We took a day trip today into the foothills of the Atlas Mountains. The Ourika Valley is easily accessible from Marrakech and has been transformed into a heavy tourist area.
The valley is mostly settled by Berbers or as they call themselves Amazigh’s which means free people in their language. They are the indigenous people to the area. In Morocco it is estimated that 40-60% of the population is Berber. It is difficult to get a precise estimate as Berbers and Arabs have coexisted in Morocco for so long most Arabs have some Berber in them, and most Berbers have some Arab.
A few miles outside of Marrakech we began climbing into the mountains and the road narrowed as we followed the course of the Ourika river. As we drove our driver asked if we wanted to climb to the water falls above Ourika. Ton and I discussed it and decided to give it a shot. He then strongly recommended we take a guide, so we had to have another discussion, but decided to go with the guide.
Before taking on the climb we had lunch at a riverside restaurant where you sat next to the river to eat. It was a bit of a tourist trap, but still fun.
After lunch we set out on our climb to the waterfall. The Ourika falls are a series of 7 waterfalls from a tributary of the Ourika river. We met our guide Idder who looked like a mountain guide he was wiry, and a little shorter than Ton, but looked like he could climb forever.
The trail was only about a mile long but we climbed up about 500feet in altitude to reach the main waterfall. The beginning of the walk is thru a small village with both sides of the trail featuring stores.
After the village you followed the stream bed. The trail was pretty clear and at tough places rocks had been placed and anchored to make sure it was fairly easy to climb. Near the top there were a couple of places where you had to climb up fairly steep rocks.
Idder took charge of Ton and did a great job of getting her thru tight spots. She had a lot of confidence in his direction and his firm grip on her arm so she easily made it to the top.
When we reached the main waterfall we stopped and took pictures. There was a nice pool at the base of the waterfall but it wasn’t large. Ton had to be patient to get an unobstructed view of the fall as many people would go into the pool to get their picture taken.
At this point Idder told us a secret. He said there is a much easier trail just a little higher up the mountain. It is the trail they use to carry in the supplies for the restaurant at the falls. So following his direction we climbed up for another 100 yards and came to a easier trail that did not involve scrambling over rocks. The drops from this trail were steeper so he kept a close eye on us to make sure we stayed on track.
Everywhere you go in Morocco you are confronted by “guides” who want to show you around. We are skeptical of this as we like to explore on our own. But today the investment in our guide Idder was a good one.
