of transport cafés, bought hot bread and spicy sardines, apples and pomegranates, which we demolished at Timnay, a camp-site complex we’ve used on many journeys, and at night ran into Midelt to dine at the Fes, enjoying ‘the best ever meal in Morocco’, to quote one old hand. I’ve topped and tailed Hayane really to show the multiplicities of enjoyment that can stitch together any day travelling in Morocco.
CENTRAL HIGH ATLAS
The Cascades d’Ouzzoud
ROUTE FIVE
Jbel Msedrit (Msadrid) 3077m
| Commitment | A straightforward walk (paths help) via the Tizi n’ Taghighacht (2662m) from Isli (lake on N side, 2270m) or longer from the trans-Atlas road on the S. As described, an 11-hour tramp over rough ground, well worth the effort. |
| Maps | 100: Tounfite, Imilchil (essential for our route but not needed if just heading up from the lake in settled weather). |
| Texts | MP2: Isli–Tizi n’ Issural – easting by Fazaz is on Peyron’s main GTAM line, and he describes Fazaz and other fine peaks in the area. |
| Travel to start | Easy piste from Tislit to Isli lakes N of Imilchil. The trans-Atlas route is part goudron, part piste, so 4x4 needed. Isli is an attractive camp spot. |
| Local assistance | Not needed, although our route described is a challenging option. |
Two secretive lakes lie hidden in the heart of the mountains near Imilchil, while above stands a peak with ‘a view of the world’.
On Jbel Msedrit
This very different approach followed on from Hayane (Route 4). From Timnay we drove back to Zeïda, then on by bustling Boumia to dusty Tounfite, which still had the feel of a Wild West town. After rounding Jbel Masker the goudron ran out at Agoudim, and it was piste thereafter (it may well have been upgraded now). A tough section, but with remnant cedars (the climate is too dry and they’re dying out), led to Amemzi. Sloul (2700m) was a battlemented peak off to port and, rounding it, Hayim (2755m) caught the eye. Peyron describes climbing routes on it and on Fazaz, lying across the road from it. We had picnicked earlier among the better cedars, but rounding Fazaz the world was harsh. The village of Tirrhist was surprisingly large though, and when we camped nearby we received lots of curious visitors. The driver produced mint teas for the elderly bearded worthies, one of whom pulled my leg about my beard (small and white). The driver also did a good supper – a thick soup with Zeïda bread, tasty salad, and piles of fresh vegetables with our tins of meat, melon, coffee and biscuits. I do so like roughing it.
Campsite observers
We’d stopped simply because we couldn’t just drive through such an array of peaks. If the area were nearer Marrakech it would be very popular; if I’d seen it years earlier a few more of its hills would be described in this book. However, we did bag Fazaz (3023m) next day. We walked up to the head of our valley, south of the long 8km crest, to the Tizi n’ Enjar, and more or less up from there. Fazaz would become something special later. We had also stopped with another ploy in view – reaching the beautiful lake Isli by going through on foot from the east. Some of us had already camped by its shores, but had driven there – not the same thing. The Land Rover would go round with some of our party by Imilchil and be there for our arrival. Insh’ Allah.
Three of us set off at 06.00 and arrived 11 hours later. Starting at 2174m, a pull led up to the Tizi n’ Isswal (2600m), and we then made up onto a long, long crest that ran along to Msedrit (3077m), the highest point above the lake. Fossils littered the ground. The Assamer n’ Inouzane, as the crest was called, had very little in the way of trods on it (too barren). At one stage a green band just below the crest helped, but the going was rough generally. Crags forced us up again, horrified at how far off the summit still lay, wall after wall of rock between. We found shade to eat in, then carried on steadily, with no more nasty surprises, to reach the summit.
I’d been up before, but still took a while to hit a path that led round a 3059m point towards the Tizi n’ Taghighacht (2662m), a major north–south pass. At one stage we heard the bleating of new-born lambs and found them in a small protective pit roofed over with stones. In just a few days, however, they’d be coping with their inhospitable landscape. There were many cairns on the tizi and well-made zigzags down before we headed off for the red world leading to the blue lake (2270m).
From there we watched the tones of evening on Fazaz, which stood up as a blunt prow through the gap of our morning pass. We would see it again on other visits, and also many times from the twin lake of Tislit, further west, so it hangs as a very special icon in our visual memories.
The two lakes are fiancé and fiancée, derivations lying in a folktale of thwarted love, the lakes being the tears of denied happiness caused by family feuding – the Berber version of Romeo and Juliet. Apart from lapping water and the occasional sounds of a shepherd’s distant pipe there was only the tingling silence of the desert. Such stars too; and the Milky Way like a dust trail across from black horizon crest to black horizon crest.
Camels on the move
ROUTE SIX
Jbel Laqroun (Lqroun, Qroun) 3117m
| Commitment | Quite serious country, as remote and rough in places, so a 3-day round trip would allow you to best appreciate the varied landscapes. |
| Maps | 100: Beni Mellal, Imilchil. |
| Texts | MP2: descriptions, illustrations; AFC (gives Qroun spelling; erroneously on Pt 2836 on 100 map) has useful sketch map. |
| Travel to start | Goudron, then piste access from the Bin el Ouidane lake to Tamga and the valley start, or from Tamga rough piste to Anergui and beyond there trek to Tizi n’ Wanargi, allowing a more aesthetic traverse (see MP2). Tamga, below the Cathedral, is 1167m, and Laqroun summit 3117m, so a 3-day outing from Tamga is advisable, as my experiences suggest. |
| Local assistance | No local mules. We had trekked from the Bou Guemez, but mules from there could rendezvous at Tamga, if not engaged from further off. |
With beautiful approaches through woods and glen above Tamga and the Cathedral, Laqroun gives a classic Atlas experience.
Laqroun from Mouriq
Having seen Laqroun and the Cathedral on GTAM95 I was keen to return to the area – which we did in May 1997. We took in various peaks and passes from the Bou Guemez valley and down the Ahancal valley to camp at Tamga below the Cathedral. The piste in from Wawizaght and the Bin el Ouidane would be the straightforward access for Laqroun, and I’m sure I’d noted a helpful description in MP2, for we largely followed his line describing a route over the Tizi n’ Wanargi along the south flank of the mountain.
From above Tamga, the Aqqa n’ Irghis/Aqqa n’ Oufezzat runs up along under Laqroun to the 2650m Tizi n’ Wanargi, an exceptionally pleasant and varied walk. First light on the Cathedral seen through the trees rewarded an early start. The lower Irghis I compared to the Nevis gorge, with a high path wending through pines then, later, oak, ash and box. Shingles and an intermittent stream which finally
