M'Goun's Gorges, Wild Landscape & Ait Bou Guemes Valleys  Duration:   7 days / 6 nights

DAY 1: MARRAKECH - AZILAL - AÏT MEHAMMED - TIZI N’AÏT ABBES - AGOUTI.
Departure from your hotel around 10 in the morning for a really pleasant drive towards the east, through part of an extensive palmeraie, then between the rocky, sparsely-populated foothills of the Western High Atlas mountains and the more verdant Middle Atlas range to the crenellated pisé-walled market town of Demnate, with its kasbah and ancient Mellah - or Jewish Quarter - and massed olives groves. From here we follow the winding road up past a scattered hill-top collection of agadirs set amidst the almond trees and irrigated fields of Aït Taguella. It has taken us some 3 hours to get here and we alight from our vehicle to stretch our limbs for a walk through stands of olive and fig trees whilst our field picnic is being prepared before we climb up back to the top to rejoin our vehicle an hour later to continue our drive on to the Middle Atlas village of Azilal (1360m). We now turn to the south through the Tizi n’Aghbar into the western reaches of the hidden, isolated valley of Aït Bou Guemès , Morocco ’s “ Happy Valley .” Stark mountain slopes have given way to terraced irrigated fields of barley, potato and corn, shaded pastures watered by mountain streams, orchards of apple, peach and cherry, all overlooked by interlinked pisé hamlets of the Aït Isha Berber people. Arriving at the village of Aït Mehammad we now approach the Jbel Azourki (3690m) to turn, at Aït Abbès, towards the south-west down to the village of Agouti (1800m), where we shall leave our vehicle at around 14:00 for our overnight accommodation in a Berber gîte d’étape. Time to walk around this trailhead village before our evening dinner and to rest up for the next few days’ adventure into the M’Goun wilderness.

DAY 2: AGOUTI - AÏT SAÏD - AROUSS - AAZIB IKISS.
After breakfast we set off around 9 o’clock with our mule team to join a narrow piste leading south into the Assif n’Arouss Valley and a seasonally slow moving stream for about an hour before the trail zigzags into the hamlet of Aït Saïd. From here you will see the mighty M’Goun summit, the furthest peak to the south. Continuing out of the hamlet, leaving the shade of the trees, we follow a path to a gentle stream some fifteen minutes further on. Moments later we enter another small hamlet called Arouss which is not marked on any map, here to picnic. Our path now leads into a narrow valley after fording the stream in the hamlet. Again the trail leads south onto a wide, rolling plain, which gives a real sense of scale of the M’Goun Massif. We reach the Âazib n’Ikiss to continue on to camp some 20 minutes further on by at around 3pm and, whilst our bivvy is being set up on flat ground at the Âazib Ikiss and our evening meal is prepared, there’s time to take in the breathtaking panorama of the M’Goun summit.

DAY 3: AAZIB IKISS - TIZI N’OUMSKIYQ - AGHOUOUIRI EST - TARKEDDID PLATEAU.
9am breakfast, bivvy packed we’re off now in a south-westerly direction hugging the western bank of the valley. The trail is at times hard to distinguish, but the route is obvious and the terrain, though rocky, is not too difficult. Our trail is steadily ascending to become quite steep until, about 40 minutes later, this valley meets another leading towards the west. Our path through a valley now thickly coated with juniper bushes starts to zigzag steeply to a col – Tizi n’Oumskiyq (2909m) - field picnic en-route - after which it continues to climb towards the south. As our trail gets closer to the Tizi Aghououiri Est (3400m) it becomes quite steep. After crossing this col we have in fact traversed the Jbel Tarkeddid which faces the Irhil M’Goun. Our path now descends towards the Plateau in tight zigzags in a generally south-south-westerly direction – watch your footing – to see a deep gorge before us. The path continues to zigzag downwards over loose rocks for about an hour before levelling out onto this Plateau. We shall walk across the flat, fertile plateau until we reach our bivouac site after some 6 hours’ steady hiking for the night and a welcome dinner amidst some awesome surroundings.

