scale maps and in books consulted. The 100,000 and 1:50,000 maps also tend to show a differing selection of paths – and are decades behind changes to such. Ah, for the good old Ordnance Survey and the simplicity of Gaelic nomenclature!
This book uses metres and kilometres throughout (as that is what is used on the maps) and, to aid navigation, key places and features shown on the sketch maps are highlighted in bold in the narrative.
The Nfis gorges below Oumzra (Route 37)
Using this guide
While much of what follows is narrative, at the end of each section is a box summarising practical route information and giving any other source of information on a particular peak, including useful descriptions in other books. Titles of maps and texts are given as an abbreviation, which can be checked in Appendix B. There are frequent references to the English translation of a work by Michael Peyron, who has roamed the Atlas like few others and gathered together information under the title La Grande Traversee de l’Atlas Maroccain (GTAM; translated as ‘The Great Atlas Traverse Morocco’). The two volumes of this in English, referred to as MP1 and MP2, are indispensable.
Most English guidebooks have concentrated on Toubkal and some of the set-piece commercial treks. The authors are often trek leaders who are repeating treks and, after a few years, move on. There are naturally fewer references in this book to such guidebooks. Of the general guidebooks I’ve mostly used the Rough Guide to Morocco (and have written the sections on the Atlas Mountains), as it is full of useful and interesting background information. In Appendix B are also listed a few general works which anyone fascinated by Morocco would find a good read. This is, after all, the nearest truly exotic land to Europe.
Another Cicerone title, Mountaineering in the Moroccan High Atlas by Des Clark, details many routes, including winter climbs, covering areas in the Western Atlas, Toubkal massif and further east. With comprehensive coverage of certain areas, as against this book’s wider, narrative coverage, it is highly recommended as a companion volume, alongside Cicerone’s Trekking in the Atlas by Karl Smith, which describes some of the more popular trekking routes.
I was just lucky that Kipling’s ‘everlasting whisper’ came to me. ‘Go and look behind the Ranges – something lost behind the ranges. Lost and waiting for you. Go!’ The whisper is always there; its imperative is still ours to accept. Morocco is simply one of the world’s most rewarding lands for mountain activities. My hope is that these tales will set other feet searching for the magic of the High Atlas.
MIDDLE ATLAS AND EASTERN HIGH ATLAS
Flocks on the slopes of Jbel Masker (Route 3)
ROUTE ONE
Jbel Tazekka (Tazzeka) 1980m
| Commitment | A day-walk from the nearest motorable road, which could even be completed in a day from Fes. Camping nearby or using local accommodation as described is a better option – enjoy the magnificiently different area. About 7km and 500m of ascent from the road. |
| Maps | 100: Taza (but really a road map and the description given would suffice). |
| Texts | Fully described in HB. |
| Travel to start | Using public transport one would have to find a shared taxi up from Taza – with an opportunist return. An easy but scenic drive in hired transport or self-drive care hire from Fes. |
| Local assistance | Not needed. A park visitor centre at Bab bou Idir is worth a visit, situated by the maison forestière. |
A fine, easy walk to the high point of the glorious cedar forests of north-east Morocco.
The Middle Atlas sees far fewer mountain visitors than elsewhere, a reflection I’m sure of the lure of the big, whereas much of the area offers indescribably beautiful hills covered in cedar forest, the Cedrus atlanticum. Jbel Tazekka is isolated enough for cedars to have evolved here that are regarded as a subspecies. The area is a national park.
The Tazekka cedar forest
Meknes and Fes, two of Morocco’s imperial cities (the others are Rabat and Marrakech) lie not far away from the Tazekka rump of the Middle Atlas, and to the north, with a narrow gap between, lie the Rif Mountains. The Arab invasion came through the ‘Taza Gap’ in the seventh century, a unique chink in the mountains that form a battlement around Morocco. It was from Taza we began our end-to-end Atlas trek, which finished on the Atlantic coast at Tamri, and Jbel Tazekka was the first hill climbed on the trip. I’ve been back since. The end of March visit gave the best display of flowers – including gagea, romulea, miniature daffodils, pansies and ranunculus. Ground churned up is a sign of wild boar in the area.
Camp on the Dyat Chicker
The N6 major road (motorway to be built) – and railway – from Fes to Oujda (on the Algerian border) goes through the Taza Gap, and from it a loop road climbs southwards to the Tazekka heights, a fine 75km day’s motoring circuit if nothing else. There are worked cork oak forests lower down, pleasant falls and a vast cave complex which can be descended (all described in HB), but the pull for me was always Jbel Tazekka. On the last visit we were staying in rooms and tents at a farm near the Friouato cave and simply drove along the road circuit until below Tazekka. This road goes past the holiday camp of Bab bou Idir, descends to a dip (Bab Taka, 1450m, where the road to Rbat-el-Khayr heads south), then climbs again. The piste up Tazekka breaks off just 1km on from this junction.
An Atlas olive press
The piste is a forestry/mast-servicing track that wends up the hill, through mixed woodland with an unusual oak (where they are reintroducing red deer), and then leads across a grassy neck and up a final thrust of conical hill covered in magnificent cedars. Just picking footpaths up through these trees is a joy – a scented coolness. The trees go right to the top of Jbel Tazekka, but there are glimpses dizzily down to the Taza Gap, hazy mountains away to the north, and the snowy Iblane/Naceur heights to the south. The track to the summit is about 8km. The actual piste and what’s shown on 100 disagree; just keep to the piste as far as the cedars.
ROUTE TWO
Jbel bou Naceur 3326m, Moussa ou Salah 3172m and Jbel bou Iblane 3081m
| Commitment | As described this is a 5-day challenging mountain crossing needing real commitment. I’m sure Ali would be happy to organise a repeat. Iblane lies above a road from the N so is the easier peak – could be done in a day from Fes. |
| Maps | 100: Missour (only for El Hajj–Tirnest access), Berkine, Ribat al Khayr. |
| Texts | HB touches on Iblane; MP2 the main source. |
| Travel to start | Easy now for Iblane and the N side with tarmac roads up from Birtam Tam (N6) to Taffert or from Taza and Merhraoua to below the mountain. Hiring from Fes. Hiring from Midelt possible for Tirnest and Bou Naceur. Moussa ou Salah tackled from the Bled Tiserouine (c1990m) gives the easiest ascent (c1185m), either direct or by the Tizi n’ Tzirouch, to SW. Allow 3hrs. Bou Naceur, with 2000m of ascent from Tirnest, is best done in two days, ascending as described. |
| Local assistance | If
|
