4 Day Trekking to Toubkal Massif in the Atlas Mountains

You will be picked up from your hotel in Marrakech at 0900h (09:00 am). You will travel in a private car accompanied by an English-speaking guide.

You will take an exhilarating drive through the winding road and Moulay Brahim Gorges of the Upper Valley. Here we alight from our vehicle and meet up with our Berber muleteer crew. We set off from 1740m up in a south-westerly direction for a 2 hour acclimatisation hike along mule tracks to the Tizi n'Tacht (2000m), where we shall stop for a field picnic and to admire the surrounding valleys and peaks.

In the afternoon take a slow hike for about 3 hours southwest down along mule tracks to the red clay village of Tizziane (1700m). Here we will enjoy dinner and find our campsite for the night.

After breakfast we now set off on an interesting 3 hour hike up along the Assif n'Ouissedene Valley. We will pass through almond groves and several Berber villages, to the hamlet of Tissi Oussem (1800m) and the Âazib Tamsoult (2250m), where we'll stop for our field picnic.

In the afternoon we hike for a further 2 hours to the Tamsoult Cascade (2204m), then back down for another hour to the Âazib for dinner and overnight at a campsite 2700m above the Assif n'Ouarzane Valley.

After breakfast, we set out eastwards on a moderately difficult hike up winding mule tracks to the Tizi Aguelzim (3104m) with our field picnic taken en route. In the afternoon a further 3 hours south-east to the Toubkal (ex Neltner) Refuge which marks the spring snowline at 3207m, where we shall have our dinner and camp for night.

A very early breakfast to set out around 5am., to the lure of a spectacular sunrise and attain, after a three hour steep climb, the highest peak in the Maghreb (4167m). The panorama from here is simply stunning. This remarkable climb and view is what you have come so far for. The first recorded climb of this peak, in 1923, was made by the French mountaineers V. Berger, M. Doubleau and the Marquis de Segonzae; many serious trekkers since then have made the highly rewardable effort. Whenever you are ready, we shall take the Ikkhibi Sud or South Cirque for a straightforward – with your guide - 2 to 3 hour descent back to the Refuge for a picnic. Should there be intrepid hikers who prefer to “do” this peak in winter, morning fog and snow levels might preclude reaching the summit. In this event, we shall advise you, prior to setting out from Marrakech, of an alternative peak climb nearby.

We shall now set off towards the north along steeply descending, zigzagging trails of the higher slopes of the Valley of the Assif n’Isouhouanem n’Ouagounss towards the Berber village of Sidi Chamharouch (3106m). Set beside a waterfall, with its homes surprisingly built one into the other, it is yet another sight to be enjoyed. There is a pilgrimage ‘marabout’ shrine here, probably the remnant of a pre-Islamic culture, but forbidden to non-Muslims and, on leaving the village, we shall notice a tree, sacred to the local Berbers, where they hang strips of coloured cloth and pile up stones as we descend high above the valley of the Assif Mizane, down zigzagging trails around granite and basalt grey rocks for about 8km.to the remarkable village of Aroumd (Aremd) (1840m), built on a spur of rock commanding one of the more fertile valleys of the High Atlas mountains with terraced, irrigated plots and fields of maize, onions and fruit trees on all sides. Here we shall stop for our field picnic prior to continuing on along the floor of the valley, thence up a well-defined mule track zigzagging above the river for some 4km. to arrive, finally, in the late afternoon at around 5., after a long day’s activity, at the Berber village of Imlil (1740m), with its paths and streams branching off in all directions, to enjoy a glass of mint tea - or three - at the gîte d’étape of our senior guide before rejoining our vehicle at around 4.30 to take us back to Marrakech.