A couple of days spent travelling across the Middle Atlas region of Morocco, from Fes to Midelt, passing through some wonderful scenery.
First stop though was the slightly surreal Ifran, with it’s Swiss inspired architecture.
Second stop was to see Barbary Macaque monkeys, which were well trained to receive food from people. Thankfully they seemed far less aggressive than the monkeys I’ve come across in India and Myanmar.
Our lunch spot wouldn’t have been out of place in New Zealand, with autumn colours by a small river and sheep nearby.
Seemingly in the middle of nowhere we got out to walk, with great views of the High Atlas Mountains, the Jebel Ayachi range is over 3,700m above sea level.
We went for a short walk to a relatively impressive canyon.
This ran down to the small Berber village of Berrem, home to around 200 people. We went for a walk through it, stopping for mint tea in a local’s house, getting the chance to understand a little more about their way of life.
We finished the day at a hotel about 10km from the French garrison town of Midelt, which offered lovely sunset views.
The next day was another long day of driving but with frequent breaks. First as the local weekly market was setting up.
We drove through a mountainous desert landscape, much like ones I’ve travelled through in Australia, though less red and vegetated.
We stopped for photos as the road passed along the side of a canyon.
There were wonderful views further on of a lush green town at the bottom of the valley.
And more spectacular landscape views from the road.
This bright blue reservoir was a somewhat unexpected sight.
To finish with views of the Ziz Valley from our lunch spot and a lookout.
