Lola Culsán, John Weller and Danny Weller spent several months campervanning, walking, swimming and exploring Morocco’s secret corners to bring you their new guide book Wild Guide Morocco. From alpine lakes hidden in high passes to cool, palm-shaded river gorges, these are a few of the amazing wild swimming spots they discovered in the Atlas Mountains.
LAKE IFNI
Within Toubkal National Park, this lake is a vast blue opal shimmering beneath the barren rocks of the surrounding High Atlas Mountains. The scramble down to its edge can be a bit daunting, with loose stones to navigate, but it’s worth the effort. Not as cold as you might think, despite being fed by glacial melt, it offers pure solitude at 2,300m above sea level (plus the occasional song of swifts and the distant bleating of goats).
RIVIERE D’AMTOUDI
Walking along the riverbed here, among shady palm trees, the layered orange walls of the vast gorge tower above you as you head for the water, a vital lifeline that keeps the palm and argan trees lush and green. Soon the route begins to climb and you spot small pools emerging between pink flowering oleanders, and the babble of a waterfall. The water is deep, transparent and full of fish and small children. Following the children’s example, we jumped off a rock and swam through a narrow channel before discovering another pool, further on, and wallowed in its cool, clear water.
CASCADES D’OUZOUD
Perhaps the most famous natural attraction in the Eastern High Atlas, the Cascades d’Ouzoud are a spectacular series of enormous waterfalls that plunge for more than 100m into rocky pools below. Situated near Tanaghmeilt, these falls offer hiking trails that follow the river upstream. Impressive though they are, the main falls are very touristy, with a vast array of cafės and restaurants. Our explorations took us further downstream, instead, revealing smaller, quieter cascades and secluded natural swimming pools. The further you walk along the river, the wilder the scenery, and swimming, gets.
MEGDAZ POOLS & WATERFALL
High in the mountains, at the ancient village of Megdaz, we were treated to great hospitality, sublime views and a trek to a 30m waterfall, passing fields of wildflowers and glades carpeted with wild mint. The trek requires scrambling up hillsides and crossing rivers but your reward is a dunk in a series of sculpted rock pools and a spectacular 30m cascade. We recommend doing as we did and asking local guide Muhammad, at Dar Megdaz, to show you the way.
AïT MANSOUR RIVER AND POOL
A tranquil valley in the Anti-Atlas where natural and man-made pools shimmer beneath date palms and towering cliffs, Aït Mansour is ideal for a refreshing afternoon dip. Dappled sunlight dances along a series of small pools beside the road, setting the water alight, while the imposing mountains that gave this river its source loom above it. The main attraction, however, is the pool of Aït Mansour. Fringed by palm trees and peaks, the silence of this man-made pool in the River Mansour is only broken by the gurgle of the water as it trickles downstream; a patch of watery paradise in the otherwise unbroken rocky beauty of the Anti-Atlas.
Taken from Wild Guide Morocco by Lola Culsán, John Weller and Danny Weller
