Walking in Morocco’s High Atlas: Over the Tedli Saddle to the Azzaden Valley

On the Path
This was one of the few flat sections on the 12 kilometer (7 mile) hike from the Kasbah in Imlil to a lodge in the tiny village of Aït Aïssa. There is nothing easy about hiking in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco. But, the views are worth it!

Any visitor to these pages knows I love hiking.

But, if the truth be told, I don’t always love it while I’m doing it!

I discovered very quickly that there is nothing easy about hiking in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco. The ground is steep, covered in rubble, strewn in rubbish, and dotted with mule and donkey droppings. Even after the ‘moderate’ hike around the Imlil Valley (see: Walking Around Imlil Valley) the day before, I had been exhausted.

My guide – a guide is a necessity in these mountains – my guide had assured me I’d be fine on our second trek: a roughly (and rough!) 12 kilometer- (7 mile-) journey from the Kasbah where I was staying in Imlil to a lodge in tiny village of Aït Aïssa. But, Alltrails lists a similar route (see: Imlil – Tizi Oussem) as ‘challenging’. Even though they are talking about a full round-trip, and I was only going half way on a slightly longer route, I knew I’d struggle with the uphills.

And it’s almost all uphill!

I got off to a very slow start, cursing and grumbling constantly under my breath with every painful footfall; my guide was well ahead of me most of the way, and my mule was long gone. I stopped regularly: to catch my breath, to have some water, to take pictures, and to adjust my poor feet – which, in spite of wonderful boots, were cramping up.

So, I was not a happy trekker.

But the views were magnificent – and taking pictures every five minutes made a good excuse to let my blood pressure normalise.

When I arrived at my designated lunch stop, I was hot, tired, footsore – and about an hour late. I can’t really blame it on the altitude: my starting point in Imlil sits around 1,800 metres (5,900 ft) above sea level. According to my walking app, we gained 848 metres (2782 feet) across the whole trek, and lost almost the same!

Lunch – when I finally got it – was restorative: my muleteer had prepared the most wonderful Moroccan salad with finely diced vegetables, sliced cheese and tinned tuna. Naturally, there were olives. Plus, a hot dish of beans – and more importantly, coffee.

The second half of the walk was easier, and even included some downhill sections to test my thighs and knees. I dragged myself into the Azzaden Trekking Lodge only half an hour behind the ‘average’ time. But, I was exhausted, and wondering how I would ever get myself up the stairs for dinner!

I’ve done all the hard work: come along and enjoy the scenery:

Mount Toubkal in morning light from Kasbah du Toubkal, Imlil Morocco.

Morning in The Kasbah
The sun has reached North Africa’s highest peak, the mighty Toubkal (4167 m – 13671 ft) in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Our garden, below, still sits in shadows as I make my way to the dining room for my pre-trek breakfast. (iPhone15Pro)

Back Down to Imlil Valley
It feels as if I’m getting nowhere – just one foot after the other, slowly. But, just half an hour after starting, the valley is already stretching out behind us.

Mule and Handler
The occasional narrow road winds between villages as we cut steeply up the slope on walking trails and goat tracks.

Pack Mule

The Rocky Path
The narrow path leads ever higher, …

Pine Cones
… into pine forests. Aleppo (Pinus halepensis Mill.) and Brutia (Pinus brutia) pines are both common here. I think this is the latter.

Colourful Hills
The surrounding landscape is dramatic and subtly beautiful at the same time.

Nature’s Artworks : Patterns in Stone

Animal Pen
Shepherds here follow a pattern of transhumance (seasonal migration) and often pen the animals at night for safety.

The Valley Behind
We have entered Toubkal National Park. The valley we started out in has receded into the distance and is about to disappear completely as we round the shoulder of the mountain. It is hot: the sun is high and there is not a cloud in sight.

An Arid Environment
This area gets snow and ice in winter, so it’s hard to know how much of the loose scree underfoot is ‘normal’ and how much is earthquake damage from the year before.

Muleteer

In the Middle
In the saddle between the mountains, we finally get a break for lunch.

Rocks, Rocks, and More Rocks

The Path
The path stretches out forever and I could be alone on the mountain. In actuality, my guide is somewhere in front, out of sight, and my muleteer is behind, still packing up after our lunch stop.

To Forever …
The colours are amazing, stretching out to the layered horizon.

Goat

Spanish Juniper – Juniperus Thurifera
We are in the lower reaches of what is called the Mediterranean High Atlas Juniper Steppe. While Spanish juniper – which is native to Morocco – can grow to 20 metres (66 feet) in height, in these rocky, windswept regions they are low to the ground and twisted by the elements.

Natures Artworks : Tortured and Twisted
The juniper trees make wonderful sculptural shapes.

Tizi Oussem Village
Villages cling to both sides of the Azzaden Valley – still a long way in the distance.

Boulder on the Hillside

Terraced Fields

More Terraces
Farming here is labour intensive!

Under the Apples
This is apple country – and the path takes us downhill and into an orchard.

Mud Brick Compound

My Muleteer
Given how slow I had been before lunch, my muleteer expressed surprise when he finally caught up with us in the afternoon.

Into a VIllage
This area was hard-hit by the earthquake in September 2023. Looking at the the mud-brick construction, it is easy to understand the ruinous effects of the shallow magnitude-6.8 quake.