// Trip Reports  

Report name	Dronfield School Morocco 2007
Date submitted	Aug-07

16 very excited Dronfield School pupils, 2 teachers and Alex – the Adventureworks leader all met on Saturday morning to take a bus to Heathrow airport. After meeting up with Sam – another Adventureworks leader at the airport and some delays in transit we arrived at our hotel in Marrakech.

An early start saw us making our way up into the Atlas Mountains and a first glimpse of life in the hills. On arrival at Oukaimeden we had our first experience of camp life that would be a major feature of our expedition. The group learnt how to pitch their tents and we had our first meal in the traditional communal tent. Late afternoon we went on a 3 hr trek was a good warm up and a chance to see some of the ancient rock carving on the outskirts of town.

Monday morning we had a full days walk to Tachedirt where we stayed for 3 nights and began work on our community project. 2 days were spent restoring and rebuilding an irrigation canal. The group really worked hard and were very pleased to have helped the villagers of Tachedirt. The Project ended with an epic football match on a rocky, dusty pitch overlooking the village and valleys below.

We now began the main stage of our trip; the 4-day Duke of Edinburgh Gold expedition followed by the opportunity to climb Morocco’s highest mountain Toubkal 4,167m.

The first day began with a long, long ascent to Tizi-n-Liket at 3,616m and a decent to a camp next to a lovely river. The next day was the toughest so far. A gentle ascent through a lovely valley brought us over a pass and then into very hot weather, a long decent was gruelling in the heat but the mint tea given to us on arrival at our camp was the best yet. Day 3 was nice and short so we all had a welcome afternoon rest relaxing and washing clothes at the beautiful Lac d’Infi. An early start was needed for the highest point so far; Tizi-n-Ouanoums 3,200m. The group did extremely well on this strenuous walk and on arrival at the Toubkal Refuge we were able to announce that everyone had passed their Gold D of E expedition.

At 4.30am the next morning we began our ascent of Mt Toubkal, sadly 2 pupils were unable to make it to the summit and had to turn back with the teacher Duncan and one of our Moroccan guides. However 14 pupils, 1 teacher, 1 Moroccan guide, Sam and Alex reached the summit in good time and despite seeing many other parties on the way up, the top was quiet had the stunning views to ourselves.

After descending to the hut for a quick lunch we all carried on down to Aremd for a night of comfort before a short walk to our transportation to Marrakech and then onto Essaouira and the coast.

On arriving at Essaouira a few swam in the hotel pool and that evening we all had a group meal in the lovely walled city. The main activity the next day was shopping and the group divided to explore the Medina and try out their haggling skills. After a fantastic seafood lunch we indulged in a bit more bargain hunting, and then a leisurely stroll down the beach to rendezvous with our beachside camp and camels. The evening’s activities included some football, a brief paddle in the Atlantic and then some singing and dancing around our campfire surrounded by camels.

Sadly our last day began, and we had to make our way back to Marrakech. We had a great evening in the Djemma el-Fna, followed by our last group meal together. The expedition had been a wonderful experience and the group didn’t want to leave Morocco, but an early night is followed by the flight back to the UK