Explore Fez, Meknes and the Middle Atlas
Enclosed by apricot, olive and orange groves, the dusty Berber village of EL KSIBA, 4km from the N8, serves primarily as a jumping-off point for the journey to Imilchil and across the High Atlas, a dizzying trip that eventually wends its way through the Todra Gorge to Tinghir, at the heart of the great southern oases routes.
Aghbala, Ikassene and the Plateau des Lacs
South of El Kisba, the R317 (also known here as the Trans-Atlas road) twists through varied forest to cross the Tizi n’Isli pass. At the junction just beyond this, an unnamed road branches eastward to Aghbala (65km from El Ksiba), a busy market town with a Wednesday souk, before eventually connecting with the R503 Beni Mellal–Midelt road – an attractive circuit, surfaced but in a poor state. Staying on the R317, the route south to Imilchil provides a spectacular itinerary, with steep drops off the roadside and constant hairpin climbs and descents. Beyond Ikassene, something of a staging post on this route, the road improves as it hauls upwards past Tassent (periodic landslides may block it) to a high valley and a col, giving views of the the Plateau des Lacs – the twin mountain lakes of Tislit (near the road) and Isli (pristine and much larger, but a 10km walk away), named after a thwarted couple from Berber folklore, whose tears fell to form the two lakes.
Imilchil and beyond
Despite losing some of its striking old buildings, there’s still a certain beauty about IMILCHIL (115km from El Ksiba), the main draw of the central High Atlas and the destination for many trans-Atlas travellers. The village serves as the regular souk (Friday) for the whole region but is more famous for its September moussem, the so-called Marriage Market of Aït Haddidou, which attracts streams of tourist traffic up the surfaced road from Rich.
Beyond Imilchil, the R317 runs through fertile land to Bou Azmou, where it heads east to Rich on the Midelt–Er Rachidia road. To fully cross the Atlas, you’ll need to press on south to the friendly village of Agoudal, at which point the road splits: southwest for the fairly tortuous 6905 piste via the Tizi n’Ouano (2750m) to Msemrir and the Dàdes Gorge; southeast for the recently paved route via the Tizi n’ Tigherhouzine (2706m) to Aït Hani, Tamtatoucht and the Todra Gorge.
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Imilchil Moussem: The Marriage market of Aït Haddidou
Imilchil Moussem: The Marriage market of Aït Haddidou
The world-famous Imilchil Moussem – the “Fête des Fiancés” or “Marriage Market” – is the mother of all Moroccan mountain souks, a gathering of thirty thousand or more Berbers from the Aït Haddidou, Aït Morghad, Aït Izdeg and Aït Yahia tribes. Over the three days of the September fair (Friday to Sunday), animals are traded; clothes, tools and provisions bought and sold; and distant friends and family members reunited before the first snowfalls isolate their high villages. What makes it especially highly charged, however, is that it is here the region’s youngsters come to decide whom they’re going to marry.
The tradition derives from colonial times, when the officials from the Bureau des Affaires Indigènes used to insist the Berbers assembled in Agdoul, site of a yearly transhumance fair, to register births, deaths and marriages. After independence, the custom was encouraged by the Moroccan tourist office, which the locals blame for propagating the myth that the marriages contracted here were entered into spontaneously. In fact, the matches are nearly all arranged in advance and merely formalized at the moussem. All the same, the fair provides the perfect opportunity for unmarried Berbers – particularly women trapped at altitude for most of the year – to survey their prospects. Dressed in traditional finery, with hefty jewellery and eyes rimmed with heavy black kohl, the girls parade around in groups, flirting outrageously with the boys as eagle-eyed elder relatives look on. Later, singing, dancing and drumming give both sexes further opportunities to mingle.
Unfortunately, the influx of tourism has seriously compromised the authenticity of the event, and while local life continues with its serious market and marriage elements, a pure folklore festival for tourists has been shifted up to Lac Tislit. Neither part is actually at Imilchil, of course, and the date is not always easy to discover – contact the ONMT for details. Rates for beds, food and water (which has to be brought in by lorry) tend to be greatly inflated, so fix prices in advance; it’s also advisable to bring plenty of warm clothing as the nights at this altitude (over 2000m) can get bitterly cold by the end of September.
