since children will enjoy riding mules on the steeper sections and through rivers. The landscape
is incredibly varied, ranging from lush valleys to rocky gorges within a day.
The Berber architecture you’ll see along the way includes ighremt , houses hand-built from
stone and clay in a distinctive High Atlas style that has more in common with architecture from
Yemen and Afghanistan than decorative Moroccan styles. These stone houses blend in so well
with the landscape that they may only be identifiable by contrasting white-stone window
frames, painted blue doors, and thatching poking out from flat roofs.
Arrival Day
To stretch your legs and camp overnight, you could stroll down the valley to Agerssif to a
riverside camping spot shaded by walnut trees near the bridge. Alternatively, you might make
the hour-long walk down the road from Agouti to Tabant for supplies and bubbling hot tajines at
Café des Amis. There is accommodation around Tabant and right near the trailhead in Agouti.
THE TREK AT A GLANCE
Duration four days
Distance 57km
Standard medium
Start Agouti
Finish Aït Alla
Highest point Tizi n’Rougoult (2860m)
Accommodation camping and gîtes
Public transport yes
Summary This walk through the heart of the M’Goun will suit most trekkers, even younger ones. There is one long day of
walking, but this varied trek crosses stunning mountain landscapes, and travels through river gorges, up one river and down
another into remote valleys.Day 1: Agouti to Rougoult
6-7 HRS/17KM/326M ASCENT & DESCENT
After a leisurely 1½ hour walk south along the road from Agouti, a tarmac road forks to the left,
down from the main road. Continue on this road, or take a steeper, shorter path that zigzags
down into the valley, rejoining the tarmac road at the village of Agerssif (1469m), which you
should reach less than three hours from Agouti. Agerssif sits at the confluence of the Lakhdar
and Bougomez Rivers, and there’s a good resting/camping spot by the bridge.
The Lakhdar Valley narrows as the road climbs its south side. A half-hour upstream is the
picturesque village of Taghoulit (1519m), surrounded by juniper trees, and with a simple gîte
(per person Dh45) . The road scales the gorge, then enters the broad, fertile upper valley, until
it reaches Sebt Aït Bououili , where you’ll find Gîte Hassan Benkoum (per person Dh40) –
but we advise continuing to Rougoult for a head start tomorrow. Several valleys meet at Sebt
Aït Bououili, and looking up past the village of Abachkou you’ll notice Jebel Rat (3781m).
A graded piste road heads left to the south, through a valley of waving wheat and barley