DISCOVER SOUTHERN MOROCCO
MARRAKECH - THE HIGH ATLAS - THE SAHARA
Operated by a specialist tour operator with 20 years experience
After many years only organising tours for previously formed groups Discover Ltd is returning to running a couple of tours each year that individuals can join. There will only be 2 tours each year one in the Spring and one in the Autumn - the most pleasant times to visit southern Morocco. Add ons for people wishing to prelong their stay can be arranged - including the possibility of ascending Jbel Toubkal or a relaxing few days on the coast at Essaouira
Marrakech
The first morning in Marrakech answers the question a thousand ways as you tour this bustling Berber/Arab city in a caleche - a horse-drawn carriage. African sunshine competes with the bright colours of hand made products displayed in the doorways of countless little workshops. The traditional red-wash of the houses and city walls glow in the sunlight. Mosques, the king's magnificent palaces and grand mansions rise above earth-walled houses in picturesque alleys which look medieval and probably are. The people of all these dwellings rub tolerant, friendly shoulders with each other and with you in the spice-scented maze of the great souk or on Marrakech's famed square, the Jemaa el Fna. The contrasts and cultural surprises of those first few hours are repeated with kaleidoscopic variations as you explore more of the city and its environment.
The Kashah du Toubkal and The High Atlas
Marrakech's backdrop is the snow-capped High Atlas. Our centre, The Kashah du Toubkal is 45 miles away in the village of Imlil in the heart of the mountains, where the tinkle of goat bells replaces the city's hubbub. Enter the walled outer courtyard, where the mules unload, for a warm welcome from Omar and his wife Arkia and their staff, then explore the Berber interior - pure medieval with handy 20th Century touches. Up on the roof, there are stunning mountain panoramas on every side. So impressive is the scenery that Martin Scorsese, the film director chose Imlil and The Kasbah to depict Tibet in the film Kundun, about the Dalai Lama, temporarily transforming The Kasbah into a Tibetan monastery. The area has excellent walks at all standards. Omar will guide you and arrange mules to carry your daysack, picnic and you, if you get weary! Imlil is also the start of the most popular approach for the ascent of Jbel Toubkal.
The Sahara
Beyond the Atlas lies the Sahara. We go almost as far as the road allows to Zagora and after a dip in the hotel swimming pool explore the dune-surrounded villages of this oasis town. The finale is an optional camel trek out into the desert for an unforgettable evening of food and song under the stars before waking to the dawn in a Tuareg tent.
Why Travel with Discover Ltd?
Our experience:
Discover have worked in Southern Morocco and The High Atlas for nearly 20 years. In 1989 we started the process which led to the development of our own Study Centre "The Kasbah du Toubkal" . Our contacts, resources and specialised knowledge enable us to organise a range of tours tours which include:
The tours will appeal to the discerning traveller who wishes to gain a real insight into this fascinating country but realises the difficulty of achieving this in a limited period of time without good local knowledge and contacts. Participants need to be in good health capable of walking but there is no need to be especially fit as any activity of a particularly arduous nature will be optional.
Discover offers a personal friendly service we are fully bonded members of ABTA, ATOL and SAGTA. The tours are limited to a maximum of 13 participants plus a Discover leader to ensure personal attention.
DISCOVER SOUTHERN MOROCCO
10 Day Tour For The Discerning Traveller
Marrakech ~ High Atlas ~ Pre-Sahara
Marrakech
Discover's most popular tour, the result of 20 years' experience in Morocco, begins in the enchanting and ancient city of Marrakech, the most southerly and famous of Morocco's four Imperial cities. Here, within massive red-washed walls, on streets lined with orange trees and in the labyrinth of the souk, a great mixture of Arab, Berber, black African and European influences has created what is arguably Africa's most exciting and romantic city. To the south, beyond the encircling palm trees and the olive and orange groves of the Haouz plain, the snow-topped peaks of the High Atlas rear up, a breathtaking and unforgettable backdrop.
Marrakech was founded in 1060 and has twice been the capital of Morocco. Its importance and prestige in earlier centuries derived principally from its role as entrepot for trade across the Atlas with lands south of the Sahara.
The first day in Marrakech begins with a tour by horse-drawn caleche taking in the kasbah quarter, the mellah, the medina and a tannery. Then on foot with our Marrakech guide we explore "The Souk". Properly speaking this is a mosaic of many souks each devoted to a separate trade, including: pottery, woodwork, coppersmithing, leather, slippers and carpets, and the apothecaries' souk where we usually visit a spice shop. Afterwards we head back to the centre to the Jemaa el Fna - Marrakech's famous square, which is the city's living theatre, where milling throngs of people watch displays by musicians, dancers, storytellers, boxers, snake-charmers and more besides, and all put on for the benefit of Marrakechis, not the tourists. Stalls sell freshly-squeezed orange juice, peanuts and roasted chick peas, while cooking smells waft from stalls selling soup, kebabs, and grilled fish among other weird and wonderful local delicacies.
Imlil and the High Atlas
After Marrakech we travel into the High Atlas Mountains, now the homeland of the Berbers, the original inhabitants of the whole of North Africa. These friendly, independent people have a way of life that has only recently begun to change as the services that we take for granted begin to arrive in the mountains. Here Berber, not Arabic is spoken and you will notice a difference in the appearance of the people and in the dress of, particularly, the women. Berber carpets, pottery, jewellery and cuisine will already be familiar from your wanderings in the souks of Marrakech, a city which, incidentally, they founded.
