We set off at 9 a.m. for the mountains. The day trip included driving up to the mountains, stopping at a Berber House, and then hiking to a waterfall in the Ourika Valley. It was all easily arranged through the Riad (house/hotel) where we stayed. The drive is roughly an hour and a half to the waterfall but you stop at about an hour in for a good view of the mountains around you. There you can take pictures and see the Ourika river below. I believe there is some type of law that the drivers (on these tours) have to stop every so often. After the brief stop we were on our way again!
Before we got to Setti-Fatma, the village where we would be able to hike the waterfall, we made a stop at a Berber house. We got to go inside and have a tour where everything was explained to us. This is a real house where people live so they ask that you leave a donation at the end. I am guessing this would be the families source of income. Plus they have a shop. They do try and encourage you to buy the souvenirs in the shop but we just walked quickly through that part and left a donation.
This house has a mill in it that grinds the grain. It runs from the power of the water below.
It was so cold that day that you wonder how people stay warm (apart from the fire). Berber houses are built to stay cool in the summer and warm in the winter but it was cold! I find it interesting to see how other people and cultures live. It makes you realize how easy and convenient things are that we take for granted.
When we were done with the Berber house we piled back in the car and went the rest of the way to Setti-Fatma where we parked in the smallest parking lot ever. I still don’t know how we got into the space! There you find a guide who will take you to the waterfall. You can do it on your own but it is better with a guide, especially if you want to climb a little further up past many of the other people. It is also nice because they know the way!
We set off right away! You have to walk on this small wobbly walkway over the stream before you head up a winding path that takes you through many little souvenir stalls. Once you get past that you get to where you are situated between two mountains. There you follow a sort of path as you climb up/over/around many rocks and boulders.
Once you get to the top of that section there is a small place where you can sit down at a table and get a drink. You can see how they keep the drinks cold!
Not all of us enjoyed the hike (cough* cough*…Mum). She decided to sit and have mint tea while the rest of us went up further. It was quite steep and narrow going up. After that short section you reach a viewing platform where you can see out between the mountains.
I saw this big boulder in front of where the waterfall was and asked the guide if we could go there. He seemed a bit surprised we wanted to go further up, but said sure. There were a lot less people on this part but the path does get quite narrow! Plus, you are still climbing up and over rocks!
We finally made it! The view was amazing! You could see goats further up on the sides of the very steep mountains. I don’t even think people could get there without ropes. The guide said you could hike for a few more hours and get further up (I would have loved to) but we needed to head back.
Going back down was actually harder than going up. The hardest part was the middle section. By that time the path was more crowded, making the steep narrow section that is only wide enough to walk single file, very congested. It was also wet and slippery! We finally made it back to my mum and her mint tea! From there we headed back down the first section of rocks and then the winding path through the stalls.
We thanked the guide and went to find a place for lunch. Many of the restaurants had large three course set menus. We only wanted something small so had to ask the servers if it was possible just to have a sandwich. We ended up with chicken sandwiches which were ok.
After that we found our driver and head back to Marrakech!
At dinner that night we were talking about the waterfall we saw and how that for it being the highest waterfall in North Africa it didn’t seem very high. We also thought it was strange that it was only an hour and a half drive when we had read it was meant to take three hours. So we started comparing our pictures to those online of Ouzoud Waterfall (where we thought we went). We even tried to reason that maybe it looked different because the water was low…
Looking closer we realized the waterfalls/mountains were not even the right shape. When trip advisor was talking about boat tours and there was no place for a boat where we went we finally admitted we had gone somewhere else. Then we started looking at a map trying to see where we had actually gone. I found it on Google maps street view after about 5 minutes of searching.
We mentioned it to one of the guys that worked in the Riad. He confirmed we had visited Ourika Valley Waterfalls. He said the drive was a lot shorter and there was more to see along the way! We all really enjoyed it. I especially loved the hiking and that I wasn’t in the car for over six hours.
If you are looking for a waterfall to visit from Marrakech I would check this one out!
Buffy x
