Early in April I invited a group of,
slightly, adventurous friends from Europe to have ourselves a big tour through
the beauty of Talassemtane Park. It was a great opportunity to explore the park
better and to experience backpacking in the park for a longer period.
After arriving in the city of Chefchaouen we
decided to go south first, as we had decided to sleep at least one night in the
inn of Khizana. The grand taxis can
bring you for a small price to the nearby village of Derdara, where an
interesting track starts that will immediately plunge you in some beautiful
landscapes. For us it also meant a first experience in walking through some
heavy Moroccan rain. We had the bad luck that all the rain the country was
lacking during the winter, decided to fall in the month of April, just when we
had planned our hike. As it was our first day, we had planned to still take it
a bit easy, and this walk to Khizana for about 5 hours was an ideal way to
start our trekking.
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| The track between Derdara and Khizana |
Arriving at Khizana also meant a happy
reencounter with Mohamed Ahbiss, the inn owner of Dar Khizana. He immediately
received us with some hot tea and once again he had a great dinner to serve in the
evening. To enjoy his hospitality to the fullest, we decided to stay another
night in this inn, so the next day we did the circuit of Jbel Khizana (see ‘between
the parks’).
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| Breakfast in the inn of Dar Khizana |
Then, the real serious work started. The next
morning we left early towards our first goal of the day: the city of Bab Taza.
Next to Chefchaouen, this small city is considered one of the ideal points to
enter the territory of the Talassemtane National Park. Before doing so, it’s
also a perfect place to do some last minute shopping. After collecting great
quantities of bread, olives and dates we felt ready to continue our journey. It
would prove a first serious test for our little group, as from now on we would
be walking upwards for the rest of the day. As if the rain wasn’t enough to
make it a bit more challenging, we also got some hail on our heads, but
fortunately a friendly local family gave us a place to shelter and a nice cup
of tea when we needed it most. When eventually we arrived at the camping site
Talassemtane, between two of the highest mountain peaks of the park, we set up
our tents for the night.
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Taking a pause
on the picnic ground of Taria
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The next morning we met with the biggest
surprise of our trip: it was snowing which created some magnificent landscapes
and even our tents were covered with a layer of snow. As it was freezing cold
in the tents by the time we woke up, we left at 8 in the morning for what would
be one of the longest walks any of us had ever made in one day. As we preferred
to sleep in a warm bed the following night, to compensate for the rather cold
night on the camping site, we wanted to reach the Café Refuge Rueda before
nightfall, but we realized this wouldn’t be easy.
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| Rural village in the Talassemtane Park |
We had one big advantage however, from now on
we would be going downhill for most of the time. With good hopes we took a good
start. It would however also be the first day that we got a bit lost as well.
Normally you can help yourself perfectly with the maps that are provided by the
directorate of the park and with some help that is happily provided by the
inhabitants of the park. This day we decided to try a little shortcut through a
particularly attractive valley, but after one hour of rather difficult tracks
we realized that we would probably never find another passage than the one we
came from. The consequence was that it was after 7 o’clock in the evening when
we finally arrived in the inn of Café Refuge Rueda, which meant that we had
walked for almost 12 hours. Off course, we were very happy to arrive in a warm
place where a hot tajine was already
waiting for us.
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| View in the Talassemtane Park |
We felt that we deserved a day of relaxing so
the next day we stayed mostly in the inn, but not without discovering one of
their newest activities: mountain biking. With the rain from the previous days,
mountain climbing sadly wasn’t possible (see ‘A new paradise for mountain
climbing’).
The last day of our hike we still had to get
back to Chefchaouen, which was a perfect ending of our tour. The walk took
about 6 hours, but we did it in a very easy rhythm and with a lot of pauses to
enjoy the landscapes for a last time and the sun that had appeared at last.
When we finally arrived in Chefchaouen we all felt tired but very satisfied. We
had seen a lot of amazing landscapes and all types of possible weather, but off
course this had made the trip even more adventurous. So, the Talassemtane Park
gained some new fans.
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