From Ain Leuh to Beni Millal

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We got a lift over the mountains from Ain Leuh to Les Sources del Oum er Rbai with Big Mo in his spacious mercedes. It was our first experience of the Middle Atlas, and I was surprised how many pine trees and stone walls there were at first. Sort of like a dry version of Scotland. After a while this gave way to drier, open landscape full of goats and berber herders, grouped around wells.

The Sources de L’Oum er Rbai (Morocco’s longest river) are made up of 45 cool springs, which in summer is a great respite from the heat. They are in a narrow gorge, and terraces have been built into the gorge lined with carpets where we sprawled for hours, eating and chatting with Big Mo. The river is also good for swimming further down.

The next day we walked up the gorge and climbed out the top by a dried up waterfall. This brought us into Berber country proper, and we walked for the day through farms and villages without cars, electricity or running water, isolated up in the hills. That evening we came to Aguelmeme Azigza, a crater lake popular with Moroccans in summer because it’s quite cool compared to the hot cities.


We got a lift into Khenifra with some crazy guys booting it down the road in their Renault Espace, listening to amazing French rap music. We amble around the market in Khenifra for a while before getting a Grand Taxi to Beni Millal, the next big town in the night.

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