Time has been a rare commodity since my return. Which is why you are only reading this mini-diary now. For my entire trip I really just wanted to share my excitement of just being there, in the middle of that rugged, yet magical place. The country of my birth, yet pretty much unknown to me, at least from this perspective…boy, this is getting a bit too poetic for my taste, so I’ll just cut to the chase and jump right into it (I’ve really mastered the art of seamless transitions as you can see by now).

Day 1:

The journey begins in the quiet valley of Ait Bougmez at the base of the High Atlas Mountains (if by base you mean an altitude of 1870m above sea level of course). For the first couple of days of this trek, I really wanted us to start comfortably and get a chance to acclimate to the higher altitude. So, we chose to stay in the very lovely auberge of Dar Itrane. From there, we took to explore the surrounding land of wheat fields, orchards…and goats. On this hazy day, we set out to climb a nearby hill, which provided a fantastic overlook of the entire valley.

The hill also happens to be the site of a communal granary dating back to a measly 700 years(!). The granary has long stopped serving its original purpose, and is now home to a nice fella who invited us into his modest digs for a wonderful glass of mint tea (you can’t turn down an offer to drink tea in Morocco). Mohammed got around to show us the place, quite fascinating with its little tunnels and individual grain stores, and topped it off with a sweet visit to atop the granary. What a view!

The haze continued to blanket the entire valley, so we decided to call it a day and headed back down to the village, just in time to catch a wonderful tagine for dinner.

Day 2:

The next day started bright and early (4:50am I believe) as we had decided we were to take the 45min climb back to the top of the hill. The morning was crisp and clear, and a few sparse clouds got me all excited about the promise of a great sunrise…That was without counting on my loyal bad light karma companions, of course! I am not exaggerating when I say that the very second with step on the top of the hill, this sea of clouds moved in like lightning, covering the entire valley in an instant! It took less than 10 min for visibility to reach next to nothing.

Not to be discouraged, I went for a nap. A much needed one at that, jetlag had not been kind to me. To my, and Atri’s, delight, we woke up to a radiant sun that warmed up our souls as much as it did the land around us. We spent most of the day  lazing around on the veranda, taking in as much of the sun as we could, enjoying the crisp, clean mountain air, the food and the view.

In the afternoon, we were to meet our guide, Abdou, for a little hike around the area. We went meandering among the fields and quickly found ourselves in open meadows of colourful wildflowers. It was truly magical. The light was still fairly harsh, but we indulged in taking some shots nonetheless. After a few hours of aimless hiking, we decided to head back to base. The evening light was bathing the entire valley in a warm golden sheen that contrasted beautifully against the shaded areas at the base of the mountain. As we walked upon the scene below, I just couldn’t help it and took a few more exposures.

As we made it to the Dar Itrane, it was already dinner time, but a quick glance out the window of our room made me forget about the hunger for little while. Just enough time to catch a few abstract glimpses of the neighbouring peaks, one last time before we were to head out into our high mountain trek the next day.

That’s for today, stay tuned for the next episode as we head out to explore the M’goun area.