Toubkal Circuit School Expedition
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The team arrived early at Heathrow airport on Sunday 19th July despite a puncture along the way. All were sporting brand new embroidered maroon hoodies and were very enthusiastic about the adventure ahead of them. The flight was shared with another expedition company trekking group who managed to upset the cabin crew by standing in the aisle when the cleaners came on board during the transit at Casablanca. Our group merely had a game of hide and seek to occupy themselves!We arrived at our hotel in Marrakech at around 1am, exhausted and very hot. After a short night sleep we left the hotel in the morning and went to our first camping place in the ski resort of Oukameiden 2650m. After being taught how we should put up our tents and our first taste of Moroccan salads for lunch we embarked on an acclimatisation trek. Although this 2 hour trek was probably one of the easiest, Jasmine admitted at the end of the expedition that it nearly killed her!
The next 3 days involved further trekking. Firstly a gentle 300m ascent took us to Tizi n Eddi pass and then we descended down to the Berber village of Tachedirt 2291m where we were rewarded with a night in a gite with flushing toilets and hot showers. The group also enjoyed playing sardines here! The next day involved a not so gentle ascent of 1300m up to Tizi n Likemt 3550m and then descended down to Azib Likemt. The team walked very well as a group and played lots of word association games to keep their minds off the walking and altitude. Tizi n Ourai 3109m was our following day’s ascent and although the ascent was not as sharp the descent seemed to go on forever and the midday sun above was scorching. Fortunately we took shade and lunch at Amsouzart and bought tradition Berber scarves to keep the sun at bay. Unfortunately the dye from those scarves ran when we trekked up to our next camping place at Ait Igrane and some of us looked rather blue by the end of the day.
We spent 3 nights at Ait Igrane and carried out our community project work. The first morning we were shown by the locals how to make concrete bricks and then we were taken to the local Berber houses. The houses needed plenty of repair work such as painting doors, windows and plastering and the group realised the stark contrasts of the comfort that westerners enjoy compared to the basic Berber houses. The next day we were taken by Mini-Hassan, his father and Lissan around the local allotments to plant pomegranate and fig trees. We also dug plots and sowed tomato, onion and aubergine seeds. Although we did not speak their language we had no problem communicating and bantering with the locals this day, especially when they brought out the ‘suewete’ (tea) to drink!
After saying our sad goodbyes in Ait Igrane, we now had 3 days of trekking the Toubkal Circuit ahead of us. After our first trekking day we camped overnight along the shores of Lac D’Ifni 2295m, a beautiful turquoise glacial lake. Here we practiced skimming stones and were able to paddle in the refreshing water. The next day was probably the most strenuous of them all. We left camp just as it got light and trekked 1400m steeply uphill. Again the group coped well and mastered walking uphill for 45mins without stopping. They were greatly rewarded at the top of the Tizi n Nouanoums pass 3700m with stunning panoramic views of the High Atlas Mountains. Finally our summit day of Jebel Toubkal 4167m was upon us and we were all revved up to go at 6am. Our previous training and acclimatisation days had served us well and after a rocky climb we all summited with our arms linked together at 9.18am. It was a huge achievement and everybody was buzzing at the top!
Finally we trekked down to the Berber village of Aremd the home village of our guide Hassan. We spent 3 well earnt nights in a gite and carried out further community work here. The girls spent an enjoyable day with the local Berber women learning how to knead bread, make tajine, play games with the children, dress up in traditional costume and makeup and have henna painted on their hands. The boys undertook a water irrigation project shovelling sand and also enjoyed a visit to Hassan’s house. The following day we all trekked to the next village Imlil to visit the local doctor’s surgery. The school had raised money so that surgical and medical supplies could be donated. This visit was quite an eye opener as the surgery consisted only of one office, one treatment room and a waiting room. In the evening Hassan gathered together some local children in Aremd who we played games and football with until dinner time.
Our final days were spent with a long dusty road trip to the coastal town of Essaouira. We spent a night in a lovely hotel in the centre of the old town which enabled us to explore the curio shops and barter for our souvenirs. We also were relieved to sample some different Moroccan cuisine after our constant trekking menu of salad, dry bread, lentil soup, couscous or tajine. We also went on a beach trek heading south of Essaouria and were able to ride some camels along the shoreline. Unfortunately Andy found this to be not the pleasant experience he had hoped for when his camel became a bit frisky with Lauren’s and decided to make a quick exit! We spent the rest of the day relaxing at our beach camp, reflecting on our expedition’s events and the evening was rounded off with barbequed fresh fish and our guide’s singing and playing the jerry cans around the campfire. Lastly a journey back to Marrakech gave us the opportunity to experience the nightlife in the medinas and souks of De Jemma el Fna. We saw everything from snake charmers to fake clothing and tortoises to aphrodisiacs!
Congratulations are in order to all the team for such a successful expedition!