Life #19: Social Atlas
This chapter takes us on a challenging climb in Morocco’s Atlas Mountains, to the highest peak in northern Africa, then onwards through the Sahara Desert, medieval cities, the northern Rif mountains and finally the Atlantic Ocean. Sincere appreciation to our wonderful guide Aissa, for his friendship, care, and knowledge on the entire adventure, through such an incredible country. Special thanks also to our diligent driver Mohamed, who on the final night of our tour, heard the wonderful news of his newborn son, Ayoub, to whom I dedicate this story. Much gratitude too, as always, to Deb and Mike at Getaway Trekking for making these memorable events happen.
Prelude
An alpine adventure, to the roof of north Africa
Where golden Sahara, meets mountainous attica
A personal diarised doco
Up High Atlas Morocco
Renowned for its mystical, historical antiqua
Across three northern countries, the Atlas mountains crawl
The tallest of them all, is Morocco’s Mount Toubkal
A beacon of geology
For in Greek mythology
Atlas holds aloft the sky, for fear that it may fall
With the Atlas name founded, on this ancient folklore
We will climb this range grounded, in its spiritual core
With its gigantic girth
It’s a pillar of the Earth
Even though the God Atlas, isn’t up there anymore
Then I think of the Africa, the World Atlas neglected
With self-interest in only, raw minerals collected
How European vultures
Plundered countries and cultures
We’ll see plenty of evidence, how Morocco was affected
For back in the days, when the French and Spain
Ruled over Morocco, like their own domains
Colonising confusion
Cultural diffusion
Where France and Spain’s legacies, still visibly remain
In a country of Arab, Berber, and Islamic tradition
It has survived past colonial, control and partition
And fended off invasions
It’s a very proud nation
Only eight miles from Europe, a strategic position
Now a kingdom whose monarch, the people adore
Although tensions still simmer, with Algeria next door
Fanning separatist flames
And land border claims
Morocco tried to regain, in an unresolved war
Spelt with one r and three o’s, plus two connected c’s
It straddles the Atlantic, and Mediterranean seas
The Atlas mountains it boasts
Divide desert from the coast
With most villages that host … more mosque minarets than trees
Pre-Trek
Casablanca – Marrakech
We flew to Casablanca, a long-haul through Dubai
Driving on to Marrakech, the landscape looked bone dry
Any crops had long gone
From a drought three years long
We arrived on nightfall, tired, but on a high
Marrakech woke us early, to their morning call for prayers
We sauntered laneways and souk stalls, with their produce and wares
Noisy bikes and scooters
All honking their hooters
Tall ramparts and dry restaurants, surround wide medina squares
Trek Day 1
Oukaimden Ski Station - Tizi N’Adi pass 2,928 metres - Tacheddirt village.
9 kms – 6.5 hours – 436m ascent – 651m descent – max altitude 2,928m
We were a team of eleven, Toubkal mountaineers
With our guide, a cook, seven mules and muleteers
This mountain range looked massive
Not a place for the passive
But hoping we can all, be successful summiteers
Seven days lay ahead, clambering up and down passes
Crossing between valleys, for acclimatising classes
But there’s so much loose rock
One slip, we may not stop
We’re all very likely, to fall hard on our arses
Overhanging the village, a tight spot for a camp
Tents squeezed on a cliffside, like a small postage stamp
Already a team injury
And walking very gingerly
Anxiety in the campsite, overcrowded and cramped
Trek Day 2
Tacheddirt - Tizi Likemt pass 3,531 metres - Azib Likemt camp.
10 kms – 9 hours - 1,334m ascent – 1,203m descent – max altitude 3,531m.
To the crow of a rooster, our next day soon begun
Set off early to avoid, the heat of the sun
Climbing steep zigs and zags
Mules carrying our bags
The pass was at three thousand, five hundred and thirty-one
We’d scaled twelve hundred metres, up valley-wall moraine
Crossing over the saddle, body taking the strain
My breaking muscles burned
Our late lunch was hard earned
A long day just to lose, all the height we had gained
The steep track lined with prickles, trying hard not to slip
On loose lying shingle, boots struggling to grip
Thighs hurting like hell
Then suddenly I fell
With a sharp stabbing pain, from knees to my hip
I immersed my sore legs, in our cold campsite stream
Grateful for a remedial masseuse on our team
We retired for the night
Now feeling alright
Hearing our mules and the river, back living in the dream
Trek Day 3
Azib Likemt camp - Tizi n’Ououraine pass 3,120 metres - Amsouzert village
17 kms - 10 ½ hours – 1,006m ascent- 1,779m descent – max altitude 3,120m
Another long day ensued, of high saddle topping
Of valley hopping and altitude dropping
Saw Mount Toubkal from the pass
Its amphitheatres so vast
The deep valley descent, seemed like never to be stopping
We soon reached our small village, under house reconstruction
After an earthquake had caused, wide-spread building destruction
We ate lunch in a home
From veggies they had grown
To Atlassian people, our first introduction
Men were building their dwellings, children helping, some playing
To football up the hillside; mosques calling time for praying
We walked to the next town
Quite a lot further down