We travel by coach/minibus through the spectacular Reraia River gorge to the market village of Asni. Here we transfer to smaller vehicles for the final 12 miles of dirt road up the Ait Mizane valley to Imlil for the next stage of the tour at Discover's study centre/Auberge, The Kasbah du Toubkal.
Imlil not only marks the end of the road from Marrakech it is also the normal starting point for the trek up Jbel Toubkal, at 4165m (13,665ft) the highest mountain in North Africa.
The Kasbah is perched on a great rock outcrop above the village and those looking ahead will have seen it long before the vehicles arrived at Imlil. It is reached on foot up a steep path and your baggage will be brought up from the village car park by mule.
The word kasbah is applied both to single fortified houses and to the walled huddle of housing, sometimes quite large, which grew around such houses. Occasionally these larger kasbahs were themselves subsumed as a town grew up around them, as happened in Marrakech. The Kasbah at Imlil was built as a summer residence by a rich member of the Berber Glaoui tribe "Caid Souktani", once dominant throughout this region of the Atlas. A wall encircles the great outer courtyard which slopes up to the house itself, built on the remaining three sides of the rock outcrop.
The rooms inside, all furnished in Moroccan style, are clustered around a tiled inner courtyard which is open to the sky. Stairs lead to the large flat roof which offers spectacular views. All around rise the mountains and on the steep valley sides, among walnut groves and tiny terraced fields, are stepped clusters of mud-coloured houses. At the head of the valley to the south is the snow-capped peak of Toubkal, at 4165m (13,665ft), the highest mountain in North Africa.
So impressive is the scenery that film director Martin Scorsese chose Imlil as one of the locations for Kundun, his film about the Dalai Lama, temporarily transforming The Kasbah into a Tibetan monastery.
Over the mountains
The next stage of the tour is a coach/minibus journey across the Atlas to Zagora on the edge of the Sahara, stopping en route at Ouarzazate to break the journey.
We return to Asni and the Haouz Plain before turning onto route P 31 and heading up to the Tizi-n-Tichka Pass (2260m), after which the road begins a long winding descent to Ouarzazate and the desolate Anti Atlas. There is constant visual interest especially in the contrast between the green, irrigated areas of Berber cultivation and the barren mountainsides above. All along the roadside through the mountains you will also see stalls selling minerals and fossils, evidence of Morocco's fascinating geology, which has been described as "by far the most variegated geological smorgasbord in all north Africa".
Just before reaching Ouarzazate, we turn aside to visit the small town of Ait Ben Haddou which boasts one of the most dramatic kasbahs in the country. The ruined main house stands on top of a steep, small hill, the sides of which are covered with small houses and narrow alleys. Not surprisingly, it has been used as a set for about 20 films, including Lawrence of Arabia and Jesus of Nazareth. .
Continuing south the road soon climbs into the mountains again running alongside the astonishingly shaped Jbel Kissane, nicknamed by one geography teacher with Discover, "The Pavlova Mountain". The arid Anti Atlas landscape, which rarely gets rain, eventually gives way to the Draa Valley palmerie and the river itself, running alongside the road.
Most people are ready for the swimming pool among the palm trees at the hotel when we arrive in Zagora! Those with energy left climb the mountain behind the town to view the sunset over the palmerie. Mohammed, our guide for the whole of our time in and around Zagora, appears dressed in the blue robes of the desert man and patiently begins his never-ending task of teaching people how to fix on their desert headdress. The next day we visit the village of Tamegroute with its ancient Koranic library and wood-fired pottery. Then we investigate the village of Tinfou, a living workshop for trials of methods against sand encroachment, and the first chance to see sand dunes.
The camel ride (optional)
After lunch we return to Zagora and mount up on camels for a 2 to 3 hour ride into the desert for a night sleeping out in a Tuareg tent, surrounded by sand dunes. Sipping glass after glass of mint tea, watching bread being cooked on hot stones, eating a superb meal sitting cross-legged on carpets spread on the sand, listening to Berber music as Mohammed and the camelteers join the dancing, and falling asleep with the stars blazing brightly make this the highlight of the trip for many people.
The next day after returning to Zagora and taking another dip in the pool, we visit the nearby village of Amezrou with its Jewish kasbah. The Jews all left for Israel after 1948 but the silversmithing which they formerly controlled is carried on by Moroccans and we will see jewellery being cast.
An early start the following morning puts us back on the road to Marrakech where the souks await anyone who still has a souvenir or a present to buy, the Jemaa el-Fna seethes with life and a last feast awaits us at our hotel before departure from Marrakech airport the following morning.
Costs
Dates for 1998
Autumn tour: 13 -22 November 1998
Dates for 1999
Spring tour: 7 -16 May 1999 Autumn tour: 12 -21 November 1999
The next step
If you have any queries or wish to discuss your trip in more detail or wish to make a provisional booking that we will hold for you whilst you recruit your group please contact Jacquie Crofts at the Discover office. This link will take you to our email form .
Discover Ltd., Tel: +44 (0)1883 744392 Fax: +44 (0)1883 744913
"Timbers", Oxted Rd., Godstone Surrey RH9 8AD UK