fulfill us at the top. Once we found its way to a biting wind on the summit he had beaten us and set in a row the six bottles of Coke he had carried on top of him that they 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 hang off again on the valley in his Wellingtons.
Once we approached the villages we got the tiny cultivated fields, with crops of potatoes, maize, tomatoes and oats and wheat. In 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 in the fields for that cattle, men were tilling the fields. Once we saw an enormous tipper lorry carrying about forty workers to their villages. Bit by bit the traditional Berber life style is beginning to change as tracks are widened and be passable to trucks, holes have decided for electricity pylons plus more villages are linked to a mains supply.
But June remains to be the duration of the transhumance for most in high altitude, the upgrading of whole villages in the valleys to the high summer pastures. We got empty villages being ready for summer occupation. These were flanked by mountain pastures and extensive, old networks of irrigation ditches. One shepherd we met was wondering where everyone else was: he previously apparently set off per week approximately too soon and it was now being forced to return down the valley!
We carried only day packs and as we knew we'd get closer the mules again at lunchtime, we carried only essential items: water (purified stream water), snacks (brought around from England) and extra clothing as it can be snowy at altitude. Walking poles are extremely useful and good boots essential for certainly not each day trek from Imlil. The walking 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 trying to explain to us the Berber life style. We many userful stuff here about their language, culture, religion, agriculture, family life - and mules! Additionally we discovered that the indigenous fauna of the area includes foxes, rabbits, wild goats and squirrel, but were assured that it's too cold for snakes and scorpions - at least once we have there been!
The majority of us suffered to some degree with altitude sickness during the first few days. I was glad that once we reached the Toubkal refuge we had acclimatised, helped by almost daily climbs over passes greater than 3000m and by camping at altitude. In 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 struggling with sore feet and altitude sickness. They intended to climb Toubkal the following morning, but because we discovered, they weren't fit or well enough together to descend.
