Hiking in Morocco

My favorite day of our trip to Morocco was the one which we spent hiking up Jebel el Kest, the second-highest mountain of the anti-atlas mountains. This mountain range is in Berber country, deep in the south.

We drove the car a third of the way up on a winding one-lane to a scenic village called Tagdicht. We met our guide there and set off on foot.

Tagdicht

Our guide was a wizened, surefooted old man that kept up a constant stream of chatter in Berber. Our friend Chédid translated occasionally when it was pertinent.

‘This plant is used for tea.’

‘Do you see the entrance to a cave up there? Apparently it’s huge; they don’t know how deep it goes.’

‘This path leads to a village on the other side of the mountains.’

‘Those are gazelle droppings.’

The rest of the six hour hike the guide went on about his life, told tourist stories, and gossiped about so-and-so in such-and-such village.  Chédid was a good sport, showing interest in the right places with the Berber equivalents of hmm-mm’s and yeahs. I would not have been capable of following a conversation; I spent my time admiring the plants and landscape, taking pictures, and trying not to sprain my ankles on the loose rocks.

Chédid translated one tourist story about a woman that went hiking without a guide and got her leg crushed by a rock. They had to take her all the way to Agadir, three hours away, for proper medical care. ‘So what is the moral of the story?’ Cyril joked, ‘That we shouldn’t go out without a guide or that we should tip extra well so that the same thing doesn’t happen to us?’

In any case we wouldn’t have found our way without him. The path was not always clear, its only marking an occasional cairn.

It was quite steep in some places

The colors were magnificent. The ochre-red soil contrasted beautifully with the vegetation and the abundant yellow and purple flowers.

A pool under an almond tree

Taking a break at a mountain stream

Still a ways to go!

What colors!

The inhabitants of the village used to cultivate lentils on the terraced mountain slopes up to an hour’s hike up from the village. Now those fields are mostly abandoned, and wildflowers have taken over.  I wasn’t expecting to see so many this early in the season; the variety was delightful.

I had trouble identifying many of the plants- so let me know if you have any suggestions!

Rumex simpliciflorus Murb.

Asphodelus fistulosus L.

Fumaria

Erodium cicutarium (L.)

These daffodils dominated at the top of the mountain.

Narcissus romieuxii

Androcymbium punctatum Baker

Adenocarpus bacquei Batt. & Pitard

Aizoon canariense L.

Dipcadi serotinum

What awesome spines!

After a solid three and a half hours, we reached the summit!

2375 m (7792 ft)

Cyril, Chédid,  and I

Back to civilization! We didn’t cross a soul the entire hike.

Stay tuned for more about Morocco!