DAY 4: TARKEDDID PLATEAU - IRHIL M’GOUN SUMMIT - AROUSS GORGE - TIZI N’OUMSOUD - OULILIMT.
6am breakfast, though perhaps earlier as, even on a perfect summer’s morning of calm weather and sunshine the weather could turn bad immediately after noon . Your experienced mountain guide will take the decision before setting out up to an almost obscured Tizi to hike now downhill in zigzags to an almost flat stretch that gives the impression of being a valley floor. We keep on steadily for a further 50 minutes when the trail suddenly starts to ascend steeply up the east side of the extensive valley before reaching a false summit. The trail here is clear but loose-stoned to become easier underfoot as it ascends more gently to the south-east. Another 25 minutes takes us to a brow which marks the start of a steep-sided ridge. We shall follow the top of this ridge around the rim of a massive crater - take care: the ridge is narrow and there’s always some wind about. The M’Goun summit is clearly visible to the east as the ridge levels out, with magnificent views of the Anti-Atlas and M’Goun Valley. We follow the ridge for a further 20 minutes when we start a 20-minute climb to another brow. The ridge continues and the summit is still clearly visible, now to the north-east. This stretch is not for the faint-hearted, but is simply a must for serious hikers. Just 20 minutes more along it we come to a final steep section of ascent to the summit (4068m/13,343ft), the second highest peak in North Africa, the fourth highest in all of Africa, after Jbel Toubkal, Mounts Kilimanjaro and Kenya. What better spot for a picnic? Down now to the huge Arouss Gorge and the valley floor and a section of flat-bottomed valley with a stream until we come to the Tizi n’Oumsoud (2969m), offering us wonderful views of the wide Tinoughrine Valley . Our trail descends steeply but quickly levels out through a narrow corridor to the broad valley floor of the Assif Oulilimt. A further 35 minutes takes us to a point at which the valley suddenly becomes very narrow, almost closing. Before this lies a wide, soft area of meadow at the centre of which springs a water-source. No shade around, but it is her, at around 5pm , where we set up camp for the night and our welcome dinner.

DAY 5: OULILIMT - TEGHREMT N’AÏT AHMED.
9am breakfast, before setting out on a short, again attractive, easy stage as it follows the Oulilimt Valley. We trek uphill from the valley floor for some 20 minutes to go down for a further 20 minutes to cross the wide valley with some weird vertical rock formations and up to a low col. Down now for a further 15 minutes to yet another stream and on to explore a series of relatively isolated Berber hamlets. Berber hospitality being what it is, you’ll probably be invited to share mint tea along the way. Following the Oulilimt River which has carved a route through the dominant valley – you should bring sandals or trainers to follow the path through the waters – we arrive at around 3pm at Tighremt N’Aït Ahmed (2235m), a bizarre, organic- looking dwelling which appears to have grown out of the floodplain. It is around this giant sandcastle that we set up our bivvy site for the night. There’s even a small “shop” nearby where an enterprising Berber will sell you a Coke or two before settling down to our evening’s meal.

DAY 6: TEGHREMT N’AÏT AHMED - TIZI N’AÏT IMI - AÏT IMI - TABANT.
8am breakfast to set out on this varied stage which includes a steep ascent and a long descent into the Aït Bou Guemès Valley . We turn to the north-west into a smaller valley where the trail leads west. The col towards which we are heading, Tizi n’Aït Imi, is clearly visible. Some 40 minutes hiking takes us to the Âazib Tighratine, where our trail splits. We head north-north-west up a gentle incline along the north side of the valley. The trail begins to meander more towards the north-west as it begins to zigzag more steeply up to the col where the path divides. When we finally reach Tizi n’Aït Imi (2905m) we shall see from this height both the M’Goun and Aït Bou Guemès Valleys . The views here are exceptional to clearly illustrate the fertile Aït Bou Guemès and the raw M’Goun. Here we shall picnic by a water-source. We can make out Tabant, our goal, on a clear day. Our descent is steep and over loose scree until we reach a small reservoir some 90 minutes later. From here we head north-west towards the bright, fertile valley floor on which Tabant sits. Some 35 minutes takes us to the hamlet of Aït Imi (1900m) and the cultivated fields of the Aït Bou Guemès valley to reach the village of Tabant (1850m, one of the more appealing trailheads in the Atlas Mountains , our accommodation in a Berber house and our evening meal.

DAY 7: TABANT - AGOUTI - CASCADES D’OUZZOUD - MARRAKECH.
Breakfast at 8am to set off now in our vehicle back to Marrakech, passing through Agouti, Azilal, on through to Aït Taguella where we turn up to the verdant natural site of the renowned Cascades d’Ouzzoud. It has taken us some 2 hours to get here and we alight from our vehicle to stretch our limbs for a walk down through stands of olive and fig trees to the waterfall and small lake. The falls consist of several streams that crash 100m into a pool, causing a shifting rainbow and, with any luck, we’ll get to see troops of the Barbary Ape on the lakeshore before we climb up back to the top to rejoin our vehicle an hour later to continue our drive on to Marrakech, arriving there at around 4:30 at the end of a particularly exciting adventure into the contrasting valleys, gorges, mountains and tribal villages of the Irhil M’Goun.