The valley was hemmed in by sheer rocks, but ascents were gentle and our trickiest challenge was to cross the river as it swung across the plain. As in the old Toubkal days, we slept on mattresses on the floor.Next morning, while the mules were loaded, we walked ahead along a track that followed the Ait Bougmez river. Our muleteers were especially happy, as we’d arranged for their mules to be lightly loaded so they could also carry tired children.We spent the night in Agouti, the sort of village where nothing stirs between sundown and sunrise. What’s more, muleteers find lugging camping gear for walkers a good earner, and a break from the drudgery of carting supplies for locals. The secret lies in the simplicity of the arrangements – and the availability of mules.In the mountains here, these beasts are the only viable way to carry loads, so the more remote you are, the easier it is to find four-legged transport. No country I know is so well set up for family adventures. Families Worldwide, which runs this trip, rates it as a medium challenge – there are some long walks, but no sheer climbs.There are places where the notion of trekking with children is a nightmare, but Morocco shouldn’t be one of them. We were two families – two couples and four children aged from 7 to 14 – and ahead of us was a four-day walk up the valley and over the shoulder of M’Goun’s lower slopes. “Welcome to the happy valley,” said our guide, Mohamed Aztat, when we stepped out into this Arcadian landscape next morning. Below was a vision of such extraordinary calm and beauty that we stopped to stare: an enchanted valley hemmed in by precipitous mountains, its green floor embroidered with a broad, meandering thread of gold. It’s not much more than 100 miles from Marrakesh, but it can take the best part of a day to get there – especially if, like us, you linger over breakfast in your riad and stop for lunch at the Cascades d’Ouzoud, memorable for the daring of the Barbary apes and the beauty of the waterfalls.īy the time we wound up towards the M’Goun peak, late sun was bronzing the foothills of the Atlas. So, where to go without fear of bumping into your neighbour? People told me I should look up a mountain called M’Goun.Īt 13,356ft, just 309ft short of Jebel Toubkal, M’Goun still feels remote. Richard Branson owns a kasbah in the shadow of the mountain. Villages that could not be reached by road in the 1990s are now accessible by car and studded with television antennae. Sleeping options were simple, too: either bring your own sleeping bag or throw down Berber blankets.Ĭheap flights and Marrakesh’s racing popularity have changed things. From there, you trekked up Jebel Toubkal, North Africa’s highest mountain, to see something of the great unknown. It was a village called Imlil, a 90-minute drive out of Marrakesh. The back of beyond used to be easy to find. It does not store any personal data.In Morocco’s mountainsThere’s solitude high up in the Atlas Mountains – only your guide, your mule and a few excited locals will know you’re there The cookie is set by the GDPR Cookie Consent plugin and is used to store whether or not user has consented to the use of cookies. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Performance". This cookie is set by GDPR Cookie Consent plugin. The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Other. The cookies is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Necessary". The cookie is set by GDPR cookie consent to record the user consent for the cookies in the category "Functional". The cookie is used to store the user consent for the cookies in the category "Analytics". These cookies ensure basic functionalities and security features of the website, anonymously. Necessary cookies are absolutely essential for the website to function properly.
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