Younes Bounhar Photography

Morocco Trippin’, Day 3

Since we had a long day of hiking ahead of us, we figured, we would skip sunrise on the morning of day 3. Jetlag decided otherwise for me, so day 3 started bright and early!  I headed out to the nearby patio, still dazed and confused to find that the moon was out on this clear night. I quickly grabbed my gear and setup for a few quick shots of the village under the stars and moonlight. Apparently, I wasn’t alone getting up at an insane hour, as an early (and presumably lonely) driver provided the extra light for my shot.

After a nice and heartwarming breakfast, we packed our gear and headed down to meet our guide Abdou and muleteers, Mohamed and Ali.  The mules were loaded at lightning speed (I now understand why they call them beasts of burden…those things are unbreakable) and headed off on the trail not to be seen for a long while. Our path took us across the entire Ait Bougmez valley into the neighbouring valley of Ait something (can’t quite remember frankly, a nice one though). The first leg of the trail was fairly flat with little to no elevation gain. We stopped for lunch in a tiny village under the cool shade of some beautiful oak trees and even enjoyed a quick nap (you should know I am a sucker for naps). Quickly after we took to the trail, the scenery started changing drastically, to my delight. We crossed some stunning canyons and gorges, flowing with melt water. Red and bright orange walls paving the way up the now steeper trail.

As we progressed deeper in our journey, the landscape was radically transformed, from farmlands surrounded by round hills, to complete alpine wilderness surround by jagged peaks. After fording a raging river with barefeet, we embarked on the steepest part of the trail, which took as along the river bed, then, up, up and higher. The scenery was simply gorgeous. The patterns drawn by the occasional layers of clay in the limestone-dominated landscape providing some fantastic designs.

Our hike ended a little after 4pm, after an ascent of roughly 450m over the last half of the distance. A nice warm up day for the trek ahead of us. We set out camp right outside of the remove mini-village (literally 2 or 3 houses) of Ikkis n’Arous. The almost lunar landscape was dominated by scree-covered slopes and amazing juniper trees. After setting up camp, I decided to take a little hike and explore the area for sunset and the next day’s sunrise. The altitude, general lack of fitness and end of day fatigue combined to make my trek across the scree-covered slopes exhausting and painful, with several falls and near misses. As I settled atop a little overhang, panting and out of breath, I turned around to watch this woman, walking across a higher overhang, wearing nothing more than little platic sandals, whistling and singing about, like there was nothing there. Needless to say that my embarrassment was only complete when she started laughing as I was scrambling about .

In the next instalment of Morocco, trippin’, the “real” alpine trek starts with some tough but amazingly rewarding scenery to go along with it. Stay tuned…

Posted on June 22nd, 2010 in Images Travel | 1 Comment »

Trippin’ Morocco, a diary.

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.

Posted on June 15th, 2010 in Travel | 1 Comment »

Morocco Gallery up

Well, as they say all good things must end (dumbest thing I’ve ever heard)…That means I am back on Canadian soil after what has likely been my most prolific photographic trip. Not only did I have the pleasure to witness some amazing scenery, but even the light gods (whom I thought had forever cursed me), decided to join the party and provide some spectacular light. The gallery spans my trip from Marrakech to the sand dunes of Merzouga, via the valley of Ait Bougmez, Ikkis n’Arous, Terkeddit Plateau, M’goun mountain and many other locations. You can check the gallery here or on my main page.

Posted on May 25th, 2010 in Images Travel | 8 Comments »

Postcard from the Country of the Setting Sun

My stay in Morocco (Al Maghrib, which stands for “the land of the setting sun” in Arabic) is winding down quickly as I am getting some much needed R&R with family and friends. It had been years since I had visited my country and I wasn’t sure how the trip would go. All I can say is I discovered a more beautiful country than I ever knew or expected. The diversity and beauty of the land is downright astounding. There wasn’t a day during the entire trek where I wasn’t blown away. A landscape that rivals or bests some of Americas most beautiful national parks.

However, if I were to pick my favorite moment of all, I can undoubtedly point to the sand dunes of of Erg Chebbi, a 50km long and 5km wide set of sand dunes that reach up to 350m.  I have been privileged to visit some amazing places since I have gotten into photography, but no subject has captured my imagination the way the sand dunes did. To put it simply, it is the single most sensual subject I’ve ever photographed. The light, the curves (yup, still a fan), the textures, everything comes together once to make a subject that is as beautiful as it is mesmerizing. More pictures to come soon as my Morocco gallery should be up and running by Tuesday morning (May 25), when I return home.

Posted on May 21st, 2010 in Travel | 5 Comments »

Il y a des hommes et des homelettes…

While I am sure that this title will mean nothing to most of you, suffice it to say that it is a tribute to our mountain guide Abdallah.

I just left the sand dunes of Merzouga after a 6 day trek through the Moroccan High Atlas and miraculously happen to have a wifi connection in, seemingly, the middle of nowhere. I am tired and beat, but oh my, what a trip it has been so far. I never thought in a million years that Morocco, the country where I grew up, held so much beauty in such little space. In 6 days of walking, covering roughly 60-80km of mountain backcountry, we went through barren desertic land, lush valleys, snow-covered mountain passes, flower-covered meadows, gorges, canyons, rivers, amazing geological formations and more…And if that wasn’t enough, the light Gods blessed us with some great light displays, an essential ingredient of any successful landscape photography endeavour (it seems that my bad light curse might have been broken, or may be it is my companion’s good karma…who knows).

As I am slowly going through my images, I offer you a little glimpse of Moroccan atmosphere. This is an image I shot on our first day in Marrakech. This is from the famous Jamaa el Fna place in the heart of the city. As the sun sets, this place lights up and buzzes with vendors, food stalls and throngs of people going by. Instead of going for a wider view, I preferred to focus on a few isolated stalls and chose a slow exposure to record the movements of the crowd.

Posted on May 12th, 2010 in Travel | 4 Comments »

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