Central Atlas 2005: Taghia, Koucer, Assif Melloul

A good source of information for this trek is Montagnes du Maroc, by Hervé Galley, Editions Olizane, Genève, Suisse, 2004. ISBN 2-88086-302-3 (in French)

The itinerary of my trek is shown on the map below. Click here to get a higher resolution map.

Village of Agoudim in the morning

North face of Djebel Aroudane

Azibs (shepherd houses) of Imi s’Tazart at the entrance of Aqqa n’Tazzart (canyon of Tazzart)

Views of Aqqa n’Tazzart. It is several hundred meters deep.

The higher portion of Aqqa n’Tazzart requires technical climbing and ropes, but an easy smaller canyon leads to the high plateau of Almou n’Toucht (populated during the spring and summer by the Aït Atta, a nomadic berber tribe coming from the Djebel Sahro). This photo shows the start of the smaller canyon from the plateau. It truly looks like a sink!

The cirque of Taghia, as it suddenly appears from the top of the “corkscrew” trail. The two huge canyons are Aqqa n’Taghia and Aqqa n’Kandate. Like Aqqa n’Tazzart, they are several hundred meters deep and sometimes very narrow.
(Click on the first two photos below for higher-resolution photos.)

Views of the corkscrew trail.

The corkscrew

Another view of Taghia cirque, from the opposite side

Aguerd n’Isfoula (the saddle that separates the Taghia cirque from the Aqqa n’Tourde). The Koucer plateau lies at the top of the right range in the background.

Village of Tourde.

Houses below Tourde.

Views of the high Ahancal region above Agoudim. The Koucer plateau is beyond the top cliff.

Views of the Koucer plateau… It’s a different world up here, populated by the Aït Abdi. (Bottom left: the well of Almou n’Ouhanad, one of the very rare locations where water is available.)