Toubkal National Park, Marrakech-Tensift-Al Haouz, Morocco
Thursday, August 25, 2011
This morning we set off on our much anticipated 4 day High Atlas Mountains trek. We were taken from Marrakesh to the small village of Imlil by a van owned by our tour agency. Imlil is the gateway village to the High Atlas and our guide, Mohammad, met us there along with our mule man Lycin. After a quick discussion of the route for the next 4 days we were off trekking with our bags to come behind us on our trusty mule creatively named Lycin's Donkey. The day was lovely and mild which was a welcome change from the heat of Marrakesh. Another welcome change was the peace and quiet that we got while walking over passes and through valleys. We walked a relatively easy 4.5 hours and arrived at the small village of Tazaghart in time for a late lunch. We were the only trekkers staying at the small, family run refuge and we were somewhat of a celebrity with all the small children coming in to look at us but not really knowing what to do next. After a lunch of simple Moroccan food Mohammed sent us on a short easy walk to nearby Cascade d'Irhoulidene while he had a sleep. We followed the rambling creek for about 1km until we reached the peaceful waterfall and enjoyed the quiet for a while. When we returned Mohammed and Lycin had prepared from mint tea for us on a table overlooking the valley for sunset. Dinner was another tastey Moroccan tagine overlooking the valley as dust turned to dark on a very relaxing day. Our accomodation for the night was extremely basic, two mattresses on the floor of a cement barn. It was cosy enough though as we snuggled up together in the light of a flickering candle.
