A women-only trip with Intrepid Travel reveals unseen sides of Moroccan culture and communities, says Tracey Davies
“Salaam alaikum!” says Amina warmly, welcoming us into her riad home. With its intricately decorated wall tiles, low-slung couches scattered with colourful silk cushions, muslin-draped archways and more silver urns than even Aladdin could polish, it’s like walking into Liberty’s Moroccan floor. I’m immediately in love.
I’m in Marrakech with a 12-strong group of female travel agents to experience an Intrepid Travel trip – but for now, we’ve just landed and the heavenly scent of cooking is making our tummies rumble.
Amina, who was one of the first female mountain guides in Morocco, now opens her home to visitors looking for traditional Moroccan hospitality.
“Now I’m a couscous and tagine guide,” she grins, eyes twinkling. “You will have many tagines, so I have prepared rfissa, a traditional dish with chicken, lentils and eggs that we eat on special occasions – such as this!”
Served in a huge Maghrebi clay dish, the flavours are incredible, and we eat like we’ve never eaten before. Amina then brings out an enormous ‘cake’ – layers of feather-light filo drizzled with almond paste, icing sugar and cinnamon – and we feast some more.
After dinner, the drums arrive. Swathed in vibrant yellow dress, a quartet of marvellous middle-aged women provide the entertainment. The Houariyates, an all-female band that plays the traditional music of the Houara tribes, are loud, lusty and simply magnificent. This is the attitude I’m here for.
Female-led initiatives in Marrakech
I’m woken from a blissful night’s sleep at Riad Al Jazira by the morning call to prayer, and witness Marrakech in all her glory. Under bright blue skies, spiky palms are shadowed on ochre walls, scooters with two, three and sometimes four passengers buzz through the narrow alleys of the souk and there’s even a man in a fez. It’s everything I’d hoped for.
Venturing out into the medina, we visit the Alnour Association, a social enterprise working with vulnerable women, many with disabilities.
I meet Khaddouj, one of the women the organisation works with, who creates beautiful hand-embroidered clothes and gifts such as cotton handkerchiefs with crochet borders.
We’re here to learn about The Intrepid Foundation, the company’s non-profit arm created in 2002 allowing travellers to give back in the places they visit. Intrepid matches every post-trip donation and covers all the admin costs so 100% of the money – totalling more than £16 million since its inception – goes directly to community partners on the ground.
Marrakech after the earthquake
In the afternoon, we swap the medina for the High Atlas. Driving from Marrakech, the roads narrow as we wind up the mountains, passing goats, men with mules and makeshift stalls selling clay tagines in various sizes. It’s more than a year since the Al Haouz province, some 60 miles south of Marrakech, was struck by a 6.8-magnitude earthquake, the strongest to hit Morocco in more than a century. Many mountain towns and villages in the High Atlas were affected, and nearly half a million people were displaced due to their proximity to the epicentre in Ighil.
We stop in Asni, a town in the foothills of the mountains that was affected by the quake, where we’re welcomed by a gaggle of smiling young women into a bright, newly built boarding house. It’s run by Education For All (EFA), a non-profit organisation that builds and runs boarding houses for girls from poor and rural areas in Morocco so they can access education.
“When education stops, all our dreams shut down,” says our Intrepid guide Sara Chakir, who also hails from a small village in the High Atlas. “My sister got married at 15 years old. Two years later she was divorced. Going back to education was hard for her – her self-confidence was shattered.” With volunteers coming to help the girls with languages to build skills and confidence, it’s clear that EFA is a positive change for villages like Asni.
“I had the opposite of teenage rebellion,” explains Sara. “I used to fight my mother about doing homework.
Housework and learning to be a mother always came first – schoolwork was not important. I had to go to a boarding house so I had the freedom to study. However, becoming a good student and getting recognition from my teachers meant that my mother was able to see my dream and started to believe it more. The culture is changing, little by little.”
Following the earthquake, EFA made a huge effort to recover quickly. Over mint tea and biscuits, the girls take it in turns to talk to us. “After the earthquake, I was scared that I couldn’t complete my education, so I went to Marrakech,” says Loubna. “This year, I came back. I missed my friends.”
