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SAMPLE ROUTE - HIGH ATLAS

TRANS ATLAS: MH2 TINERHIR - IMILCHIL - EL KEBAB 241km
May 2008 ~ Mazda pickup

Description
This is the easier of the two trans-Atlas routes with 'only' 49km of piste from Aît Hani to just before Imilchil. Of course that 49km is about as high as you can drive in Morocco. It kicks off with a run through the 'Costa Todra', a development bearing little relation to the impressive but not exactly mind-blowing spectacle of the actual chasm itself. Once you've explored some of the other out-of-the-way places in this book you may think so too, but the Gorge is well and truly on the tourist axis on the road south to Zagora or Erg Chebbi.

With that behind you, you pass through Tamtatoucht where one presumes they're now happy to earn an honest dirham running numerous auberges instead of misguiding travellers heading for the Gorge to Gorge track (Route MH3). You may slip past the kids in Tamtatoucht, but they're all waiting for you at the series of villages starting with Aît Hani, although only with their hands out or looking for a distraction. You shake them off – in some cases literally if they're swinging from your roof rack – and set off into the barren ranges of the High Atlas. At KM63 the track mysteriously improves as if tarmacking is imminent, only to return to a string of puddles on an upland plateau that at least offers some good flat spots for wild camps. Agoudal and the following string of villages up to the tarmac at KM101 see more stylo-stampedes, but both Agoudal and Imilchil make good places to stay.

When we arrived at Imilchil the kids must have been away on a day trip, or maybe they've all just got over it (it does happen). From here it's an unchallenging and increasingly pastoral descent down to the lowlands, or at least as low as they get before the land rises again to become the Middle Atlas.

El Kebab is but one place to end the crossing though there's now fuel at Imilchil and in Aghbala at KM196. El Kebab has a nice 'Friday night in South London' ring to it and anyway, the people at the town's Zizmo seem game.

You may learn that the evocatively named High Atlas are not exactly the Torres del Paine, at least as seen at drivable elevations, and that the southern massifs of Sirwa and Sarhro have more colour. This transit lacks the greater drama of Route MH1 which intersects it, but chances are it'll be crossable when MH1 is not.

Off road
Regular cars have the highest chance of making this trans-Atlas route as opposed to MH1, and on a big motorbike there's not much to stop you that won't stop everything else. The short off-road stage makes this a manageable MTB route. There are no particularly precipitous stages clinging to the mountainsides as there are on MH1 though in winter there's a good chance this area will be snowy. We were told that snow is never more than a couple of feet deep and the ploughs come through within a day or two, however one would think the 27km village-less stage between Aît Hani and Agoudal would not be a snow-clearing priority. Unfortunately they've not invented the 'mud plough' yet and in the cooler season it's much more likely rain will make a mess of things, especially south of Agoudal if not right up to the tarmac at KM101.

Route finding
No problem providing the track is not mist-bound or under a couple of feet of snow. Traffic is thinnest between Aît Hani and Agoudal but is not exactly bumper-to-bumper from Imilchil towards El Kebab. For the route map see pp132-3.

Fuel and water
Apart from at each end and at Aghbala (KM196) and Imilchil (KM121) it's possible to get fuel in the intermediate towns at a price. With its several villages and high elevation a shortage of water is likely to be the least of your problems.

Suggested duration
Possible in a day but two days could be twice the fun. There are auberges in just about every village up to Imilchil; beyond that we saw nothing.

0km N31˚31.23' W05˚ 31.99'
TinerhirTotal fuel. Head into the town centre and after a kilometre at the lights on the east side of town turn left, west, for Todra. As the road winds towards the gorge you will pass an endless succession of gîtes and auberges.

14.5 (226.5) N31˚ 35.00' W05˚ 35.48'
Arrive at Todra Gorge and pay 5dh to pass through (it's official; an old guy with a hat and a satchel). The tall, narrow chasm is especially dramatic when the overhead sun lights up the walls. There may be rock climbers here and almost certainly the all-day tourist souk selling brightly coloured head scarves, boxed sets of trilobites and magic slippers.

Beyond here the road may be under repair from flash floods with diversions along the oued. Soon the road emerges out onto the Aît Hani plains.

36 (205) N31˚ 40.85' W05˚ 32.25'
Tamtatoucht village at a sign for the track that heads north-west to meet Route MH3. There are several auberges and cafés here.

45 (196) N31˚ 44.22' W05˚ 29.71'
Pass the point where Route MH3 rejoins the road, more or less halfway between Tamtatoucht and Aît Hani.

52 (189) N31˚ 46.89' W05˚ 27.14'
Aît Hani village. Cross the oued possibly filled with green crops and at the junction turn left; the tarmac ends. Right leads to Amellago and Goulmima or Rich (Route MH11). Drive north-west through a village alongside the crop-filled oued.

