TREAKING TALES
INTO THE MOUNTAINS
Take it slowly on a mule trek through the foothills of the Atlas Mountains and make time for chance encounters along the way, from reviving cups of tea with farmers to poignant conversations with local women
The air is rich with the scent of ripe figs. Bulbuls are chirping in the walnut trees and Bia Azabi, my Amazigh (Berber) guide, is teaching me a song as we walk.
“Wallah henn i koum, wallah henn i ah...”
“Why are we singing, Bia?” I ask.
“She says she’s singing because she’s happy!” says our interpreter. I’d be happy, too, if I’d been brought up in a beautiful valley like this, full of orchards, roses and wild oleander, and earning a living as a community guide. Bright-eyed and aged somewhere around 60, Bia hails from the M’Goun Valley, a region in central Morocco so remote it gets just a few, brief paragraphs in my 580-page guidebook. It’s around 200 miles east of Marrakech by road and not far from the most popular hikes in the High Atlas mountains, but it’s relatively little explored. Over the coming days, I’ll be walking with Bia through the valley from village to village on a 35-mile hike.
This story is from the April 2022 edition of National Geographic Traveller (UK).
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This story is from the April 2022 edition of National Geographic Traveller (UK).
Start your 7-day Magzter GOLD free trial to access thousands of curated premium stories, and 9,000+ magazines and newspapers.
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