Adventure Travel in Morocco

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It is estimated that some 100,000 tourists visit Morocco every year with the main objective of exploring the country's extensive mountain regions, and with good reason. Upland Morocco provides exceptional beauty, high drama and intruiging cultural encounters in equal measure, and , with an emerging infrastructure to cope with the demands of today's adventure traveller and a long list of foreign and neighborhood tour operators that present well-organised adventure tours, there's never been a superior time to check out the 'Land of the Berbers'. Mountain trekking, characterised by multi-day hiking circuits regularly incorporating a summit climb, attracts the lion's share of visitors, while mountain biking, rock climbing and canyoning are growing in recognition. Accessibility and infrastructure tend to dictate which places draw the most interest, suffice to say that the Toubkal National Park in the High Atlas is by far the most visited region by virtue of its proximity to the tourist Mecca of Marrakesh.

Trekking Practicalities

Times have changed considering that the first European expedition conquered Jebel Toubkal in 1923. Back then the notion of climbing a mountain for pleasure would have been an alien concept for High Atlas villagers, and despite the fact that this may well nonetheless be the case in the remoter regions, the inhabitants of Morocco's principal trailheads have a excellent understanding of the specifications of the visitor. All of the country's primary hiking regions have a principle village or town exactly where you can engage the services of mountain guides, mules to carry bags, and cooks if needed. Some villages have an official guide workplace (Imlil and Setti Fatma are two examples), but if not, asking about generally yields quick results. In all but the very busiest season you should certainly be able to acquire a guide out there for a departure the following day. Check the guide's credentials as the country's only official mountain guides have completed an extensive training course at Africa's only mountain guide training college at Tabant in the Ait Bougmez valley. Bone fide guides carry a permit that you can ask to see. Talk about in detail your plans and objectives, agree on a price prior to setting off, assess the need to have for a cook and mule(s) to carry your bags and ensure that you are clear on the accommodation and catering situation whilst on trek. In the absence of any other options, most trekking circuits call for you to camp, though specific villages in the High Atlas supply standard lodgings for walkers. The Club Alpin Français (CAF) operates 5 refuges in the Toubkal National Park, and some regions are equipped with Gites d'Etape, standard village houses licensed to serve hot meals and provide lodging for tourists. Such houses are imperative to the rural economy and studies undertaken in locations of the High Atlas recommend that the income generated from lodging twenty hikers on a half board basis is equivalent to a year's revenue from agriculture - a decent sufficient reason in itself for opting to remain in a Gite wherever probable. Also bear in mind the equipment-intensive nature of camping in your trip planning.

Where to go

The most visited of Morocco's hiking regions is the Toubkal National Park in the High Atlas, residence to the country's highest peak, Jebel Toubkal (4167m/13671ft). In between late spring and early autumn, Toubkal, accessible from the village of Imlil, can be scaled in two days, though countless walkers prefer to save North Africa's highest peak for the climax of a week's trekking beginning from Setti Fatma (in the Ourika Valley) or Oukaimeden. All through a lot of the High Atlas valley walks (as opposed to peaks) provide the perfect snapshot of rural life, which, in a large number of communities has hardly changed in centuries. The legendary hospitality of the Berber people and the sublime beauty of these villages leaves a lasting imprint on all who visit.
Further to the east, M'goun (4071m/13356 ft), Morocco's third highest peak, sits in 1 of the most breathtaking parts of the High Atlas. The trailhead valley of Ait Bougmez is residence to some of the country's finest-preserved vernacular Berber architecture and presents a hassle-cost-free beginning point for 5 to ten day circuits that scale M'goun. Head for this region during the summer months exactly where temperatures rarely exceed 28°c, a welcome break from the heat of Marrakech, which lies some 4 hours by road to the west.

One of the couple of valleys whose beauty compares to Bougmez is the Vallée de la Tassaout which is accessed by way of the Tizi-n-Rogault pass from the M'goun region. Villages in this valley are regarded to be some of the finest in Morocco and offer you interesting possibilities for hikers, no matter whether camping or taking benefit of Gite d'etape accommodation in some of the hamlets alongside the Tessaout River. The Bougmez and Tessaout valleys form two stages of a mammoth three-week High Atlas traverse that links this spectacular region with the Toubkal area, a programme provided far more and even more by foreign adventure tour operators.

Heading South

Even more peripheral, though no less striking, are the Jebel Saghro and the Jebel Siroua, two mountain ranges on the south side of the High Atlas. Each are accessible by tarmac road and provide adequate infrastructure in their respective trailhead towns of N'Kob and Taliouine. Trekking in both regions is most beneficial in spring and autumn.

The Saghro, which lies to the south east of Ourazazate is an isolated and savagely-stunning range of angular peaks and table top 'mesas'. Navigation difficulties and a profound shortage of water in the range make hiking here a challenge so consistently engage a qualified nearby guide which you can normally obtain in the pleasant town of N'Kob. The range presents the full gamut of possibilities from multi-day circuits to hikes that head north to join the tarmac route around the town of Kelaa Mgouna, on the Ouarzazate-Errachidia road. Be warned that the type of Gite and refuge accommodation commonly discovered in the High Atlas is practically non-existent here so nights in the Saghro are generally spent under canvas.

The Siroua region forms a volcanic bridge in between the High Atlas and Anti-Atlas Mountains and most treks in the region tackle the non-technical summit of Jebel Siroua (3304m/10839ft) to the north of the trailhead town of Taliouine. On a clear day this nub-like summit presents some of the greatest views in Morocco, with the High Atlas, the Anti-Atlas, the Jebel Bani and even the dunes of the Sahara in view. In this region it is possible to remain in Berber houses (chez l'habitant) and guide and mule services are out there in a limited capacity in Taliouine.

Other mountain sports

Morocco's extensive network of pistes (jeep roads) makes the country ideally suited to mountain biking. Harsh gradients and poor surfaces in the Central High Atlas make off-road biking only really accessible to skilled riders but the Jebel Siroua, the Anti-Atlas Mountains and the Draa Valley offer you gentler possibilities. Beneficial excellent mountain bikes are not accessible for employ in Morocco, so you are recommended to bring your own if you want to travel independently. Local maps show some, but not all pistes, and navigation without a guide can be much a lot more tough than you could possibly anticipate.

Rock climbing is a well-known pursuit in Morocco particularly in the Todra Gorge and the Anti-Atlas Mountains around Tafraoute. Equipment hire and expert guide services are not at all times quick to come by, so organising a trip of this nature with a tour operator makes practical sense.
The Central Atlas mountains around Ait Bougmez are ideally suited to canyoning, but a shortage of skilled guides and good quality equipment have left this sport in the hands of a couple of specialist (foreign) operators. Trips of this nature need to be organised prior to your arrival in Morocco.
Skiing is not perhaps a sport you would generally associate with Morocco, but it is nonetheless feasible in the High Atlas and Middle Atlas Mountains among December and April. Snowfalls are by no means guaranteed but the northern orientation of the (one) ski slope at Oukaimeden, the country's perfect-equipped ski resort, provides skiers the finest opportunity of some downhill action, having said that limited. Services at this resort are rudimentary - there are a couple of chair lifts and a cable car to the summit of Jebel Oukaimeden - and piste alternatives are not particularly expansive. Off-piste skiing is possible in the Central High Atlas but can be life-threateningly hazardous without a qualified guide.