Aît Hani runs into a string of villages and unless the Pied Piper has been through recently, you'll have a chance to meet the lively village kids.

58 (183) N31˚ 49.64' W05˚ 28.25'
You pass a couple of auberges and at the Auberge Carrefour ('crossroads') you go straight, north. In 500m you get to a junction with white stones. Go straight again - north-north-west (left goes to a gîte). Soon you're out in the open on a gravel piste.

61 (180) N31˚50.99' W05˚ 27.29'
Fork. Left is a steep and loose ascent, fine for a 4WD. The right fork is a longer, less steep ascent better for 2WDs or big bikes with road tyres.

63 (178) N31˚ 51.79' W05˚ 27.33'
The two tracks rejoin and the surface suddenly improves, but only for a few kilometres. After 4 or 5km you pass the 2650m Tizi-n Tiherhouzine high point.

79 (162) N31˚ 57.30' W05˚ 28.67'
There are many flat camp spots hereabouts as well as some water crossings. This area would also become a very muddy trap after heavy rains.

83 (158)
Cultivation resumes as you near Agoudal. In 2km you pass the Auberge Arfoud on the southern outskirts of the village.

85 (156) N32˚ 00.50' W05˚ 29.37'
Agoudal village centre where Route MH1 turns south for Dades. Carry on through the village with a couple of stores. In 500m you get to the Auberge Ibrahim which seems a popular spot. We carried on for nearly another kilometre and stayed at the Auberge Agoudal, a more secluded spot beyond the north end of town at 2350m. It's run by Hassan, a nice old guy who knows just what tourists want. Half-board here with an en suite room with piles of blankets was 110dh per person.

92 (149) N32˚ 02.78' W05˚ 27.93'
Timaryne village. Just before the village there may be a muddy or dried-mud section alongside riverbed plots.

95 (146) N32˚ 04.16' W05˚28.33'
Just before a village the track turns down right to cross over a cultivated riverbed.

96 (145)
Akdim village with camping and a café.

97 (144) N32˚ 04.87' W05˚ 29.08' 
Aît Amer, go straight at an Arabic sign pointing right somewhere 18km away (probably Outerbate on the road to Rich).

101 (140) N32˚ 05.99' W05˚ 30.62'
Just after a Ziz fuel sign in the village of Almaghou you join the tarmac road. Left leads 20km to Imilchil, right goes on to Rich (about 118km) or back down through Amellago and the Rheris Gorge to Goulmima (MH11).

112 (129) N32˚ 09.14' W05˚ 34.46'
At this point Route MH1 from Midelt joins the Imilchil road. If conditions are good and you want to end up in Midelt, turning off here is a great way of stringing out your trans-Atlas crossing.

121 (120) N32˚ 09.39' W05˚37.86'
Imilchil town centre, famed for its September moussems or marriage/match-making festivals. There are up to a dozen auberges and hotels in town but surprisingly the guidebooks weren't much help at the time, so until they catch up it may pay to do some research in advance if you'd like to stay in a recommended place. For such a well-known place the town gave no hassle from touts. There is an Inov fuel station just north of town.

126 (115) N32˚ 11.78' W05˚38.53'
Auberge Tislite in a quiet location overlooking Lake Tislit. We stayed here as parking was less exposed than in town. It was a great location and a warm welcome but comparatively pricey at 220dh per person half-board with an en suite room. There's a big heater and also a big tent by the lake for camping. There's another lake, Isli, further east, also with an auberge.

From here the tarmac road sets off north, winding through a limestone gorge after 8km which opens out into a valley of tawny pastures and poppy fields (or maybe just snow and mist ...). The trees get thicker as you descend past a few mud-brick villages.

183 (58) N32˚26.83' W05˚ 45.71'
Out of the mountains and heading into the hills, you turn right for Aghbala along a wide red-earth valley. Look back onto the Atlas to the south as you head east.

196 (45) N32˚ 28.59' W05˚ 38.91'
There is fuel on the west side of Aghbala, a big farming town as well as plenty of shops and cafés, but no obvious hotel. As you leave town the valley widens into the rolling plains of the northern High Atlas.

231 (10) N32˚ 41.13' W05˚ 33.82'
Having passed the town of Sidi Yakia Oussad down to the left you get to the junction with the R503 by a couple of roadhouses. Right is for Midelt, left is for Khenifra.

Turn left and if you're seeing it through all the way to El Kebab, fork right in 200 metres up an unsigned minor road (the actual road sign is back a bit). Follow this windy road over the hill and drop down the other side into the valley of the Oued Srou and El Kebab.

241 N32˚ 44.51' W05˚ 31.54'
The road drops right into El Kebab's Zizmo in the town centre. A slap-up plate of brochettes is surely in order while you mull over where to go next.