Atlas Mountains and beyond

Today saw us heading towards the Middle Atlas Mountains. Our first stop was at the village of Ifran, a place where you could be excused for thinking you had been transported to an Alpine village in France or Switzerland. Apparently earlier this year it was named as the second cleanest town in the world! Moroccans from the bigger cities come here to ski and escape the heat in the summer.

Samir with ice from the pond

Autumnal tones in Ifran...it was freezing!

Crossing the plains we passed through Apple and cherry production areas before stopping in a wooded are to interact with Berber macaques.

We stopped at a village and had a BBQ...the best chops I have ever eaten...and I can tick off one of the things I have missed about Australia...BBQ!

After we arrived at our hotel in Midelt Samir led us on an afternoon walk along the top of a gorge and through the mud-brick village of Berrem. Approaching it from above you felt like you were stepping in to a scene from the time of Jesus ( apart from the smattering of satellite dishes on some of the rooftops.)

Mud brick village of Berrem

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View from the rooftop of accommodation in Midelt

The following day we crossed the High Atlas Mountains, at 1907m, stopping for some panoramic shots of the river and the Ziz Oasis. This was not what I always imagined an oasis to be...a fertile spot in the middle of a desert area. Instead it is actually an area along a watercourse and is 170km long.

Ziz Oasis

We stopped in a market in Arrachidia and purchased items for a picnic lunch, including olives, bread, pomegranate, bananas, almonds and cashews...delicious!

From here we travelled to the end of the road arriving at the Erg Chebbi dunes on the edge of the Sahara Desert. We traded our vehicle for an older form of transport, camels, and rode off in to the sunset. Some members of the group elected to climb a sand dune and walk the last bit, but myself and two others elected to stay on the camels. I sure was glad to arrive at camp after an hour and a half on a camel.

Mikey of Arabia!

The night in the desert was amazing, very cold, but we had come prepared so once in bed we were as warm as toast. The blankets felt more like carpets they were so heavy. The night sky, with a nearly full moon, was full of stars and we were entertained around the campfire by drumming and some pretty lame jokes. I could now tick of number 2 on my things I miss list...a sky full of stars!
We were up early the next morning to climb the nearest sand dune in time to witness the sunrise, before riding our camels back to the inn for breakfast. All went well until my camel decided to stand up in the middle of my dismount. At the time I had one foot on the ground and the other at the top of the saddle so I crashed to the ground fairly heavily. Apart from being winded I was ok although I am not sure that I haven't cracked a couple of ribs...time will tell.
Our next stop was Todra Gorge. On the way we visited a well preserved Berber Kasbah and visited the Berber Museum. We noticed that the women in this area did not wear the long Kaftan but rather tie what looks like a bed sheet around themselves to cover their form. Before we arrived at our destination we stopped in a supermarket to get some supplies...alcohol was available but you had to go in to the storeroom out the back and it was placed inside the plastic bag before you returned to the shop to pay for it.
This area has been subjected to some heavy rain (Samir tells us they have have had as much rain in 2 weeks as they usually get in 20 years!)and flash flooding about 2 weeks ago and the hotel where we were staying was across a bridge which was washed away. The locals have rebuilt the bridge which was more basic than anything we encountered in Nepal, although closer to the ground!

new bridge across to our accommodation!

We had a quiet day here with 2 walking options. Michael and Leslie elected to go on the more demanding one (4 hours) up the mountainside where they had tea with a nomad family in their cave home.

Nomad family in their cave home

He claimed it gave him flashbacks of Nepal. The rest of us chose the easy option (2 hours) which was a walk along the river bank through the farming plots, taking care due to the amount of riverbank washed away in the recent flooding. We continued on through Todra Gorge. Parts of Mission Impossible 2 and The Mummy returns were shot here. We then met up in a local restaurant for Berber pizza and an introduction to Berber carpets. This time it was Michael's Xmas present, just a small example of a locally made mat.

Todra Gorge. A recent rock fall that squashed part of a guest house

Todra Gorge

The next day on our way to Ait Benhaddou we visited the Horizon Association for People with Disabilities and passed through the Dades valley . When we stopped at the Kasbah Amridil we were entertained by a very pleasant guide. This Kasbah is on the 50 Dirhum note and has featured in a number of movies as well.

"Kasbah Amridil which features on the 50 Dirhum note

The whole area seems to be regularly used for movies and Atlas is one of the companies with a studio here.
We stayed overnight in Ait Benhaddou, a kasbah town that has featured in Gladiator and Kingdom of Heaven. It seems I have somes movies I have to watch when we get home!  We took a stroll to the top of the ancient Kasbah passing an area that was used in The Gladiator before our host gave us a how to cook couscous demonstration.

Ait Benhaddou

Ingredients for couscous

We had the longest drive of our tour today( about6 hours), crossing the Atlas Mts again via theTizi n Tichka Pass at 2260m. It was cold and windy up there and some of the roads we travelled were very winding.

Our holiday "summit

We stowed our luggage at the tiny town of Imlil, at the end of the road and with just an overnight pack walked up to Aremd for the night. It took about an hour and was reminiscent of last years trek in Nepal...made me pleased I was in Morocco and not Nepal! From the terrace at the guest house we had a fabulous view of Morocco's highest Mountain, Jebel Toubkal. In our rooms we found examples of the local clothing to wear...jeelaba, with a hood, and a kaftan, no hood. Of course we had to try them!

Local Attire!

Jebel Toubkal, the one on the left, Morocco's highest mountain

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