2-2½ HRS/6KM/352M ASCENT
From the camp site southwest of Abou Bnar, walk back to the 4WD track. Turn left and cross
the river, and walk south into the pine woodland. You will quickly come to a T-junction, where
you should keep on the right (the left goes downhill to Beni M’Hamed) where the path starts to
ascend again.
Keep on the main track, ignoring further side tracks and junctions. As you rise and go through
several mini-passes, the views return. To the west, the huge mass of Jebel Lakraa (2159m)
dominates the countryside.
By late morning you’ll reach Talassemtane village. A small sign indicates that you should turn
left off the 4WD track to the house of the park’s Eaux et Forêts guardien . There’s an official
camping site here.
Side Trips
The short walking day allows plenty of time to explore the area and watch wildlife, particularly
Barbary apes.
Head north, back along the 4WD track above the guardien’s house to a clearing and junction.
Here you turn right and follow the track east into mgou country. Troupes are relatively common
here, although they quickly retreat into the safety of the trees if you get too close. The track
bends south, giving great views out across the valley to the long ridge of Jebel Taloussisse
(2005m), before turning briefly east again. Here a trail on the right leads south over the spur of
Talassemtane (1941m) to a football pitch – strange, but true! – on an area of flat land. From
here it’s possible to make a rocky traverse west, back to the camp site.
Climbing Jebel Lakraa is another alternative for gung-ho trekkers. The best approach is from
the north of the mountain, trekking along the ridge to descend one of the stream gullies
southeast of the summit. However, there’s no fixed path and it’s a scramble in places. Allow
around 3½ hours return.
Day 5: Talassemtane Village to Bab Taza
2½-3½ HRS/13.5KM/825M DESCENT
The final day is a quick descent along the 4WD track to Bab Taza, where local kif cultivation is
much in evidence. The trail swings through a wide pasture and on through the cork woodland of
Jebel Setsou (1363m) before revealing the sprawl of Bab Taza (or so it seems after a few
days in the mountains) below.
In Bab Taza, there are quite a few cafes and a couple of grotty-looking hotels strung along
the main road. The main business seems to be in huge sacks of fertiliser used for growing kif.
Grands taxis leave regularly throughout the day for Chefchaouen (Dh12, 30 minutes) from the
western end of town.
EAST MEDITERRANEAN COAST
Melilla
POP 75,000
Who would expect to find 900 Modernist buildings, the second largest such collection outside
Barcelona, in North Africa? Yet here they are, along with one perfectly preserved medieval