7 Day Trek Zaouit Ahansal

When you arrive in Marrakech you can spend your free time as you please. At 7.30 am we will start our trekking tour by heading to the village of Zawyat Ahansal located at 1595 m in the High Atlas Mountains. The journey is quite beautiful, with stunning views of the Moroccan countryside.

Today we’ll meet our mule and muleteer team, ready for our trek. We’ll leave early in the morning and start hiking up to the Wadi Ahançal by following the gorge until we get to Taghia where we’ll make our camp for the night at 1890m.

Our mules and muleteers will leave us today. It is impossible for the mules to make a 900-metre ascent so they will stay where they are. We will be trekking for around 4 hours and during that time we will cross bridges normally used by shepherds and enjoy the beautiful panoramic view of the valley and the Taghia Gorge. When we make camp for the night it will be in a bivouac at 900m, and it will be near to the source of the Ilmchane and to nomad camps. Please be aware that the nights here can be a little cool in the summer.

When we rise, we will travel until find we ourselves in the pastures of the Ait Atta nomads with their herds of sheep, goats and camels. We will spend some time with them and perhaps have a taste of their ‘wiski’, a type of tea served with mint. We will take our lunch at 3034 m in Tizi-n-Tighboula, before we trek up to our bivouac site at Aqqa Elaz.

We will continue our trekking tour across the Atlas Mountain highlands toward Izourar Lake, a beautiful part of Morocco that is frequented by the Ait Atta nomads. Along the way, we can take in the views and landscapes of the Draa Valley and the Skoura Oasis. A lunch time, we can catch our breath and eat in the shade of the juniper trees, surrounded by a splendid view of the Ait Bougumez Valley and its mountains. After lunch, we’ll trek our way down to camp in the valley’s basin where we will sleep for the night.

Our trek will take on a completely different character in the Ait Bougmez Valley. We’ll find ourselves in lush green surroundings that contrast with the epic aridity of the Moroccan high plains and plateaus. The valley is green all year around and as we hike through the landscape, we will meet local people and hopefully learn a bit about their lifestyle and their culture. When we reach the cottage that we will be staying in for the night, you will be able to have a hot shower and a rest. We will descend around 550 metres over the course of the day.

Today our trek will take us out of Berber country and back to the city of Marrakech. We will leave the beautiful and wild landscapes beind in the morning and arrive back in the town in the afternoon. Then we will transfer you back to the airport.