home about us reviews videos travel tips travel services eco shop ezine blog contact us

Morocco holiday, Toubkal & High Atlas

country:Morocco
location:Atlas Mountains
trip type:Moderate / strenuous trekking holidays
departures:2008: 7 Sep, 14 Sep, 28 Sep
price:From £754 - £774 (15 days) including flights from the UK, from £455 excluding flights
read 4 travellers reviews
the amazing things you'll be doing
This High Atlas trek uses a route devised to avoid other trekkers. It crosses high passes into remote valleys and then allows an (optional) ascent of Mt. Toubkal. A moderately strenous walk, the reward is some of the most stunning scenery in the Atlas mountains. Although we camp by necessity, we are rarely far away from the Berber villages, some of which see few Europeans. This trek crosses the watershed of the Atlas range, so we see the scenery of both the northern slopes and something of the sub-Saharan villages to the south. After the trek we return to the Imperial City of Marrakech for some last minute bargaining in the souks.

day-by-day itinerary
Day 1:Depart London; Marrakech.
Day 2:Drive to Atlas, walk to Arroumd.
Day 3-4:Over Tizi Mzic and through uninhabited valleys to Tizi 'n' Tikent.
Day 5-6:Head through gorge of Assif Aguerda to Agoundis Valley.
Day 7-8:Through summer pastures to Tizi 'n' Tifira; descend to Saharan side of High Atlas.
Day 9-11:Trek by Lac D'Ifni; climb to Tizi Ouanoums.
Day 12:Toubkal Climb.
Day 13:To Marrakech
Day 14:Free day in Marrakech
Day 15:Fly to London.
travellers' tales
The most memorable part of our holiday was walking through the villages and the contact with Barber people. The scenery was also fantastic.  (more)
small group adventure holiday
Typically you will be sharing your experiences with between 4-20 like minded travellers (depending on the trip, operator and how many others are booked on the trip) and you'll have a group leader with you. Whether you are travelling alone or with friends its good value, and a great way to meet new people! While itineraries are pre-planned there is some flexibility and you'll have plenty of privacy. This trip will appeal to travellers of all ages who enjoy meeting new people as well as seeing new places.
award winner
This tourism business won an award in our 2004 Responsible Tourism Awards - organised by responsibletravel.com in association with The Times, World Travel Market and Geographical, Magazine of the Royal Geographical Society



how this holiday makes a difference
As a part of our continued commitment to responsible tourism, we operate this trip in a way that aims to reduce impacts and to give as much back as possible to the local communities

You can visit the Terre des Jeunes project in Marrakech on this trip. We support the project which is based just outside Marrakech and was set up to help young, underprivileged children, to be integrated back into society. The school gives these children a support network, offers them education along with the skills necessary to gain a gardening apprenticeship. They are then supported in the task of finding employment at local hotels. The projects aims are both to help these children and to promote environmental awareness.

We use a locally run operator, who employs local leaders. We have worked with them for many years and over this time have built up an excellent working relationship. We have regular training sessions with the local leaders to help them in all aspects of their jobs, to encourage them to think about the responsible tourism issues and to implement these ideas on the trips. We are working with our operator on issues like reducing our impact by not buying plastic drinking bottles but developing a refill system on our centre based trips.

Although this trip is predominantly camping, we do use locally owned and run accommodation on the hotel nights. This contributes directly to the local communities as local staff are employed and locally produced and sourced goods are bought for the accommodation benefiting the wider community. The group is limited to 16 and this small group sizes means we can stay in small locally run accommodation so helping to benefit the local communities who employ local staff and source supplies locally. This also means that the groups do not have a dramatic affect on the local communities in terms of litter and resources.

We have at our offices worked to reduce our carbon footprint through a reduction of energy use and energy conservation measures. We also actively reduce the waste produced by having active reduction and recycling policies in place. We run annual staff workshops on Responsible Tourism. Global warming is a reality and to help you make a difference by reducing the carbon dioxide that is produced when you travel we offer a chance to carbon balance your flights. We encourage all our clients to do this and do so for all our staff travel. Go on do your bit!

Tourism can be good and bad for destinations & local people.

We carefully screen every holiday against our criteria for responsible travel.

'Look behind the brochure' to find how each holiday makes a difference (see left).

We don't claim to be perfect - there is no global accreditation - but we've led the way since 2001 and screened 1000's of holidays.

We invite every traveller to write a review about their experiences and responsible tourism.

This valuable feedback is sent to the people who run the holidays. We keep a very close eye on it and take off holidays that don't live up to our standards.

Convert currencies