High Atlas, Morocco (March 1977): Trek south of Beni Mellal

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This page shows photos of my first trek in the High Atlas, in March 1977. Back then I had no topographic maps of the High Atlas, I did not write notes, and I took relatively few photos. So, when I created this page in May 2020, 43 years later, my recollection of the itinerary was somewhat fuzzy and uneven.

Beginning from the road between Azilal and Ait M′Hamed (south-west of Beni Mellal) this trek traversed low-elevation mountains to reach the village of Tillouguite. It then crossed a pass (called Tizi n′Smekt in the map below) into the gorge of the Assif Melloul and followed this gorge up to the village of Anergui. From Anergui it went north across a couple of mountain passes and then east to reach a road leading to Taguelft (south-east of Beni Mellal).

This itinerary is sketched in dashed red line in the topographic map below. My memory of the itinerary between the start of the trek and Tillouguite was very rough, so the corresponding portion of the itinerary is only an approximation, at best. The portion between Tillouguite and Anergi is likely to be accurate. The rest of the itinerary beyond Anergui is the most probable one, but may not be completely accurate.

This map overlaps four 100K topographic sheets of Morocco: Azilal, Zawyat Ahancal, Beni Mellal, and Imilchil. (Click here for a helpful collection of topographic maps of Morocco.)

Landscape at the beginning of the trek.

View toward the south, with Jbel Azourki (3677m) in the background.

In the mountains between Ait M′Hammed and Tillouguit.

Start of a snowfall in the mountains on a late afternoon.

On the next morning after the snowfall.

Houses and kasbahs, probably in and near the village of Tillouguit.

Views toward the south from locations close to Tizi n′Smekt between Tillouguit and the Assif Melloul.

View over the Cathedral (on the right) and the valley of the Assif n′Ahancal (center) toward the village of Zawyat Ahancal.

Views during the descent into the gorge of the Assif Melloul.

In the gorge of the Assif Melloul.

Valley of the Assif Melloul beyond the gorge, soon before reaching Anergui.

Above the gorge of the Assif Melloul after leaving Anergui.

View of a small mountain range from the trail, first in the evening, then in the morning.

Crossing a last mountain range (probably across Jbel Tingarlaft) before the end of the trek.

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