Day 4: Megdaz to Amezri (entry from Central High Atlas and Tessaout Valley Traverse)

Introduction

This entry is from Central High Atlas and Tessaout Valley Traverse: A journal of a short hike in the Atlas. More entries are available via the map.

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Description

Made an early start out of Megdaz, stopping briefly to resupply. The only shop sold canned sardines, canned mackerel and chocolate wafers so we resupplied with some canned sardines, canned mackerel and chocolate wafers.

There is a substantial new road linking Megdaz to Ait Ain Ito and beyond. In Ait Ain Ito the river was muddy and the level of the river was close to the road surface of the bridge which was not reassuring. We had a leisurely breakfast at the very clean guesthouse in Ait Ain Ito and I also had a welcome shower.

When we walked up the valley from Ait Ain Ito we were immediately wading through braids in the river that were about knee deep and quite fast flowing. There is normally a 4wd track along here but it was about 50% washed away, crumbly and loose rock, flashy rivers and steep slopes do not make it easy to build roads that last in the Atlas.

The valley is stunning, imagine a smaller Grand Canyon with villages and farms.

We chose to stick to the river rather than take the higher route and it was pretty tricky getting through some bits because of the size of the river and steepness and looseness of the canyon walls. It could definitely be dangerous in flood conditions.

As we passed through Ichbbakene we picked up a sizable crowd of boys asking for un dirham or un stylo. One had a go at pinching my socks from my pack, they were merely mischievous but having my stuff messed with makes me very cross. Two of the village boys followed us for several kilometers long after the others had given up trying to make themselves useful but eventually returned home disappointed and sans un dirham or un stylo.

We walked down the track from Ichbbakene to Amezri and stayed in a gite there. It was grubby and (probably because we were unexpected and out of season), the food was meagre however there were no great camping options in this area.

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