In praise of Azrou and the Middle Atlas mountains

[Tim Cullis]

After nearly 50 years of visiting Morocco I now have four favourite places I like to stay, each of them quite different, each suitable for a variety of moods. I'm not a great city lover, I much prefer smaller towns and the outstanding beauty of the Moroccan countryside, mountains and desert.

TAFRAOUTE: In no particular order, the first of these spots is Tafraoute in the Anti Atlas mountains. The town is renowned for its babouche (slippers) manufacture and it's a hub for almond, argan oil and amlou (almond and argan mix) production. The local speciality is beef tagine with prunes and almonds.



The town is surrounded by pink quartzite peaks, with marvellous walks, scrambles and gorges. Coupled with more than 80 fascinating medieval granaries to explore, perched in the most inaccessible spots.


The stone steps to reach the upper levels of this granary reminded me of the Lake District

SIDI IFNI: At about the same lattitude is my second spot, Sidi Ifni, a Spanish art deco-styled town on the Atlantic coast. I once planned to stop two nights here and ended up staying eleven which says something for the chilled atmosphere. Many happy memories of nursing a Flag Special lager at the beach bar watching the sun sink into the ocean, whilst snacking on my 1 dh bag of popcorn. One outstanding meal there started with sea urchin soup.


The view south from Sidi Ifni's Bellvue Hotel

ESSAOUIRA: Further north, my third favourite is Essaouira , again on the Atlantic coast. A definite bohemian feel to the place with lots to see and explore both in the medina and new town. Fish, fish and more fish means the town is filled with happy contented cats, and fish is on the menus of the many restaurants with great fish or sea food soup.


Fishing boats in Essaouira harbour

AZROU: But the one I fell in love with first is Azrou. On motorbike trips a couple of decades back I found I was going through Azrou twice on each trip as it's set at a crossroads. One road (N13) leads from Meknes via Azrou to the desert around Merzouga, the other road (N8) leads from Fez via Azrou to Marrakech.


Azrou photographed through the seasons

Azrou is a one day ride from the ports of Tanger and Ceuta and many years ago I seriously considered buying the land in the photos above and building a motorbiking base there. I spent six weeks investigating and negotiating before deciding I didn't want to be in charge of a building project, so ended up buying a cave in Spain instead.


After snow and minus 10ºC temperatures the roads were ploughed and gritted, so now riding one-handed taking photos!

What is it about Azrou that makes it one of my top four? It’s a friendly vibrant market town (Tuesday market) surrounded by beautiful mountains with cedar and holm oak forests, wild flowers, stream and lakes, wild monkeys and fascinating geology.



[Vaufi]

Thx Tim, very interesting information.

Now, which is the easier entry point - Tanger Med or Ceuta gate? A couple of years after the HU mini meet in Andalucia, I think it was 2007 and you had just returned from Morocco, my friend and I visited the country. Jeez, the entry was a pita. We were more or less in the middle of the queue from the ferry but were the last to leave customs at Tanger Med. Probably because we decided against paying bakshish

Anyway, I'm waiting for you to continue .....

Hans

EDIT: Hi Hans, I still have the maps and information about South Africa and Namibia that you kindly gave me. Tanger Med is easiest but unfortunately the ferries aren't running to Morocco and the border from Ceuta is closed. Maybe some time soon....

Tim

[Tim Cullis]

GEOLOGY

Azrou means ‘rock’ in Tamazight and the town is named after the gigantic rock outcrop in the middle of the old town. Azrou sits at 1300m above sea level in a wide bowl, surrounded on the north, east and south by the higher reliefs of the Middle Atlas which reach up to 1800m. To the west is the low level N8 main road to Marrakech that runs in the lee of the mountains. 



The surrounding area is a massive volcanic field measuring over 1,200 sq km, with clusters of cinder cones, calderas, volcanic vents, basaltic flows, and maars (shallow crater lakes). 

 Some of the last volcanic eruptions are only a few thousand years ago and there’s even a cinder cone on the edge of Azrou, see satellite view



The photo above is of the volcanic field north of Azrou from Passage d’Ito which is on the west side of the road from Azrou to El Hajeb. But most of the interesting features are on the Azrou to Timahdite plateau to the south east of Azrou, see map here

On this map you can see a black-and-white dotted track leading SW from the main road. The cinder cone marked Ha is Jebel Hebri, used in the winter as a ski descent as you can see in the photo below.



To the left of the black-and-white dotted track you can see a triangle denoting volcanic vents, you can get an idea of scale by comparing my motorbike on the second photo below.





