Tizi n'Tichka Pass.
Rachid and Samir.
Part of the trail to our accommodation.
Aroumd.
An overloaded truck (they tried to get me to pay for taking the photo).
Locals and the usual mode of transport in these hills.
Hussein's gite.
Friday,
September 22nd.
I
woke up feeling better but not perfect. I took a couple of photos of
the Kasbah from the terrace of our guesthouse before we boarded the
van for another day. We had a long day of driving today as we were
driving into the High Atlas Mountains for the next two nights. We
left the Sahara and drove for about five hours up to and over the
spectacular Tizi n'Tichka Pass (2,260 metres above sea level) to
Toubkal National Park.
The
road was narrow and winding as we climbed up and over a couple of
passes. We stopped at a lookout where you could see the the
switchbacks of the road as it wound its way through the rocks. As we
drove along we saw a number of small villages perched on the cliffs
and hills of the mountains and and fertile green fields in the valley
where they were growing orchard crops.
In
the late afternoon we arrived at a small town in a touristy area in
the national park. This town is used as a launching point for many
excursions, hikes and climbs by foreign tourists and local Moroccans,
up into the High Atlas in and around Mt Toubkal (4167 metres), the
third highest mountain in Africa (Kilimanjaro is the tallest). In the
winter season these mountains and some of the valleys get snow
covered. The temperature here was much cooler than the last couple of
days.
We
had to leave our van here and most of our luggage in a hotel lockup.
We organized our stuff and just took a day pack each. Just
when we were about to start our trek it began to rain. We all
scrambled into our packs again for rain gear and then started. The
rain didn't amount to much and we didn't need the gear.
We
hiked for about an hour up a narrow path that switchbacked up to our
gite (a Berber family run guesthouse) for the night. Our host Hussein
had been an Intrepid guide for three years and then decided to run a
guesthouse. Since they he has hosted Intrepid groups and others that
seek an authentic experience and an opportunity to stay in the High
Atlas Mountains. We had a traditional Berber dinner of vegetable
soup, chicken tagine, dates and fruit.
After
dinner the whole group climbed a couple of floors to the terrace for
a night cap (most of the group had brought drinks from the village
below, I didn't feel up to that). We were joined by two Canadians
from Halifax, a doctor and his wife, George and Patty. I got talking
to them and he gave me an antibiotic that would clear up my
intestinal problem. We had a good talk about his job and traveling.
Then we all retired.
Our
accommodations were shared, with Andrew joining Wim and I and all of the four rooms shared a small common area and one toilet and
shower for the ten of us. But it was quite comfortable, cozy and the
family were very hospitable and we made do.
Thank goodness you were feeling better for your long hike to your accommodation
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