VISIT TO TODRA'S THROAT

The Route of the Thousand Kasbahs that runs along the N10 leaves on the left side three spectacular valleys, in this order: Valley of the Roses, Gorge of Dadés and Gorge of Todra. The first two we already visited in the previous stage of our roadtrip in Morocco, and we leave for the end what is probably the most famous and visited of the 3. We tell you our visit to the Todra Gorge (Todgha)

We leave behind the impressive snake of Dades to head towards the Tinerhir city, where the detour to the Todra Gorge is located, that impressive canyon carved by the Todra River on the slopes of the High Atlas. However, the powerful image of the gigantic crack through the rock wall will have to wait. What is presented to us as soon as we take the secondary road are some magnificent views of a lush palm grove, and in the background, an amalgam of adobe houses of the same color as the mountains they leave behind (Ksar Affsalou).

You'll find several viewpoints on the same road, with space to park without problems and take all the photos you want. In the first part of the route, one before starting the climb, and another in a left-hand curve that is in the climb itself, is much busier.

An advantage of this valley over others, is that the journey to its climax is barely 15 km, which many agencies take advantage of to include it as one of the visits on the tours that leave from Marrakech towards the Merzouga desert. By car it will be a pee pas until you reach the beginning of the gorge.

The Todrá River descends with its clear waters through this narrow canyon, which has been digging at will leaving a awesome crack which is in some points up to 400 meters deep. The water is so pure that here you will not only find tourists and typical scarf stands, but you will also see how the locals approach with their bottles to fill them for use.

The visit to the Todra Gorge is simple: at the end of the little town of Tizgui (about 15 km from the detour) start this winding gorge and there you will find the first area to park the car. Even if you think you can't continue, the reality is that the road crosses this section of the gorge and cars and trucks come and go without problems. On the other side of these mountains, the road becomes a track and continues along with the river to the next villages.

In our afternoon visit, we parked in the first parking lot (nobody asked us for money) and we continued walking for a little while inside the gorge and freaked out with the huge walls that escorted us, which stretched almost to the sky almost infinitely . We threw some pictures, we soaked our feet in the cool water and turned around to the accommodation.

The next morning, instead of parking the car, we cross the throat until the end of this section (which we assume is the most impressive in the entire valley). They will be like some 300 meters from a twisted crack that separates the walls of the rock, as if it had broken into an earthquake. It was actually the strength of the Todra River that has been eroding the landscape for thousands of years. Nature is amazing!

As you can see, our plan was to stay one night in the nearby town of Tizgui (which many climbers use as a base to climb up to 150 tracks in these vertical walls) and discover more thoroughly the Todra Gorge during the morning. We stayed at the hotel Les Jardin des Gorges, with a super nice terrace on the Ksar of Tizgui and in the background, the Todra Gorge. If you have the possibility of sleeping one night here, don't think about it. The moment of sunset from the terrace, when the 3 or 4 mosques that until then seemed hidden, began to call the prayer, was the best part of the trip.

If you arrive by car, you will have to park it next to the river and cross it by a small pedestrian bridge, to reach the town, and stroll for a while until you reach the door of the accommodation. But it is definitely worth it!

There is an alternative plan for those who have more time (and legs): a trekking of some 10 km It starts at the end of the gorge and ascends the slope of its left end, passing through paths used for cattle by local Berbers. We set the alarm at 7:30 in the morning, with the idea of ​​throwing ourselves on the mountain, which two Curros Jimenez. But instead of carrying a trabuco, we would arm ourselves with the camera and GPS from Maps.me so as not to get lost. But what do you want us to tell you ... we got lazy and went back to sleep: S

We read that the route begins on some stairs to the left after passing the Hotel Yasmina. Go up a steep path until you reach the highest part of the mountain, and from there you continue to the left bordering the canyon (although without direct views), until you reach the town of Tizgui from its rear, from where you can see the old adobe and straw houses, and a small palm grove. In total they are about 9-10 km and 3-4 hours of time. You can follow the directions on this wikiloc route.

Start of trekking in the Todra Gorge

Here we leave you a Map with the most important points for the visit to the Todra Gorge:

You see that the visit to Todra Gorge It is one of the essential things to do on a trip through Morocco. And it is an excellent place to stop along the road in the Route of the Thousand Kasbahs: do not miss it.