8 hrs, 5.0 kms

Day Totals: 13 hrs, 12 .3 kms



A car passes, offering a ride to my companions to Tafraoute where they're headed for the weekly market. I insist that I want to go on foot. But first I have some backtracking to do. I realize I didn’t really explore Tazgatoudm, where I stayed the night, so I need to head back and explore it a little bit. I reach the modern part of the town with it’s standard big, modern houses, a mosque and a few shops, then opt to dive into the oasis, following little shady paths alongside the canals to the next village.


Here there are just a scattering of large summer homes without a person in sight, so I decide not to even count it as a town. I head down towards the Tafraoute-Ait Baha highway where I do find what should definitely count as a town: Amaln proper, where there’s a strip of shops (mostly closed), a town hall, and even a little plaza with a couple of park benches . It seems all recently built, I guess to be a sort of "hub" for the surrounding villages. I grab a yoghurt and some buscuits and head on my way. I need to be in Tafraoute pretty soon to catch my bus back home.

I follow the road to Tafraoute, gazing back a the beautiful view: a long valley stretching out to the east and west, dotted with villages that beckon to me… in stark contrast with the sheer cliffs and mountains behind still partly enshrouded in mist. Yep. I definitely need to come back and do a Superhike here. Tafraoute proper is just the tip of the iceberg. There’s tons of stuff to discover here, both natural and man made.

But for now I must head on home, following a narrow valley where soon the cool rock formations start to appear, some of them covered with graffiti—probably those uncivilized, disrespectful city folk that come and tarnish this otherwise pristine region (yeah, I guess, technically I’m “city folk” too)…

I go right back to the same place where Youssef and I had some delicious cow head and beans 5 years ago. Unfortunately they’re all out of cow head, so I have to settle for chicken and beans—which is still pretty good. Then I hop on a bus and begin the long journey home.

I’ll be back.