The magnificent High Atlas is the mightiest mountain range in the Atlas Mountains with peaks almost as high as the Alps or Rocky Mountains. Its tallest peak Mount Toubkal, at 4167 meters above sea level, is the highest point in Morocco and North Africa. Therefore it is a very popular destination for mountaineers and hikers.
Before we came to Imlil, we visited the metropolis of Marrakesh at the southwestern foot of the High Atlas Mountains for the third time in our lives after 1986 and 1987.It's the most famous city of Morocco with a lot of exciting museums, palaces and more culture, and also the eponym for Morocco. Its Medina has been a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 1985 and the huge main square Jemma el Fnaa - The assembly of Death - was the first entry on UNESCO's Representative List of the Intangible Cultural Heritage of Humanity in 2008.
We were a bit disappointed with Marrakesh, for example in 1986/87 we had seen many storytellers (in Berber), jugglers, snake charmers and other oriental spectacles. In April 2024 we saw very few of them, but too many street vendors, restaurants and tourists. Loud and smelly motorcycles raced more or less constantly through the very narrow streets of the Medina, putting people in danger.
Nevertheless, even today it is still a fascinating, even breathtaking city in which we spent three wonderful days. Horrifying were the destroyed buildings caused by the earthquake on September 8, 2023, which killed almost 3,000 people.
The weather forecast was excellent in mid-March 2024, so we headed to Imlil, the best access point to most of the 4,000-meter peaks of the High Atlas. We knew Imlil very well from our first itinerary to Morocco with our two and half years daughter Eva and Marion's brother Tommy in 1986. Unfortunately the road from Asni to Imlil was in very bad condition due to road construction work, but somehow we made it with our not too big campers.
As in April 1986, we wanted to go to Toubkal Mountain Hut, which is a strenuous five-hour hike. Marion felt a bit weak due to an infection and explored the surroundings of Imlil in detail with Jutta and Hermann. Nowadays, a mountain guide is mandatory to access Toubkal National Park, so Alfred hired the lovely Yassin from the Imlil mountain guide office for little money. He organized the transport of Alfred's heavy backpack and the reservation in the hut.
In April 1986 we brought our ski mountaineering equipment to the hut, but in March 2024 there was not enough snow to ski. Even some people hiked to the summit of the 4,167-meter-high Toubkal in sneakers, although some sections were icy early in the morning.
Eva really liked the Manager of the Toubkal hut, a wonderful elderly man. She told him many stories in German, which of course he didn't understand. His only German word was Ja – Yes, which he often used in response to Eva's tales. He was incredibly patient while listening to our daughter and she really enjoyed it. When Alfred was in the cabin with Yassin, he asked about this man, and sure enough, his grandson is now the caretaker of the Toubkal hut. He told Alfred that his grandfather was in his eighties when we were at Toubkal Hut with Eva and that he lived to be over 100 years old.
The mountain huts were almost full because many people wanted to reach the summit of Toubkal, the highest peak in North Africa. On the first day, Yassin and Alfred climbed the 4083 meter high Ras Ouanoukrim - the head, the 4088 meter high Timesguida - the mosque and the 3869 meter high Bou Ouzzal in a pristine, secluded setting. Only one other group did the same tour on a sunny day. Crampons were useful early in the morning as the snow on the steeper northern slopes was hard and partly little icy.
Marion ski toured on top of Ras Ouanoukrim with her brother Tommy in April 1986 while Alfred looked after our little daughter.
On the following following day - March 19th 2024 - Alfred and Yassin hiked with a lot of people to the top of 4,167 meters high Toubkal very early in the morning. We made a short deviation to the secondary peak Toubkal West (4,018 meters sea-level) where we were totally alone and watched the crowd moving to the main peak. Alfred ski toured Toubkal with Tommy in April 1986. Now it's his highest summit where he has been twice, and with skies and on a hike.
The descent was endless - from the 4,167 meter high Toubkal to the 1,600 meter high village of Imlil. Because of his bad knees, Alfred went down very slowly. And Yassin was very thirsty and hungry because it was Ramadan, which meant he couldn't eat or drink when the sun was shining - we had breakfast at 2:30am, so he wanted to be home for dinner as soon as the sun went down. It was already dusk when we reached the first houses in the upper part of Imlil. Luckily Yassin has a friend there and he rented him his little motorbike. It was an unforgettable experience for Alfred to sit behind Yassin in the very small seat and drive over 300 meters down a very steep, narrow, bumpy and winding road.
