Depart by car from Marrakech around 8am for an exhilarating 2 hour drive south up to the Berber town of Imlil (1740m), set in the upper foothills of the High Atlas mountains; a main trailhead with streams and paths branching out in all directions. Here you will meet up with your guide to take a welcome glass of mint tea in the gite d'etape of our Head Guide prior to setting out towards the south. Your route will take you to the Berber villages of Aroumd (1843m) Taourirt, Targa, and Imoula, up and down the stark slopes with the Western High Atlas peaks of the Toubkal Massif before you.
Your guide will plan a stop at Aroumd to visit this rather singular village in the Assif n'Ait Mizane Valley, built seemingly house upon house on a large moraine spur, overlooking ancient irrigated terraced fields of fruit trees and vegetables. From here carry on to the equally-quaint Sidi Chamharouch, a Berber village set beside a waterfall and small stream, again with its pise homes seemingly built somewhat chaotically one into another. This village is a place of pilgrimage for devout Moslems and it is where there is a marabout shrine - forbidden to non-Moslems and said to be a relic of a pre-Islamic religious cult. Your guide will prepare your picnic, within full view of Jbel Toubkal, at 4167m the highest peak in the Maghreb, prior to setting off back down the other side of the valley back to Imlil for dinner and overnight in the Berber Gite d'etape.
