Day Hikes from Fez
The Middle Atlas Cedar Forest Ecosystem
LEVEL OF DIFFICULTY
GRADE ONE - WALKING MOSTLY ON TRACKS AT LOWER LEVELS, SOMETIMES ROCKY, OFTEN FLAT, FOR ABOUT 6 HOURS EACH DAY. GOOD TRAINERS WOULD DO, BUT TAKE BOOTS IF YOU ARE USED TO THEM. FOR ANYONE WHO LEADS A REASONABLY ACTIVE LIFE. HIKING ALWAYS INVOLVES SOME EFFORT.
ITCTFES07 - departures: daily (5 hours hike)
Departure from Fes at around 9 in the morning for an exciting 2hours' drive towards the south and to the most remote and beautiful country in the foothills of the Middle Atlas. After some 30 minutes, we pass by the Kandar Massif (1768m) to arrive at the small 1920s French-built hill station of Immouzèr du Kandar (1220m), perched on the limestone edge of the Saïss Plateau. Translated from the Berber language, Immouzèr du Kandar means 'Cultivated Valley', and is also taken from the name of a holy man who has a shrine built in his memory in this region. Here we may pause for a while by the ruined kasbah of the Aït Seghrouchen to look at the little medina and visit the few remaining, yet still-inhabited troglodyte homes, before continuing on up for a while to turn off onto a secondary road through to the village of Aïn Leuh (The Spring in the Woods), an old souq of the Beni M'Guild Berber tribe located in a ravine some 95kms. south of Fes, having driven along a winding road through rolling hillsides to see storks nesting on nearby rooftops. We carry on up to the crest, with its rich stands of towering cedar, past the old saw-mill of Ajaabou to the bouldered Valley of Tisfoula, where we'll come across some mysteriously mushroom-shaped rock formations.
From here, at some 1700m. we start our winding downhill walk through the Royal Park of Kissarite, which King Hassan II had made into his private boar-hunting preserve. This secluded part of the Atlas Mountains was relatively undisturbed by the early 20th. century French settlers, given the war-like nature of the mountain Berber, so the old balance between rough pasture and silent forest remains virtually intact. We stroll silently through ancient cedar, tall juniper, pine, holm and cork oak to the muted sounds of the Levaillant woodpecker and ever-present bulbul to emerge from this important ecosystem into fields near the summit of Jbel ElKissarite (2008m) and reenter the forest of juniper, thurifer spruce, larch, cedar and pine.
We shall stop en-route for our picnic in a shaded glade before continuing our easy walk on down to the sounds of the waters of the Oued Ifrane, past stands of strawberry tree, box-tree and holly and, in season, the large variety of orchids, peony and carpets of violets, thyme clumps and sawgrass. We may just surprise small troops of Barbary Ape sitting in the clearings, feeding off the bark or foraging for insect-life. Passing alongside the Jbel Tizmourine we traverse stands of black and white poplars, clumps of pink laurel and pine down to the pisé-homed hamlet of Zaouiat d'Ifrane (1224m), overshadowed by stark cliffs and waterfalls, here to take a welcome glass or two of mint tea in a Berber family's home.
These cliffs at Zaouiat d'Ifrane were once used as agadirs (fortified granaries) wherein were stored the precious harvests of corn and barley, together with the few personal possessions of the individual families, to be hidden from the marauding plains Berber. When ready, around 5 in the evening, we get back on our transportation for our trip back to the most ancient of the Imperial Cities.
Costs per person:
(minimum 2 persons) |
£125 |
(4 persons) |
£83 pp |
Our price includes:
Experienced, licensed, bi-lingual mountain guide throughout. Round trip transportation Fes - Tisfoula Valley/Zaouiat d'Ifrane - Fes. Light picnic lunch.
Picnic lunch - fresh Moroccan salad, cheese, tinned tuna fish*, bread, fruit, mint tea.
* If vegetarian or vegan, please pre-advise.
Our prices do not include:
Personal medical or accident insurance. Any expenditure of a personal nature. Bottled or gaseous water, nor anything not specifically mentioned in the itinerary. Gratuity to guide.
It is recommended that you bring:
Good trainers or walking boots. Hat, sunscreen, sunglasses, nibbles, filled water bottle, binoculars, hygienic 'wipes'.
NB: 48 hours' notice is required when booking for 3 or more persons, given the scarcity of minibuses in Fes.
Tel: (08707) 406 306
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