Cliffs, Cedar Forests and Cascades

Cliffs, Cedar Forests and Cascades

Trek Grade: Easy to Moderate

Your walk will take you from the Berber village of Azrou through oak and cork woods to your picnic spot on the summit of Ras Kharzouza, then on down to the plateaux used by Berber shepherds.

Fez (or Meknes) to Immouzèr Du Kandar and Ifrane

Departure from Fez (or Meknes) at around 8.30 in the morning for an exciting 2 hours’ drive towards the south across the breadbasket of Morocco to the foothills of the Middle Atlas Ranges and the small 1920s French-built hill station of Immouzèr Du Kandar (1,220m). Here we’ll pause for ten minutes by the kasbah for a look at the little medina and take in the pleasant Saiss Plateau and distant Fes, continuing on to the squeaky-clean Moroccan pseudo-Swiss town of Ifrane (1,650m), with its slanted,  russet-tiled roofs hidden amidst a forest of cedar, which cannot grow below 1,600m. Ifrane which is mainly a winter ski resort - and a summer hideaway for rich Moroccans wishing to escape the hustle and heat of the large cities.

Ifrane to Azrou

We now drive through to the first real town in the central Atlas - Azrou which, in the local Tamazight means “rock,” for next to the mosque is the massive outcrop from which this town takes its name – and was for a long time a strategic settlement established to effect some form of control of the independent mountain Berber peoples. On Tuesdays there is a souq to where the Beni M’Guild tribes come to trade. This particular tribe of the Sanhaya Berber is renowned for its intricately-designed carpets of 80 knots to the square metre. The region is also renowned as being the first to carve figures from cedar and nut woods, the woods being stored for one year prior to carving.

Azrou to Ras Kharzouza Summit

From here we set out on our relatively-easy hike up through forests of evergreen holm oak, cork and juniper until we reach some 1600m where we shall find the stands of young cedar trees. Our hike now gets harder as we continue straight up alongside coves and little gorges to the summit of Ras Kharzouza (1900m), where we shall stop on a ridge for our field picnic* overlooking the verdant Tigrigra Valley, Azrou and the important Amazigh village of Aïn Leuh, with ruined kasbah and flat-roofed houses in tiers overlooking the valley and with Ifrane beckoning in the distance.

Summit of Ras Kharzouza to Azrou and Fez (or Meknes)

Our trek descends down the other side of the mountain through stands of cedar along a plateau which the semi-nomadic Berber shepherds use to fatten their animals and where, doubtless, during the months of April to October, we shall be welcomed by these Berber tribes people who have set up here their large, black felt nomadic tents. We hike gently on down through the Tizi Tioumliline (1,600m), where we’ll get to see and possibly feed the Barbary (macaque) apes which patrol this area before taking a long, winding mule track alongside Oued Sebbab, with its little waterfalls until we reach the traditional Amazigh green-tiled roofed arcades of Azrou’s Kelâa or caserne, the market square, medina and ruined kasbah - built by the unusually ruthless and notorious Sultan Moulay Ismaïl in 1719 - the delightful bustle of the local Souq and our awaiting transport, at around 4.30 in the evening, to take us back to the Imperial City of Fez (or Meknes).

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