Trekking through the Atlas Mountains

The Atlas Mountain range separates the Sahara Desert from the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea and spans the countries of Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. The highest peak is called Toubkal and lies in Morocco at 13,600 ft. While we didn’t hike to this peak, our trekking tour took us through the High Atlas Mountains close by it on a 6-day?Atlas Mountains Trekking Tour.

So it was after the conclusion of our?11-day Classic Morocco tour, which ended in Marrakech, four of us from the larger group stayed on, along with our guide, and drove about 90 minutes from the city to hike to a waterfall and then have lunch at an amazing place where you sit right by the gushing river coming from the waterfall.

The restaurants went on for miles and miles along the river and our observation was that it was mostly local families enjoying some leisure time in an affordable environment because there was no corporate involvement in running these restaurants and eateries.

Over the next few days, we hiked deeper into the Atlas Mountains as our multi-day trekking program moved along. The contrast between the green valleys and the arid mountains was stunning. The Berber people (descendants of the pre-Arab inhabitants) have for centuries been the stewards of the mountains, mostly living a nomadic lifestyle and lots of their villages dotted the canyons and ravines. Daily life hadn’t seemed to change much for hundreds of years in these villages; the locals working the irrigated terraces that rise high on the slopes of the valleys, the sound of roosters in the morning, school children playing in the afternoon, and goats bellowing into the evenings mixed in with the rhythmic drum beats and flutes of Berbers in celebration & ritual. The Berbers even have their own unique language dating back to the 4th?century BC, and many of them today also speak Arabic and French.

We stayed in rustic full-service guest houses, run by Berber innkeepers. Our luggage was transferred for us each day by mules, so we didn’t have to wear big heavy backpacks. Additionally, we had a couple mules and muleteers walking with us each day on the trail just in case the hiking got too difficult, and we just wanted to take a “Berber Uber” to get to our next guest house.

The Atlas Mountains seemed to always be politely in our faces wherever we turned. They are majestic and formidable. One of the trekkers on the tour:?Unstoppable Stacey, said they reminded her of the Dolomites in Italy. While I haven’t been to the Dolomites, I suspect if you want a Dolomite type of trekking experience that’s less expensive, less crowded, and comes with an authentic cultural immersion – Morocco’s Atlas Mountains are a superb choice.