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Morocco Expedition
In the half term of the spring term 1999, ASM Lloyd led an expedition of 14 wide-eyed and bushy tailed Welbexians ranging from Juniors to college prefects via quite a few in the middle. Our aim was to experience high altitude trekking, our first expedition which was slightly different from a package holiday (and to get a nice tan too!).
After a late arrival at Marrakesh, a night in the Hotel All, and more importantly our first taste of mint tea, the following day our team headed towards the High Atlas Mountains. Transport was supplied as far as Imlil but then we had to walk with our kit until we reached the Café Lac D’Ifni. This was a sharp eye opener to what walking with heavy kit at high altitudes was going to be like for the following days!
The first night that the team spent in the mountains was certainly a cultural experience as we were lead into a Berber village that was on the opposite side of the gorge from the Café Lac D’Ithi. The village looked like it was smeared over the hillside and clinging on for its life. Every house that had been built subsequently to the first lot used somebody else’s roof as their foundations and the alleys in between buildings looked more as if they occurred by accident than design!
Our first day of walking was used as an acclimatization period so that we were used to the altitude. Altitude was in fact one of the major problems while we were walking, and Tizi Mzic (2400m) was the name of the pass that we climbed in order to acclimatize on our first full day.
We had a very nice picnic lunch half way down the hillside which consisted of a couple of tinned sardines, a plate of salad, a bit of bread and the essential: mint tea!!
That evening, as we were now staying in the Café Lac D’ffni, we wandered down to the local schoolyard to challenge the locals to a game of football.
Our second day of walking was definitely the most physically demanding, as there was a five-hour steep ascent to the summit of "La Grande Noege" (3300m).
We were promised views of the plains as far as Marrakech and across the High Atlas Mountain range from the summit, but unfortunately low cloud limited those spectacular views to about 20 metres in front of your face.
After such exertions on Tuesday, Wednesday was definitely used as a recovery day, with a short trip to some stunning cascades, which gave the opportunity for the closest thing to a shower in the middle of Morocco. In the afternoon a couple of donkeys were brought to our camp and we each took it in turns to have a ride on them.
After the easy Wednesday, the This led to us achieving the summit of Tisi Ntugout (2800m group felt that we needed an achievement of note for the last full day of walking so we pushed ourselves as much as we could.!), our last piece of meaningful walking of the expedition, and the remainder of our time in Morocco consisted of extreme shopping in the Souks of Marrakech until the early hours of Saturday morning, giving us a taste of the country’s less mountainous culture.
Overall the expedition was a brilliant experience, something different from anything we’ve done in the past and a good chance to put ourselves to the test in a very exciting and adventurous environment!
