Day 1: MARRAKECH
Accommodation: hotel. Free meal. Flight to Marrakesh. Reception and installation in a hotel
Day 2: TIZI N’TEST PASS – ARGANIERS OF TALIOUINE – TISLIT
Positive elevation gain: 200 m. 2 hour walk. Accommodation: tent. Meals included: morning, noon, evening. Transfer: 5 a.m. Transfer to Sefoumt. The route is beautiful and varied. Quickly, we enter the Val d’Asni and its villages of red earth
surrounded by wheat fields and dominated by the foothills of the Atlas, then Ouirgane, a pretty town clinging to the side of
mountain, 1000 meters above sea level. The road rises to the tizi n’Test, at 2,130 meters, before plunging into the region of
Taliouine, famous for its argan trees; we are at the edge of the Anti-Atlas and the Souss plain. We go back to the
trays. Two hours of walking between cultivated fields, then in splendid gorges and a superb valley which shelters
a few hamlets. Camp (1,544 m).
Day 3: LASSIF NAÏT OUBYAL VALLEY – BERBER VILLAGES
Positive altitude difference: 900 m. 6h30 walk. Accommodation: tent. Meals included: morning, noon, evening. The initially arid and austere landscape gives way to the green valley of Assif n’Aït Oubyal planted with barley, wheat and
saffron. We cross the villages of Aït Esine, Aït Marouf, Aït Amrane, then an imposing set of basalt organs, before reaching Tizgui and its collective attics. It is a beautiful day to discover the traditional life. The villages
are magnificent, clinging to the slope or built at the bottom of the valley, their dry stone and earth walls are brightened up with
windows and doors with brightly painted ironwork. Women, colorful scarves on their heads and dressed in long skirts
multicolored superimposed, cut the grass for the cows that remained in the barn; the men, often wearing a cheche and
dressed in their burnous, return home with their donkeys loaded with dry branches which will be used to feed the
kitchen ; here and there herds of sheep and goats graze. Camp at Aghbalou Tizgui (2,400 m).
Day 4:GUILIZ RIDGE (2900 M) – TAGRARA CAVES
Positive elevation: 500 m. Negative drop: 300 m. 5 hour walk. Accommodation: tent. Meals included: morning, noon, evening. About 2 hours of easy and very pleasant walking along a small torrent which flows constantly; clear water jumps joyously from pebble to pebble; the mule track climbs slowly along this green ribbon. Then, for an hour, we follow small paths that zigzag between the tufts of thorns. This is the summit of Guiliz (2,900 m). The view is magnificent on the Siroua and the valley that we climbed yesterday. An hour of easy descent to reach the valley that we gave up to “do the summit”; it’s quite dry and stony at first, then we reach superb
high altitude sheepfolds isolated or grouped near springs and magnificent terraced gardens; the villagers go up to the early spring to plow and sow barley; they will return this summer for the harvest. Night near the creek, near
the Tagragra caves (2,600 m), inhabited by the shepherds of the Beni M’Zguid tribe.
Day 5: SUMMIT OF SIROUA (3304 M)
Positive elevation gain: 700 m. Negative drop: 800 m. 6:30 a.m. to 7:00 a.m. walk. Accommodation: tent. Meals included: morning, noon, evening. Very varied day: picturesque gorges and rocky chaos, mineral world and green valleys. In two to three hours, we are on the ridge; the path meanders between thorny trees (but very easy to walk) then passes through the middle of large blocks with sometimes surprising shapes, which stand out against the sky, before reaching the rocky peak of Siroua. In 20 minutes, we reach the summit; some passages require to put the hands. The view is exceptional on the High Atlas, the plain of Ouarzazate and the Anti-Atlas. Descent. The path crosses very eroded reliefs – superb moment -, then it is some tiny fields torn from the mountain, before beautiful slopes cultivated in terraces where saffron grows, barley and wheat. Camp near the sheepfolds of Tissouitine (2450 m), a magnificent hamlet of dry stones at the foot of piles of whitish volcanic ash. NB: Some passages of the ascent are steep, your guide will be equipped with a rope to belay the group if necessary. He you don’t have to go all the way to the top.
Day 6: SAFFRON GORGES AND CULTURES – TINZARINE
Positive altitude difference: 280 m. Negative drop: 900 m. 5h30 walk. Accommodation: tent. Meals included: morning, noon, evening. We continue our descent in this superb valley where a small wadi flows; the villagers have built irrigation canals allowing beautiful crops. Magnificent sheepfolds, some backed by large boulders, are
enclosed in high dry stone walls. These are real alpine hamlets. A room where the
family business is locked, shelters and enclosures are provided for sheep and goats. Then it’s the
climb to the Anzounmer pass (2,732 m), from where the view extends to the High Atlas. Descent by a good winding path in
a gorge, then along the saffron crops, before reaching the villages of Aït Ighmour and Idoughagh. Beautiful and
huge walnut trees shade our path along the wadi. We go up quietly in the hills covered with
mugwort plants Hike in beautiful gorges. The cliffs gradually give way to a more rounded relief, the valley
T623 The red gold of Jebel Siroua
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