No visit to Morocco could be complete without a little Marrakech mountain adventure

As exciting as the Marrakech streets are, we decided to leave the hustle and bustle for a day, and booked a guide to take us into the mountains.. 4x4camel.com had the highest rating for a Marrakech mountain Adventure on Trip Advisor, so we called and made a reservation for the next morning… What an absolute treat..

The Itinerary (from 4x4camel.com):

We depart around 9 a.m. from your hotel in Marrakech . We head towards the Atlas Mountains where we cross several villages before driving along the Ourika valleys. It is a real narrow mountain valley with villages either side. Along the way, we stop at the Women Argan Oil Cooperative. This is the opportunity to discover this unique native nut from Morocco producing fantastic cooking and cosmetic oil after a quite labour intensive process. The cooperative is also a way of generating income and self-esteem for some woman in the surrounding villages.

Then we have a mint tea pause by the mountain stream before heading off-road on the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. we take that route at leisurely pace and stop whenever you want for a photo opportunity or to give school furniture to the children we meet along the way. If we happen to be a day where it is farmer’s market in one village we would stop in the morning to visit it. It is often an eye opener for many visitors

Lunch setting is in a traditional Berber village with stunning views . You will be serve homemade organic food: tomato salad, chicken tagine, couscous, and fruits. If you are vegetarian this can be cater for with 24 hours notice. After lunch, we head off for the greener Asni valley where orchards line the route. You can also admire Mount Toubkal: the highest peak in Northern Africa culminating at 4167 metres, and often snow-capped.

The Recap:

The entire trip was amazing… Our Berber guide, Aziz, spoke perfect English, was very funny, and was able to give us real insight into everyday life of the many Berber communities… We were lucky enough to visit the weekly Berber market, a sprawling one-day pop-up market that on first look would have been too intimidating to try on our own, complete with a barber/dentist and donkey parking lot… It was really like walking back into time… We even stopped for a camel ride, and the day was capped off with an incredible Tagine and Couscous lunch in the home of a village Imam… Much too wonderful to describe in words, we took plenty of photos and video:

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