Trek Morocco – 5th-9th September 2007
Emily’s trekking diary
We arrived at about 2am to Marrakech on Thursday morning and set off to base camp at 8am on the same morning, we arrived at a small Berber village called Imlil at 10am in the ever warming sun to start our climb. There were 9 people in our group, plus our local guide, Abdullah who knew everyone in the villages we passed through and educated us about Berber life. We were lucky enough to have a local family as well who catered for us and whose mules carried our main rucksacks & all the camping equipment.
After 4hours of walking on an uneven, steady incline track, in the now sweltering heat (36 degrees) we stopped for lunch by a mountain waterfall and dipped our feet in the icy water. We then had another 5 hours of trekking before we reached our camp at just over 2,000m. As the sun went down, the temperature dropped and the wind got stronger & colder, so we were all relieved when we reached the camp just before dark.
We all ate together in a traditional Berber tent, all huddled round in jumpers, hats & scarves & were briefed about the following day, thinking that day's 9 hours of trekking in the heat was the worst part over...how wrong...We were in our tents asleep by 8.30pm after being informed of our 3.45am alarm call, and that we needed to get to the 4,107m summit and back to our camp in one day, in fact all before lunch.
So, off we set in the cold, dark and windy dawn with head torches on, all picking our way through the boulders & streams. When the sun hit the top of the mountains, it was stunning and I think lifted all our spirits for the next leg of the climb. The route then got steeper and trickier, having to actually climb up huge rocks; you had to rest every few metres as it was so steep. It was at this point which our guide had to make the decision to send back 3 of the trekkers as they were struggling so much & slowing the whole group down. It was really sad as they had come so far & we were only 4hours from the summit, but an even steeper climb lay ahead. So, just the 6 of us set off, with the summit now in sight.
Eventually we reached the summit and it was an amazing feeling, with breathtaking views of the Sahara Desert and mountains as far as the eye could see. It was also very overwhelming as each of our group went off & had their own little moment, a couple of whom had very recently lost loved ones to bowel cancer, and one of which had recently had it. Very humbling.
The trek back down was tricky, took a lot of concentration and took a long time. I sat down for 10 minutes in the sun and feel fast asleep, exhausted; so when we saw the camp we'd left behind at dawn, it was a great feeling. We were back at the camp, all smiling inanely and congratulating each other by 3.30pm, after 11 hours climbing up and tumbling down.
We all had a big lunch together & then slept as the sun went down, and the wind got up. All of our tents collapsed in the gale force winds as we tried to sleep for another early start back to base camp. Up and off at 6am for the hike back down, it seemed to take forever to get down, but as the track became less steep it was really quite enjoyable, especially knowing we could celebrate when we got back to Marrakech; I've never craved a cold beer quite so much. Finally we got to Imlil and said goodbye to our lovely family who had looked after us so well, and hit the road to Marrakech. The beers certainly flowed that evening...
We had a wonderful experience, achieved so much and of course raised money to help the fight against bowel cancer. We are already thinking of the next challenge as everything about this event from start to finish has been nothing but positive.
