High Atlas

Thurs 8/2/24

Today our journey would cover from Toudra Gorge to the High Atlas, which is about 230 km . It took a while (about 5 hours) to reach our destination today as the road conditions is not good, however we were rewarded with stunning views. We chose the route as we did not want to repeat the same route back to Marrakech to go back to Casablanca where we would eventually fly out.

We left Toudra Gorge after breakfast and drove towards the High Atlas at Ait Tamelil. We drove through a different route this time, through narrow village roads. Then we entered the mountain road R307 near Ghassate. The road condition here is really bad so we had to drive really slowly. It was just a 52 km stretch but took about 2 hours. However the view of the mountains was really beautiful. We did not encounter any Gendermarie today, perhaps our route today was too remote and far from town.

village road

no other vehicles around

start of the mountain road

mountain view

mountain view

by the mountain road

mountain view

rocky mountain road

a villager with donkey passing by

river by the road

blossom tree by the road

bad road condition

bad road

We finally arrived at our accommodation at Guest House Imdoukal, booked through booking.com at EUR 31 (RM 162) with breakfast. Our room was basic, but Abdul, our host was really friendly who made our stay more enjoyable. We tipped him 100 MAD for his hospitality.

our basic room

We had a long chat with him about the village, the recent earthquake at the village and Morocco. We were served walnuts and mint tea during check in. After having tea, Abdul brought us the nearby river and explained about the farming mechanism there where villagers can herd their animals like sheep and graze for grass /food at Abdul's family farm. In return, Abdul's family gets to keep the sheep's offspring. He and his family plants all kinds of vegetable on the family farm such as brinjal, carrot, potato, cucumber and pumpkin which were served in our dinner of lamb tagine and lamb couscous. Our dinner portion was huge for the 2 of us, which cost MAD 200. We were also served with harira soup with walnut made spoon and fruits for dessert. They were really good. 

walnut and mint tea

Abdul's family garden and our accomodation

nearby river

villager at the river

mountain and river

mountain and Abdul's family garden view from our room balcony

harira soup

lamb couscous

lamb tagine

our dinner 

We chatted some more with Abdul after dinner and then excused ourselves to retire for the night. There was also no heating in the room so we had to use the blankets to withstand the cold of the night. There was hot shower though. Tomorrow would be a long journey back to Casablanca.

our breakfast