The Waterfalls of Oum er-Rbia

The Waterfalls of OUM er-RBIA: 1 Day

Trek Grade: Easy to Moderate

The drive takes you past Azrou, Lake Afenourrir and the volcanic crater lake to Oiouan, which offer a great insight into the flora, fauna and way of life of the Middle Atlas. The walk is relative short to a scenic picnic spot with great seasonal bird watching.

Fez (or Meknes) to Immouzèr Du Kandar and Ifrane

Depart Fez (or Meknes) at around 8.30am for a 2 hours' drive towards the south and the foothills of the Middle Atlas Ranges and the 1920s French-built hill station of Immouzèr Du Kandar (1,220m), perched on the limestone edge of the Saïss Plateau.  We pass by the ruined kasbah of the Aït Seghrouchen, its little medina and troglodyte cave homes, and continue on to Ifrane (1,650m). Ifrane, singular “Ifri”, is the Tamazight Berber word for grottos. We stop to visit this squeaky-clean Moroccan pseudo-Swiss town, hidden amidst a forest of short cedar, which cannot grow below 1,600m.  

Ifrane to Azrou

Our trip takes us to the first real town in the Middle Atlas - Azrou - which in the local Tamazight Berber dialect means “rock,” for, next to the mosque, is the massive outcrop from which this town takes its name. On Tuesdays there is a Souq where the Beni M’Guild tribes of the Sanhaya Berber, renowned for their intricately-designed carpet of some 80 knots per square meter, come to trade. This tribe was the first in Morocco to carve figurines from cedar and nut woods, which are stored for years prior to carving.

Azrou to Lake Afenourrir

From Azrou we drive through the Triangle Of Cedars with its troops of Barbary Apes and, subject to the season, myriads of butterflies, dragonflies and damselflies. To our right we shall see the plateau, with the black felt tents of the semi-nomadic Beni M’Guild Berber peoples, with their herds of sheep, goats and dromedaries. We continue to a visit of Lake Afenourrir, with its seasonal variety of resident and migratory birds, including the avocet, heron, stork, grebe, egret and sandpiper; duck, wagtail, sand martin and swallow, bluetit, jay and kite.

Lake Afenourrir to Oum er-Rbia

From here we shall continue south to the volcanic crater lake of Ouiouan which provides a magnificent panorama of the cedar-topped Sidi M’Guild range (2,400m) of the Central Atlas Mountains. Onwards we go to the area of the gorge which produces the 40 springs making up the Oum er-Rbia waterfall. Here we cross the “border” between the Berber tribes of the Beni M’Guild and the Zayan M’Guild, to notice almost immediately a difference in architectural styles. The Beni M’Guild winter homes are built of clay, their summer homes are their black felt tents, whereas the more permanent homes of the Zayan are of cedar wood and slanted zinc roofs.

The Oum er-Rbia Hike

We start our 2 to 3 hours circular hike from the Berber village of Oum er-Rbia, passing by freshwater and mineral springs, to picnic in the shade of beautiful trees accompanied by the hammering of the pied and red great woodpeckers. This area is a fine spot for some seasonal bird watching, with migratory teal, grebe, coot; woodland finches and titmice; wagtail and warblers; hovering hawks, ravens, red kites, kestrels and the occasional booted eagle. Refreshed, we visit the wonderful waterfalls, thence to swing along the left bank of the stream to cross a little bridge and walk through a park where you rejoin our vehicle to take us back to Fez (or Meknes).

PICNIC LUNCH:  fresh Moroccan salad, cheese, tuna fish and/or sardines *, fruit, bread, mint tea. * If vegetarian or vegan please pre-advise.