Also of interest in the area is the ski resort of Michleifen, set in the caldera of an extinct volcano



On the edge of another nearby caldera with gas-bubbled ejecta in the foreground and a volcanic cone in the background.



The area is a wonderland for amateur geologists and I sense there's an untapped market for exploratory tours that could be developed.

TO BE CONTINUED...

[backofbeyond]

I've stayed in Azrou a few times over the years and the area certainly sticks in my mind. Quite why I was never certain but maybe I was subconsciously taking in all the characteristics you listed. I hadn't realised it was quite so high up. Great pictures

[Tim Cullis]

I often stay in Cedres Hotel on the left of the photo. Hotel Panorama is less basic than Cedres but not so convenient for walking around town.

From my notes of an earlier trip, "Going back to Azrou is like putting on an old pair of slippers—before I'd been in the town an hour I'd been greeted by half a dozen locals, including one bristly cheek to cheek air kiss. And then an English voice asked, "Are you Tim?". It was someone I'd sent some trekking maps to on Lonely Planet forum. As is often the case I spent a couple of hours relaxing in the sun in a pavement cafe, nursing a nus nus and watching the world go by."

[markharf]

Thanks, Tim! Interesting, informative, and even thought-provoking.

[edwardbgill]

Originally Posted by Tim Cullis

After nearly 50 years of visiting Morocco I now have four favourite places I like to stay, each of them quite different, each suitable for a variety of moods. I'm not a great city lover, I much prefer smaller towns and the outstanding beauty of the Moroccan countryside, mountains and desert.

TAFRAOUTE: In no particular order, the first of these spots is Tafraoute in the Anti Atlas mountains. The town is renowned for its babouche (slippers) manufacture and it's a hub for almond, argan oil and amlou (almond and argan mix) production. The local speciality is beef tagine with prunes and almonds.



The town is surrounded by pink quartzite peaks, with marvellous walks, scrambles and gorges. Coupled with more than 80 fascinating medieval granaries to explore, perched in the most inaccessible spots.


The stone steps to reach the upper levels of this granary reminded me of the Lake District

SIDI IFNI: At about the same lattitude is my second spot, Sidi Ifni, a Spanish art deco-styled town on the Atlantic coast. I once planned to stop two nights here and ended up staying eleven which says something for the chilled atmosphere. Many happy memories of nursing a Flag Special lager at the beach bar watching the sun sink into the ocean, whilst snacking on my 1 dh bag of popcorn. One outstanding meal there started with sea urchin soup.


The view south from Sidi Ifni's Bellvue Hotel

ESSAOUIRA: Further north, my third favourite is Essaouira , again on the Atlantic coast. A definite bohemian feel to the place with lots to see and explore both in the medina and new town. Fish, fish and more fish means the town is filled with happy contented cats, and fish is on the menus of the many restaurants with great fish or sea food soup.


Fishing boats in Essaouira harbour

AZROU: But the one I fell in love with first is Azrou. On motorbike trips a couple of decades back I found I was going through Azrou twice on each trip as it's set at a crossroads. One road (N13) leads from Meknes via Azrou to the desert around Merzouga, the other road (N8) leads from Fez via Azrou to Marrakech.


Azrou photographed through the seasons

Azrou is a one day ride from the ports of Tanger and Ceuta and many years ago I seriously considered buying the land in the photos above and building a motorbiking base there. I spent six weeks investigating and negotiating before deciding I didn't want to be in charge of a building project, so ended up buying a cave in Spain instead.


After snow and minus 10ºC temperatures the roads were ploughed and gritted, so now riding one-handed taking photos!

What is it about Azrou that makes it one of my top four? It’s a friendly vibrant market town (Tuesday market) surrounded by beautiful mountains with cedar and holm oak forests, wild flowers, stream and lakes, wild monkeys and fascinating geology.



Thanks for this Tim - very helpful.

Ed

[Vaufi]

@Tim, your insert

EDIT: Hi Hans, I still have the maps and information about South Africa and Namibia that you kindly gave me. Tanger Med is easiest but unfortunately the ferries aren't running to Morocco and the border from Ceuta is closed. Maybe some time soon....

Tim



Right. And I still have your Morocco map. Came useful when we visited MOR.


Re South Africa - I have just plotted an nice route for a friend who wants to visit SA for three weeks. Mostly off the beaten track, with lots of landscape and some spectacular mountain passes plus a detour through Lesotho.