6 Days Berber Villages

With an early morning departure from marrakech for a pleasant drive south, winding our way up
through the moulay brahim gorge and upper valleys to arrive at the higher foothills of the western
high atlas mountains. Our trailhead of imi oughlad(1450m) with the jbel toubkal, at 4167m the
highest peak in north africa, aglzim 3650m and aksoual 38847m ,looming before us.
Here, we alight from our vehicle and meet up with berber muleteer crew, always a fun part of our
treks.
We set off up in a north-westerly direction for a 2hour acclimatisation hike up switchback mule
tracks, passing by cornfields, woods of pine and juniper, to the tiz n’tachete (2000m), where we
shall stop to look back down on the Imlil and Ait oussaden valleys before carrying on for another
half hour to Imi n’ifri and our field picnic.
Then a slow hike for about 2 and half hours south-west down along a dirt track to assif n’ ait
oussaden and the red clay
terraced village of Tiziane(1750 m)for our accommodation in gite d’etape or bivouac.

After breakfast we now set off on our hike up along the Assif n’ait oussaden valley, passing through
the walnut groves, up to tizi n’taghrhourte (1995m)and through to a rare almost flat stretch to arrive
at Assaka spring, where we will stop for our field picnic amidst an awesome silence after some 2
and half hours relatively easy walking.
Our afternoon’s hike takes us down along the edges of the forest until we reach the berber village of
D’knt (1870m) where we will have our dinner and spend the night in a family’s home or in a
bivouac.