early morning departure from marrakech for a pleasante drive south winding our way up through the moulay brahim gorge and upper valleys to arrive at the higher foothills of the western high atlas mountains and our trailhead of imi oughlad (1450m) with the jbel toubkal , at 4167m the highest peak in north africa , aglzim 3650m and aksoual 38847m ,looming before us . here we alight from our vehicle and meet up with berber muleteer crew . We set off up in north-westerly direction for a 2hour acclimatisation hike up switchback mule tracks , passing by cornfields woods pine and juniper to the tiz n'tachete (2000m),where we shallstop to look back down on the imlikl and ait oussaden valleys before carrying on for another half hour to imi n'ifri and our field picnic .thence a slow hike for about 2 and half hours south-west down along a dirt track to assif n' ait oussaden and the red clay terraced village of tiziane ( 1750 m )for our accommodation in our bivouac or gite.