Pre-Trek Briefing:
The Mountain Toubkal : .
Day 1: MARRAKECK - SETTI FADMA- TIMICHI
After breakfast we will drive towards the High Atlas Mountains through the beautiful Ourika valley to reach the little riverside village of Setti Fatma where we meet up with our trekking team of muleteers, cook and mules, we strike out upon the far side of the river, through 100-year-old walnut trees for some 30 minutes to visit the six, sometimes seven cascades. Returning via the first of these waterfalls, we swing back via Setti Fadma’s twin village of Zaouia Mohammed to take our picnic in the village. Suitably refreshed, we now start the serious part of our hike of between 5 and 6 hours towards the west along the western branch of the valley, the Adrarn’Oukaïmeden and JbelAngour in front of us, drawing us like a magnet past streams flowing from the upper slopes, through the tiny hillside villages of Isghouarne, Agadir n’AïtBoulmane, Tadrart, Tiourdiou and Izouggaghene with their cornfields, terraced irrigated plots and groves of orange and olive trees, to finally arrive at the village of Timichchi, set amongst ancient walnut trees, where we shall have our Berber dinner and accommodation for the night in the home of a Berber family. 5 to 6h walking. .
Day 2: TIMICHI- TACHEDIRTE
After an early breakfast we start our morning’s superb 2 hour hike towards the west along well-defined mule trails in the lush upper valley to the Berber village of Iaabassene (2,030m), set beside a spring. From here we traverse the rocky lower levels of the Tizi n’Tacheddirt (3,200m) of mighty Jbel Angour range (3,616m), the stunning panorama of Adrar n’Ineghmar (3,892m), Jbels Bou Iguenouane (3,882m) and Aksouâl (3,842m) in all their immense glory before us. We’ll stop for our field picnic after some 2½ hours incredible hiking before setting out once more for a further 2 hours down to the terraced village of pisé homes called Tacheddirt (2,291m), set amongst terraced, irrigated fields clawed out over the centuries from the surrounding mountainside. Tacheddirt is easily the oldest and quaintest of all the Berber villages in the Toubkal Massif. Tonight, we’ll relax and enjoy our dinner and accommodation in a Berber gîte d’étape set amidst some awesome countryside. 6 to 7h walking..
Day 3: TACHEDIRT - AZIB LEKEMT
We begin a long, slow ascent to the pass at Tizi Likemt (3,555m). The going is quite tough as there is a considerable amount of loose scree on the ground. At the top we enjoy our first fine view of the Toubkal massif before a long downhill descent to the village of Azib Likemt, where we camp for the night..