Morocco's High Atlas Botanical Tour Trip Report 2008 Flower Bird
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Mountains of Morocco An Alpine Garden Society tour by Greentours 13th – 26th March 2008 Led by Ian Green The following tour report covers a longer trip that we ran for the Alpine Garden Society covering the Rif Mountains, the Tazzeka and the High Atlas south of Marrakech. I’ve only retained the latter part of the tour daily reports as they are the one’s relevant to the 2013 Alpine Garden Society tour to Morocco’s High Atlas. However the systematic lists cover the whole trip, so read with caution! Day 11 March 23rd Mischliffen and the journey to the High Atlas Drawing back the curtains we saw the snow scudding across the landscape. It was barely settling but as we had breakfast outside it was turning whiter. In fact there wasn’t so much but there was a capricious wind and it was certainly good timing when we got out as the snow was just starting to drift across the road in a couple of places. The snow turned to rain as we dropped into Azrou but given that we had rain for much of the next three hours we suspect that they did get a bit of a fall in Mischliffen in the end! Needless to say there was little to encourage us to stop other than an off licence in Khenifra. This duly accomplished and a very pleasant cup of tea/coffee in the café of the Hotel de la France next door and we were off again. Nearing Zaouira-ech-Cheikh Christine spotted some Irises and so we came to a halt. A most fortuitous spot it was as there was much else besides. The Iris tingitana were lovely, the large blue flowers just touched with yellow and white and the arcing leaves covered in a silvery sheen. Allium roseum flowered in both white and red forms and tucked in amongst the Ferulas (both tingitana and communis) there were Scilla peruviana and Tassel Hyacinth. The orchids soon became the centre of attention. A few Pyramidal Orchids were found in flower with many more in bud. Ophrys were abundant with many species. Best was undoubtedly some lovely Ophrys dyris, the speculum grey haired on brick, and there were some great patches of lutea too. Ophrys speculum was good to see, especially the silver lipped form. Then there were a few Ophrys sphegifera and some Ophrys fusca types. Other plants of note were Helianthemum apenninum, a Cheilanthes, pale yellow Pallenis hierochuntica, Rubia tinctorum (naturalized) and many peas including Lathyrus setifolius, Vicia benghalensis, Vicia amphicarpa and Ononis laxiflora. There were daffodils on the rocks, now well past flowering, these appeared to be nominate romieuxii though we did find a few leaves of what was probably Narcissus peroccidentalis. We moved on, passing Woodchat Shrikes and a Black-shouldered Kite on the wires, before stopping for lunch a few kilometres below El Ksiba. As with the last spot this turned out to be an old graveyard, possibly why the vegetation remained so good. Here were orchids again with Ophrys dyris, lutea and speculum this time joined by Ophrys tenthredinifera. Cistus 1 heterophyllus flowered pink on the hillside amongst small ‘bushes’ of Coronilla viminialis and the chunky wine-red heads of Anthyllis vulneraria reuteri. After lunch we tried to get up to flowering Narcissus above El Ksiba but ran out of time. We did find some good Anthericum liliago and Peter spotted a fine toadflax and the orange-red version of Anagallis monellii. The afternoon was spent covering the remainder of the long journey to the High Atlas. With some 350km still to go at 14.45 Ahmet did very well to get us there a shade after half past eight. For the last few miles we would steeply up into the Atlas to Imlil, situated at 1760m below the mighty Toubkal. We were given a fine welcome and were shown to our rooms – very nice indeed! The tagine and soup that followed were also rather good! Day 12 March 24th Oukaimeden It was a beautiful morning and the view, I think, surprised us all. For up the valley rose Toubkal and its surrounding peaks in a great wall of rock and snow. And at 4167m Toubkal is a very big mountain. I pottered up through the village pre-breakfast admiring the views and the houses with their cherry and walnut orchards above and below. The idyllic appearance of the village and its agriculture was put in perspective by the harsh slopes rising above. Early birds included a pair of Levaillant’s Green Woodpeckers and a Great Spotted Woodpecker. We boarded our bus and Ahmet took us down the gorge towards Asni. We made several stops, thankful for not having the interminable hours in the bus of