Imlil

10 October 2022

It was wonderful to return to the mountains and the village of Imlil.

This time I stayed in a family run Gite Tizi Muzik on the outskirts of town. The owner Hassan and the manager, Mohammad were amazing; making everything comfortable and unique. Mohammad's vegetarian tagines are the best yet.

I also realised that it is possible to hike alone in the valleys around Imlil staying in local gites and refuges. I spent three days doing just this. One through the Azzadene valley and the other in part of the Rhirhaia Imenane valley.

The hike to the Azzedene valley involved going over the Tizi h'Mzik pass following part of the route being run by marathon runners on that day. On the pass there was a man selling tea and orange juice - a welcomed break at the highest point of the hike. From there I traversed around the mountain to the village of Azib Tamsoult and started to climb towards the highest refuge in the valley in Lepiney. This was a wonderful hike passing waterfalls along the way. I met a group of crossfit enthusiasts from Marrakesh - they were on one of their club's social outings. The refuge at Lepiney is a small cozy brick building perched on the mountainside over looking the valley. I stayed for a while to chat to the guy who manages it throughout the year and two Moroccan mountaineers that had just returned from scaling some of the nearby peaks. A unique place in a incredible location. I had not brought any food with me and didn't want to burden the generosity of the group, so choice not to stay their the night and return further down the mountain to a refuge at Azib Tamsoult. Here there were plenty of beds available and an evening meal of spaghetti served to people like me who were not with trekking groups. I felt safe, warm and welcomed in this accommodation. in the evening, a thunder storm worked its way across the valley - we watched the lightening and the incredible impact on the valley, the terrace.

In the morning I continued walking down the valley and decided to go all the way to the junction with the road leading back to Asni and Imlil.

All along the valley, people are collecting apples from the valley orchards and carrying them up in plastic crates to the roadside collection points. It appears that the local growers do the growing, picking, packing and carrying to the collection points and then there is some middle man who is making sure the crates of apples are collected and sent on to the markets. I wondered about the payment and who gets what for this labour intensive work.

In Tassa Wirgane, I stopped for tea at Das Tassa and met the owner, Brahim. He was able to give me more information about the livelihoods of the villagers, his work in the association and his vision for his mountain retreat. His accommodation provides some wonderful bohemian styled rooms with views over the valley below; a secret get away for those needing peace, quiet and inspiration.

Along the way, I met other villagers. At one section, a young man accompanied me until he got a motorbike lift. He was a trainee policeman in Marrakesh and was home to visit his family. He gave me an apple which had been packed by his mum.

Down at the road junction, I took a lift with a young women, Marianne and her driver. The driver was actually her boss who drove her to and from her home in Asni to the auto service shop at the road junction, twice a day. She told me she could drive but did not have enough money yet to buy a car. Her boss loved having two women in the back of his old Mercedes and deliberately drove slowly to our destination.

The local bus ride from Asni to Imlil is in an old green bus costing 10DM. It's a fabulous way to meet people and to get some little insight into daily life in this valley.