The weather forecast was rainy on the next day so we literally fled before the street to Imlil became really ugly. We found a decent campsite in the northern suburban of Marrakesh were we relaxed two days. A side story of a nice "German" Police Officer in Marrakesh:
As we drove through Marrakesh in rush hour traffic, we had to pass through an old gate - no problem even with our 3.1 meter high camper. There was a second gate, as well as a third and fourth gates. There was some renovation work on the latter and a V-shaped scaffolding was built in it. There was no way to get through with our motor-home and we were literally stuck because we couldn't turn in the heavy Marrakesh rush hour traffic. Pedestrians advised us to use the lane in the other direction that bypasses this old gate - but how could we do that at rush hour? Luckily, Marion saw a police officer on the other side of the gate and asked him what he should do. He smiled and replied in German: “No problem – I am a German living in Morocco.” Of course he came from Morocco. He stopped traffic in the oncoming lane. The cars in the other direction halted, but the motorcycles ignored his stop sign. Carefully, very carefully, we used this only oncoming lane, feeling like we were in a swarm of bees, as many motorcycles whirled around us. Then we had to drive about a hundred meters in the wrong direction until we reached a roundabout. Luckily the opposite road became two lanes after the gate but we still caused a traffic jam until we achieved the roundabout. A lot of people were smiling and laughing but no one seemed angry at us.
Since more rain and strong winds were predicted, we abandoned our original plan to travel parallel and northwest to the High Atlas and explore some areas such as the Happy Valley, said to be one of the most beautiful regions in Morocco. Instead we crossed the 2260 meter high Tizi n'Tichka Pass into the dry Draa Valley on the southeastern side of the High Atlas.
Our first destination there was the UNESCO World Heritage Site of Ait Ben Haddou, a magnificent example of Moroccan adobe architecture in a stunning desert-like setting. A large number of film shot were produced here, for instance Lawrence of Arabia, Gladiator and Jesus of Nazareth.
Twenty kilometers southeast of Ait Ben Haddou lies the district capital and largest city in the Draa Valley, Ouarzazate, the center of the Moroccan film industry. There we explored the area surrounding Atlas Studios, including the interesting Oscar Hotel, where many film stars have stayed and will stay. Many famous films such as Gladiator, The Jewel of the Nile and Game of Thrones were produced at Atlas Studios.
We found a perfect place to spend the night at the artificial lake Barrage Al Mansour Ad Dahbi, 30 kilometers east of Ouarzazate. Here too we had some rain and storms. We were able to see the 3578 meter high Bou Ouriol mountain and the Tizi n'Tichka pass, which we have mixed memories of our second visit to Morocco with our four-year-old daughter - A side story about Noachian flood / deluche in Morocco;
Alfred climbed Bou Ouriol mountain in October 1987 on a warm day with some sun, starting from the Tizi n'Tichka pass. In the evening we drove into a side valley a few kilometers south of the pass. Near where we were staying, near a small village, there was a small stream separated from the road by a wall. Heavy rain began during the night. In the morning we discovered that the stream was a river with water higher than our road. We immediately turned around and parked on a higher road. It continued to rain all day. It rained all night and the next day too. Three days later, early in the morning, the rain stopped and we decided to continue driving a few kilometers to the next village as we were running low on food. We drove very carefully and checked every stream that crossed the road on foot before crossing it with our car. We were already seeing the village when a small stream crossed the road and we were tired. So we drove in and our little camper took a big hit followed by an ugly noise. Luckily it popped out, but the two front wheels were 90° misaligned. We literally hobbled a few hundred meters to this village where a nice man helped us dismantle the bent tie rod. He took a larger stone and hammered it until the bent tie rod was more or less straight. We had a little argument about how to mount the tie rod, but eventually we sorted it out and were able to continue the long journey back to Germany without any problems. We were very lucky because some people, including tourists, died in this deluche.
We found an excellent campsite in the Dades Gorges opposite the lower viewpoint Canyon des Doigts du Singe – Monkey Fingers. As we entered the gorge below this viewpoint, a young man unexpectedly accompanied us. It proved to be very helpful for orientation in the Canyon des Doigts du Singe. Of course, he received a small tip for the breathtaking two-hour hike.
The next day we headed through the steep and narrow section of the Dades gorge to the awesome viewpoint near the Timzzillite regional restaurant on a good paved road with many hairpin bends.
We were there in 1986 too, but the road was a typical dirt road. We had two teachers hitchhiking from the Rose Festival in Kalaat M'Gouna in our car and spent a very nice evening with them in their house a few kilometers above the Timzzillite Regional Restaurant. In the morning we had continued on a terrible road over the High Atlas to Imilchil, known for its wedding market. But somehow we and our car made it in May 1986.
This time we returned and visited Todra Gorge, where we also had an exceptional place to stay overnight near the climbing area.
In the Todra Gorge we climbed the excellent, not too difficult and short but airy via ferrata a few meters from where we spent the night. The circular route to Jbel Asstef was a wonderful but strenuous hike where we saw people who lived near the summit on its eastern slope. Every day they have to haul all the water two hours deeper from the gorge - luckily they have donkeys and mules. We can hardly imagine how these people survive here in this extremely dry environment without electricity and all the other amenities we are used to.
From the Todra gorge we headed northeastwards to the Mediterranean Sea - that's the next article.
Most of our overnight staying places and hikes are in included in our GPS coordinates file of Morocco.
For more pictures, please click here
For a map of our itineraries, click here
To download our GPS file of Morocco, click here