Highlights:<\/b><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n The Marrakesh Medina<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n 3 day trek through the High Atlas<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Visit the ruins of Tin Mal<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n The royal city of Taroudant<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Explore the Anti Atlas, with its impressive rock formations, inaccessible berber villages and old fortresses.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Climb Jebel el Kest<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Dive into an oasis<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Birdwatching in Morocco’s oldest National Park<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n Relax in Agadir<\/span><\/p>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n Description<\/b><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n Adventurous tour through relatively unknown areas in the South of Morocco. Our trip starts in Marrakesh, a lively city full of ambiance where one cannot ignore having arrived in Africa.<\/span><\/p>\n After spending a day in Marrakesh and having visited the highlights we drive into the High Atlas. On the first day we will do an acclimatisation hike. <\/span><\/p>\n The next day we start a 3 day trek accompanied by mules. On a background of snow topped mountains we wander over a mountain pass into the beautiful Azzadn valley and through ancient Berber villages.<\/span><\/p>\n On the last day of our trek we arrive in Ouirgane. After a lunch and maybe a swim we drive over one of the oldest passes through the High Atlas mountains. On the way we make a stop at Tin Mal mosque. On the other side of the pass awaits the Souss valley and the city of Taroudant.<\/span><\/p>\n After a resting day in Taroudant we drive into the Anti Atlas, to find a completely different landscape. Impressive rock walls and extended high plains divided by deep ravines will be the stage for our next hikes.<\/span><\/p>\n Among other things we will hike up to the highest mountain of the Anti Atlas range, visit ancient fortified granaries (agadirs) and hike into the unknown Smougen canyon.<\/span><\/p>\n On the way up to Agadir we visit the old silver trading town of Tiznit and walk to the Atlantic through Souss-Massa National Park.<\/span><\/p>\n We spend the last day in Agadir, on the beach, shopping in the souk or walking up to the old city.<\/span><\/p>\n During the trip we will be accompanied by our own minivan with driver. Wherever the bus can’t come we will have mules to transport our luggage.<\/span><\/p>\n Day to day:<\/b><\/u><\/span><\/p>\n Day 1: Arrival<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Arrival at Marrakesh. Participants will be received by the guide at Marrakesh El Menara Airport. Depending on arrival times there is some time to get lost in the medina. In the even Day 2: Marrakesh<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Marrakesh’s souk is not only a place where lots of things are sold, a lot of it is still traditionally made there. We wander through the medina and visit amongst others the wool painters, metal workers and leather tanneries.<\/span> We also visit historic buildings such as the Ben Youssef Quran school and the old Jewish quarters (Mellah).<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Day 3: Imlil<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n We start the day heading south toward the mountains. We drive\u00a0to the village of Imlil. Here we\u00a0go up into the mountains\u00a0to get acclimatised with the terrain. We follow a shepherd’s track up towards a viewpoint from where there is a clear view to some of the highest mountains in North-Africa. On our way back down we pass the village of Aroumd. We spend the night in Imlil.<\/span><\/p>\n Walking time: 3h<\/span><\/p>\n 8km<\/span><\/p>\n Altitude: +300m -300m<\/span><\/p>\n Day 4: Tizi ‘n’ Mzik<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n From Imlil we hike up to Tizi ‘n’ Mzik pass (2489m) here we stop to enjoy the view over Imlil valley and Azzadn valley on the other side. We trek past old juniper forest accompanied by picturesque views through Azzadn valley to the Haouz plain. Our destination is a so-called G\u00eete, or mountain guest house.<\/span><\/p>\n Walking time: 6h<\/span><\/p>\n 14km<\/span><\/p>\n Altitude: +850m \u2013 750m<\/span><\/p>\n Day 5: Azzadn valley<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Our walk today leads down the Azzadn valley. On the way we pass adobe villages, old waterways watering terraced\u00a0agriculture with a backdrop of multicolored mountains and much more. The further we go down the more the vegetation turns back from high mountain scrub and cedar forest to Mediterranean style forest. Our destination is the g\u00eete in Marigha.<\/span><\/p>\n Walking time: 5h<\/span><\/p>\n 14km<\/span><\/p>\n Altitude: +250m \u2013 650m<\/span><\/p>\n Day 6:\u00a0Marigha \u2013 Tizi ‘n’ Test<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Marigha means salt in the Berber language (Tamazight).\u00a0On our way down we pass the\u00a0 salt excavation wells.\u00a0The lower part of the Azzadn valley is quite different from what we saw yesterday. This part is reachable by road again and is therefore more developed. The main crop here is olives, the olive oil from Ouirgane is famous throughout Morocco. <\/span><\/p>\n In Ouirgane we stop for lunch and possibly, in favourable conditions a swim.\u00a0 Afterwards we start our drive up to Tizi ‘n’ Test pass. On the way we stop at Tin Mal mosque, one of only\u00a0two in Morocco that allows non-Muslims to enter. It is also the point from where the Almohad<\/span> dynasty started their conquest of North Africa and Spain, and supposedly their burial site as well.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n We drive on to Taroudant in the Souss valley.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n Walking time: 3h<\/span><\/p>\n 8km<\/span><\/p>\n Altitude: +100m \u2013400m<\/span><\/p>\n Day 7: Taroudant<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n We spend a leisurely day in Taroudant. This relatively unknown fifth royal city is also known as little Marrakesh. It has very few pretenses <\/span>but all the more flavor, there’s plenty of time to soak in Moroccan everyday life. Also the original fortifying wall is still standing and i Day 8: Tafraoute<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n From the plains of the Souss we drive up into the Anti Atlas mountains. This ancient mountain range out-dates the Atlantic ocean and is roughly where the Sahara starts. <\/span><\/p>\n We drive to Tafraoute from where we walk through a unique landscape strewn <\/span>with granite boulders. Our goal is the painted rocks, an area south of Tafraoute where a Belgian artist decorated the landscape in 1984 using 18 tonnes of paint!<\/span><\/p>\n Walking time: 3,5h<\/span><\/p>\n 10 km<\/span><\/p>\n Altitude: +100m \u2013 100m<\/span><\/p>\n Day 9: Jebel el Kest<\/b><\/span><\/p>\n Today we aim for the Jebel el Kest, with 2379m the highest point in the Anti Atlas. We drive up to a little village called Taguedicht from where a small track goes up. In good circumstances the view from the top stretches back over the Souss plains to the snowcapped mountains in the High Atlas, further south we see over the Ameln valley and Tafraoute towards the desert.<\/span><\/p>\n![\"20150204_110644\"](\"http:\/\/wandering.eu\/wp-content\/uploads\/2015\/12\/20150204_110644.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\n\n
ing we will meet up to have dinner together.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a>t has a nice souk, that is much calmer than the one in Marrakesh.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/span><\/p>\n