We enjoyed showers and Wi-Fi, at the guest house we were staying
Trek Day 4
Amsouzert - Ifni Lake
9.5 kms - 6 hours – 695m ascent – 234m descent – max altitude 2,441m
Ifni Lake shimmered, below a prominent ledge
A little precarious, as we walked above its edge
Monstrous gully walls
With massive gravel falls
Damming aqua blue water, in a canyon-deep wedge
We camped above the lake line, on a lumpy rubble pile
Tents pegged on rock terraces, in rows of single file
As tomorrow will be testing
A cool spot to be resting
Soaked our feet in the water, and relaxed for a while
Creeping into his sleeping bag, luckily while still awake
Slithering under Michael’s back, he felt a cold deadly snake
Gave a hell of a fright
Thank god it didn’t bite
A long ride out on a mule, if he’d had to evacuate
Trek Day 5
Ifni Lake - Tizi n’Ouanoums pass 3,664 metres- Toubkal Refuge Base Camp
13 kms - 10 hours - 1,370 metres ascent - 465 metres descent – max altitude 3,664m
An intruder in the night, but now ready to rumble
Head torch navigation, up alluvial crumble
We passed by goats sleeping
The baby ones bleating
This never-ending scree slope, selecting steps to not stumble
The sunrise soon reached us, on the steep meandering climb
Pushing onwards and upwards, in the glorious sunshine
But proceeding with caution
Plumbing depths of exhaustion
Devoured lunch near the pass, with a little reflection time
Like admiring these rugged, geological formations
Upheaved and eroded, for millions of generations
Stark, barren and bleak
If only they could speak
Beauty simply defined, by their sheer desolation
Commanding the skies, in their grandeur and glory
Every buttress and pinnacle, could tell us their story
Every line on the rock
Marked a time on the clock
Eons of evolution, of prehistoric inventory
A long winding descent, to our final tent site
This will be our base camp, for the following two nights
Our Mount Toubkal ambition
Now closer to fruition
We will set off tomorrow, well before the first light
Trek Day 6
Mount Toubkal Summit 4,167 metres
7.3 kms - 11 hours – 1,107 m ascent and descent – max altitude 4,167m
A full moon was beaming, crawling out of my tent
Preparing to embark, on our final ascent
For today is summit day
Mount Toubkal come what may
But this rock-infested mountain, will not readily relent
Inshallah, the clear morning, may bring us good tidings
As we scrambled up shingle, all slipping and sliding
Loose stones like ball bearings
As slippery as wet herrings
We passed four thousand metres, legs taking a hiding
We climbed in silence, each deep in our zone
Full concentration, in thoughts of our own
With this rock everywhere
It was perfectly clear
The Stone Age did not end, because they ran out of all stones
The going was now steep, careful placement of feet
Six long hours to the summit, to views totally replete
From the whole Atlas range
To the Marrakech plains
Our Atlas objective, was now finally complete
We could follow our journey, from the direction we came
To every pass, every valley, all of Atlas mountain fame
From the ski field where we started
Not for the feint hearted
This Toubkal Atlas Circuit, and its punishing terrain
But having just descended, from the top of Mount Toubkal
Most of us soon up ended, suffering several sudden falls
When loose stones start to roll
And one’s losing control
We were on the track suspended, in most ungracious sprawls
As we arrived back in camp, to our waiting mules braying
We learnt of an old Berber, mountaineering saying
Step by step, the foot climbs
But not in fast times
We collapsed in our tents, bodies battered and fraying
Trek Day 7
Toubkal Refuge – Imlil
13 kms - 5 hours - 1,400 metres descent
Walking down the valley, looking over my shoulder
Back up at those ridges, beyond boulder after boulder
Searching out the summit
Ecstatic that we’d done it
Not bad for advanced ages …. but wobbly legs felt much older
Post-Trek Tour
Imlil - Ouarzazat - Toudra Gorge - Sahara Desert - Fes - Chefchaouen - Rabat – Casablanca
10 days
A restful night in Imlil, then we started on our tour
For we’ve still plenty more, of Morocco to explore
Movie settings and casbahs
Atlas Studio film stars
Then mapped our way northwards, before the Atlantic shore
Rode camels in the desert, with a sandstorm in our eyes
Straddled ridges up sand dunes, for a Sahara sunrise
To medieval cities
Artisans, antiquities
Ancient archways and alleyways, a shoulder-width between sides
From Fes to Chefchaouen, the Spanish city painted blue
That powder-blue hue, made for such a stunning view
But always on my mind
Was the mountain we had climbed
With challenges and highlights, shared only amongst us few
Like early anxieties, cramped on that postage stamp
That endless day descending, down to our riverside camp
Those Atlas hard rock lessons
Our remedial sessions
New friends in this group, I’d like to sincerely thank
Onwards through the Rif mountains, farmers going through daily motions
In hayfields and sunflowers, then at last the Atlantic Ocean
To Rabat then Casablanca
Back where we first weighed anchor
But this journey’s end stews, a tagine of mixed emotions
For our whole team completed, this High Atlas course
Successful summiteers, from this moment forth
We will stay forever bound
By our trekked common ground
As we conquered the highest mountain … in all of Africa’s north
Kevin Holmes • 4th July 2025
