Explore Fez, Meknes and the Middle Atlas
At MIDELT, reached through a bleak plain of scrub and desert, you have essentially left behind the Middle Atlas. As you approach from the north, the greater peaks of the High Atlas appear suddenly through the haze, rising behind the town to a massive range, the Jebel Ayachi, at over 3700m. The sheer drama of the site – tremendous in the clear, cool evenings – is one of the most compelling reasons to stop over. Though the town is comprised of little more than a street with a few cafés and hotels and a small souk, it’s a pleasant place to break a journey, partly because so few people do and partly because of its easy-going (and predominantly Berber) atmosphere. Indeed, there is a hint of the frontier town about Midelt, a sense reinforced by the deserted mining settlements at Mibladene and El Ahouli, 22km to the northeast.
Midelt is so far inland that it has a microclimate of extremes: bitterly cold in winter and oppressively hot in summer. Consequently, one of the best times to visit is autumn, particularly at the start of October, when the town hosts a modest apple festival. Year-round, try to arrive for the huge Sunday souk, which spreads back along the road towards Azrou and is a fruitful hunting ground for quality carpets.
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Cirque de Jaffar
Cirque de Jaffar
The classic route around Midelt is the Cirque de Jaffar, a good piste that leaves the Midelt–Tattiouine road to edge its way through a hollow in the foothills of the Jebel Ayachi. The views of the High Atlas mountains are truly dramatic and the rugged road ensures an element of adventure – this is very different countryside to that immediately around Midelt, a place where eagles soar above the hills and mule tracks lead down to valleys dotted with the occasional kasbah. The route eventually loops back to the Midelt–Azrou road after 34km – turn right, onto the 3426, near the Maison Forestière de Mitkane.
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Climbing Jebel Ayachi
Climbing Jebel Ayachi
Seen from a distance, the long wave crest of Jebel Ayachi (3747m), 15km southwest of Midelt, appears to curve over the horizon, such is the scale of these dramatic mountains. A guide is recommended (see Midelt), but to tackle Ayachi independently you can take a taxi to the springs 2km beyond Tattiouine, from where an easy ascent leads to the many summits of this huge range, long thought to be the highest in Morocco (at 4167m, Toubkal tops it by some 400m). The only information in English is in Des Clark’s winter-walking Mountaineering in the Moroccan High Atlas and Michael Peyron’s Grand Atlas Traverse guide, which details the whole zone between here and the Toubkal massif; EWP’s 1:160,000 Rich & Midelt map covers the region.
