Tizi n'Tichka Pass and Aroumd

Tizi n'Tichka Pass.

Rachid and Samir.

Part of the trail to our accommodation.

Aroumd.

An overloaded truck (they tried to get me to pay for taking the photo).

Locals and the usual mode of transport in these hills.

Hussein's gite.

Friday, September 22^nd.

I woke up feeling better but not perfect. I took a couple of photos of the Kasbah from the terrace of our guesthouse before we boarded the van for another day. We had a long day of driving today as we were driving into the High Atlas Mountains for the next two nights. We left the Sahara and drove for about five hours up to and over the spectacular Tizi n'Tichka Pass (2,260 metres above sea level) to Toubkal National Park.

The road was narrow and winding as we climbed up and over a couple of passes. We stopped at a lookout where you could see the the switchbacks of the road as it wound its way through the rocks. As we drove along we saw a number of small villages perched on the cliffs and hills of the mountains and and fertile green fields in the valley where they were growing orchard crops.

In the late afternoon we arrived at a small town in a touristy area in the national park. This town is used as a launching point for many excursions, hikes and climbs by foreign tourists and local Moroccans, up into the High Atlas in and around Mt Toubkal (4167 metres), the third highest mountain in Africa (Kilimanjaro is the tallest). In the winter season these mountains and some of the valleys get snow covered. The temperature here was much cooler than the last couple of days.

We had to leave our van here and most of our luggage in a hotel lockup. We organized our stuff and just took a day pack each. Just when we were about to start our trek it began to rain. We all scrambled into our packs again for rain gear and then started. The rain didn't amount to much and we didn't need the gear.

We hiked for about an hour up a narrow path that switchbacked up to our gite (a Berber family run guesthouse) for the night. Our host Hussein had been an Intrepid guide for three years and then decided to run a guesthouse. Since they he has hosted Intrepid groups and others that seek an authentic experience and an opportunity to stay in the High Atlas Mountains. We had a traditional Berber dinner of vegetable soup, chicken tagine, dates and fruit.

After dinner the whole group climbed a couple of floors to the terrace for a night cap (most of the group had brought drinks from the village below, I didn't feel up to that). We were joined by two Canadians from Halifax, a doctor and his wife, George and Patty. I got talking to them and he gave me an antibiotic that would clear up my intestinal problem. We had a good talk about his job and traveling. Then we all retired.

Our accommodations were shared, with Andrew joining Wim and I and all of the four rooms shared a small common area and one toilet and shower for the ten of us. But it was quite comfortable, cozy and the family were very hospitable and we made do.