the previous day. Wet cliffs were draped in Maidenhair Fern and nearby we found the white purple backed daisy Anacyclus pyrethrum. Chapman’s Green Hairstreak was seen and the first of the day’s Rock Buntings flew over. Further down below Asni as we admired the wares of various fossil sellers and the collection of camels and horses available for riding I located an Asphodelus cerasifolius. It was quite a long haul up to Oukaimeden Ski Centre. It was after all steep with the road taking us up to a heady 2600m above sea level. The cloud rolled in mid way up and we feared that we’d not be able to see anything up there but thankfully, just as we turned into the bowl in which the ski centre sits we emerged into brilliant sunshine and were able to appreciate the magnificent snowy mountainscape in front of us. Toubkal is behind a ridge from here but we were right under a 3200+ peak and a 3600m peak headed the valley in which we stood. We immediately spotted some yellow in the wet turf by the stream below us. So was the lunch spot sorted out! There were lots of Romulea bifrons in the turf, a small kind of bulbocodium really but with bracteoles green. The yellow, and it was a bright golden yellow, proved to be some delicate little daffodils. These were the cause of some debate with opinions both within the group and within the literature varying from Narcissus tingitanus (obesus) to Narcissus bulbocodium subspecies nivalis. The long petiole (more than 7mm), the wide open corona, and the thick fleshy stems and leaves meant that we supported the recent flora of Morocco authors in believing these to be tingitanus (obesus). We walked up the stream away, initially finding just a few more and little in the way of birdlife, except for a Northern Wheatear of the North African seebohmi race. However things got much better once we turned up a side valley. Initially it was the birds that impressed. There were quite a number of Crimson-winged Finches and a few Shorelark too. Rock Sparrows appeared and so too did a few Black Redstarts, a Kestrel and a Little Owl. There were more and 2 better Narcissus tingitanus and Christine found some olchicum triphyllum. Meanwhile skiers were taking to the heights in the ski-lift and whilst looking at them I spotted lots of yellow halfway up to the 3200m peak. There was nothing for it but to investigate. Sure enough these were Narcissus tingitanus too, but there were many, and such large specimens too. The largest had wide open coronas over 3cm across. On the way down I flushed quite a number of Barbary Partridges. We had to descend but were soon halted by another little daffodil. This was a surprise as it was a form of romieuxii and indeed a rather bright yellow one. Bright, but a paler shade than tingitanus, and in comparison to those these had narrow leaves, stamens exerted and bunched, and there was no pedicel. These seemed to be the mesatlanticus subspecies of romieuxii. Further down we found the pink Rhodathemum atlanticum. Then after brief stops to take pictures of the amazingly situated hilltop hamlets along the valley, as well as some carpet and lantern shops, plus a cup of tea or coffee, we arrived back into the Dar Imlel at a quarter to seven. The evening’s chicken tagine was really quite special. Day 13 March 25th Tizi n’Test A long day in prospect we started at eight thirty though not before enjoying another of the Dar Imlel’s excellent breakfasts. Local driver Brahim had taken over from Ahmet and so we were soon winding our way up towards the Tizi n’Test pass. Brahim told us about the new reservoir and of the king’s Moufflon hunting grounds. We made several short stops when plants presented themselves along the route. Asphodelus fistulosus stopped us along with the sea lavender Limonium sinuatum. Then it was a cliff with lots of red and white Anacyclus pyrethrum, as well as Bupleurum laterifolium and a large white umbel with very rounded flowerheads. We encountered some fine plants of Erodium atlanticum growing on steep shaley cliffs. A Long- legged Buzzard drifted over with a snake in its talons. Our first major stop was in the Holm Oaks near the top of the pass. Here the steep mountainside held a good population of the delightful ivory-white Narcissus waiteri. This beauty is easy to miss when walking across such slopes and actually stands out much better from a distance. There were perhaps forty or fifty flowers at this stop, spread widely on rocks and in the deep soil. However as we drove onwards we realised that most of the next mile had them too and in fact in places there were really quite a few.