School Adventure - Trails of the Jebel Sahro
- A School Adventure in the magical land of Morocco
- Trekking to remote kasbahs and oases
- Meeting nomadic Berber herdsmen at their summer camps
- The magic of Marrakech`s central square, the Djema-el-Fnaa
- Visiting a local school
One of the most welcoming of African countries, Morocco is a great place for a School Adventure. With its fascinating culture, superb trekking trails and excellent and improving accessibility from the UK, the growing popularity of Morocco is easy to understand. One of the best areas for trekking is the rarely-visited Jebel Sahro region, which lies between the peaks of the High Atlas and the Sahara. This remote mountainous region is accessed after a flight to Marrakech and then a drive across the Atlas to the oasis town of Ouarzazate and the fertile date-palm-filled Dades Valley. Our 4-day traverse of this beautiful desert world begins at the village of Tagdilt and takes us amongst rocky peaks and plateaux and through occasional green oases, where we find the red mud-built villages of the Berber people. During the winter season, from October through to February, the days are generally warm and the air crystal clear, with views northwards to the sparkling snow-capped peaks of the Atlas, including Mgoun (4068m) - Morocco's second highest peak. Also, at this time of year, we can expect to find the nomadic Ait Atta Berber herdsmen and their flocks on the high pastures. We climb to the top of Kouaouch (2600m) for far-reaching views and also pass close to the rocky portal of Bab n'Ali, Ali Baba's Gate. Walking on quiet trails, at relatively low altitudes and with a variety of spectacular scenery, this is a simply magical trek. On our return to Marrakech, we have a free day for exploration of the old Arab quarter of this fabulous city, which is famous for its souks (markets) and for the quality of its handicrafts. If you are looking for the classic Moroccan school adventure, this trip is hard to beat.
Educational Perspective
The French language is widely understood in Morocco and generally provides the best means of communicating with people whose mother tongue might be Arabic or Tamazight (the Berber language).
Amend or Extend
South of the Jebel Sahro, on the very edge of the Sahara, the town of Zagora is a great place to arrange a couple of days of camel trekking in the desert.
Is this holiday for you?
We recommend a minimum age of 14 years
The maximum altitude attained on this trek is not high and we will not be camping much above 2000 metres. This means that no-one should have any difficulty with acclimatisation to the altitude. However, the trek does involve a fair amount of ascent and descent (especially if you opt to climb the viewpoint peaks on our route) and a couple of the days are quite long. At the time of our visit, the weather is ideal for trekking, not too hot. For most of the route, we are following well-established routes between valleys and villages which are suitable for mules and very straightforward for trekkers. Crossing the passes on our route, we will encounter zig-zag trails on scree and some easy scrambling. You should be comfortable with walking on good trails, with some steep ascents and descents, for up to 5 or 6 hours each day and for several days continuously. Each KE School Adventure is given a grade, taking into account the amount of walking involved, the difficulty of the terrain, the remoteness, the altitude and the length of the trip. The trips are graded on a scale from 1 to 10, with 10 being the most challenging. This trip is graded 3.
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