In conversation with Alice Morrison
We’re staying nearby in Imlil, a small village 1,800 metres above sea level, and the gateway to Jebel Toubkal, North Africa’s highest peak. It’s also the home of adventurer and author Alice Morrison, who has invited us to her house for more tea and cake.
Growing up in Uganda and Edinburgh, Morrison fell in love with travelling from an early age. “I never wanted children or to get married, I wanted to travel,” she says.
“I was 19 when I first came to Morocco. [Soon after], my boyfriend and I were on a train travelling through Spain and got talking to some Moroccans. I said I was studying Arabic and they asked me to speak it. I just said ‘wahid, ithnan, thalatha’ – which is ‘one, two, three’ – and everybody start cheering and kissing me. It was hilarious.
“I found Morocco fascinating back then. There were very few tourists and lots of intense hassle.”
Morrison was in Imlil when the earthquake hit and was the first to report from the ground for the BBC. “The villagers were just incredible. They did everything they could to help trekkers off the mountain.”
She joins our hike the following morning as, led by Sara and our guide Mustapha, we traipse across the floodplain of the Ait Mizane Valley and zigzag our way up Mount Toubkal.
The mountain is a popular challenge for serious trekkers, many of whom we pass on their way down.
It’s tough in parts but we bond further as we cajole, natter and help each other up the mountain.
We make it to Sidi Chamharouch, a tiny Berber village that has a shrine to a local marabout, a Muslim holy man. It’s all good training for Morrison who, starting on January 1, will trek across Saudi Arabia. “It will take five months and will be hard, but incredible. I can’t wait,” she says.
Cooking classes for disadvantaged women
After a night in the desert, we return to Marrakech for lunch at the Amal Center, a not-for-profit enterprise that provides hospitality training and work for women. In Morocco, women make up only 25% of the workforce, and their labour is often undervalued, but the Amal Center wants to change that.
“We’ve been operating for 11 years now. This is our flagship restaurant and we have two other locations in Marrakech,” says founder Nora Fitzgerald Belahcen.
The Intrepid Foundation has just signed on to support Amal, which is open to women who are divorced, in poverty or are single mothers. “Life is messy! But we can help pick up the pieces and help make something meaningful out of it,” says Fitzgerald Belahcen.
For our last night, a farewell dinner is arranged at Al Fassia, an acclaimed restaurant in Guéliz run by women and featured on BBC2’s Remarkable Places to Eat earlier this year. As we feast on couscous and tagine makfoul, a sublime braised lamb smothered with caramelised onions, I look around at my new friends, all chatting and laughing, and feel so proud to be part of the greater sisterhood.
Book it:
Intrepid Travel’s eight-day Morocco: Women’s Expedition starts at £812, based on two sharing, and includes seven nights in hotel, guesthouse and gite accommodation, internal transport, selected meals and activities, and a local guide. Flights extra.
intrepidtravel.com
Agents’ verdict
Andrea Stanley, Colubris Travel
“The Atlas Mountains stole my heart with their beauty, ruggedness and friendly locals. The trek up Toubkal Valley with our guides Sara and Mustapha was amazing – a world away from the busy souks of Marrakech.”
Donna Grasby, Travelosophers
“The expedition across Morocco was both inspiring and empowering. Together we conquered deserts, scaled mountains and embraced the spirit of sisterhood while discovering the beauty of this incredible country. With the help of Intrepid, I’m recreating this itinerary so my clients can also experience the magic.”
Andrea Smith, Holiday Village
“I loved trekking in the High Atlas. And to witness the ingenuity, courage and determination of the people involved in The Intrepid Foundation was truly humbling.”
Bethany McNally, PR World Travel
“One highlight was visiting the EFA boarding house and watching the girls’ faces light up as they told us about their future dreams. I loved learning about Moroccan culture and music, but my favourite part was meeting new travel friends, all of them so inspirational.”
Desert adventures
For clients looking to add a magical night in the desert to their trip, recommend Yes We Camps in the Agafay Desert. The upscale camp features sumptuously furnished traditional caidal tents, centred around an infinity pool, sun deck and poolside bar. Activities include yoga classes at dawn overlooking the lunar landscape, cooking classes, camel rides through desert plains at sunset and stargazing with a local astronomer.
yeswecampsagafay.com
PICTURES: Intrepid Travel; Tracey Davies