Kolin's Travels: 2014

No, this isn't a re-make of a Weird Al Yankovic song.

There really is a Moroccan paradise.

Cedar trees ring an ancient crater at center. Another crater is visible at center right.

Imagine burnished blue skies and crisp mountain air. Can you smell the clean aroma of cedar wafting on a warm summer breeze? See the golden colors of yet another blazingly perfect sunset, then gaze up at Orion as he wields his bow across the northern sky.

Hear the rustle of fallen leaves under your feet as you wander the silent oak forest. Then in winter swish your way through the swirling snow as boughs pregnant with snow threaten to unburden themselves under the next landing of a leaping macaque.

This is Moroccan paradise, and its name is Ifrane.

TO SEE THE PARADISE I JUST DESCRIBED, CLICK HERE OR WATCH BELOW:

"Ifrane? Where's that?"

This might be your question upon hearing the name of the home I love.

Ifrane is a small mountain town in the Middle Atlas mountains of Morocco, well-known by Moroccans but little-known to foreign tourists.

But Ifrane should be on your list of places to visit during your travels in Morocco! Let me tell you why I love Ifrane:

1. The town of Ifrane

Ifrane is a peaceful mountain town of approximately 40,000 set at the refreshing altitude of 1,665 meters (5,460 feet). This altitude means that Ifrane is cooler than most lowland Moroccan cities during the hot summer months and it experiences all the seasons with brilliant fall colors (though of a limited spectrum)...

...AND the occasional heavy snowfall.

TO SEE IFRANE AS A WINTER WONDERLAND CLICK HERE OR WATCH BELOW:

I enjoy the usual lack of traffic (except when Moroccan tourists crowd in to see the snow), the pristine air, and plenty of trees and flowers beautifully landscaped around the town. A few good restaurants in the quaint centre ville add to the pleasant ambiance, and the town is small enough that you can walk everywhere.

Centre Ville (Town Center) of Ifrane

2. The Cedar and Oak Forests

Living in a peaceful, stress-free town is nice, but what I really love about Ifrane is the surrounding countryside!

The oak forests that cover the hills around town look very similar to the scenery of southern California. Most of the oak trees are surprisingly evergreen, so you can enjoy one of Morocco's really green areas even in the winter.

Oak forest.

The oak trees do lose their leaves, but not all at once. New leaves grow only at the tips of the branches and older leaves further down the branch eventually drop to the ground leaving a pleasantly crunching carpet under your feet as you wander through the forest.

But the grandest of all trees is the Atlas cedar! These magnificent giants tower to 35 meters (about 100 feet) and are up to 2 meters (7 feet) in diameter. The countryside around Ifrane and Azrou is the best place to enjoy the cedar forest with 3 long chains of mountains, the closest only 5 minutes by car from the center of town.

Me at the foot of "Granddaddy Cedar."

The mightiest cedar of them all!

3. The Wildlife

Morocco is, admittedly, not a safari destination, but Ifrane does have a variety of wildlife, including the charismatic Barbary macaque.

Many European bird species pass through Morocco during fall and spring migrations. So far I've checked off 85 species in my bird guidebook. My favorite is the hoopoe, but I also like raptors such as the short-toed eagle.

Short-toed eagle

You might be lucky enough to spot a wild boar in the woods. Males can be quite large measuring 1 and 1/2 meters high at their shoulder hump. The piglets are extremely cute with their spots and stripes!

TO SEE WILD BOAR IN IFRANE CLICK HERE OR WATCH THE VIDEO BELOW:

And, of course, there is the entertaining Barbary macaque, the largest population of which lives right here in Ifrane's cedar forest. It is good fun to watch them leaping from branch to branch and seeing the cute wrinkly babies in spring is a treat.

4. The Flowers

If you love flowers, then you should be in Ifrane from mid-May to early June. Fields of scarlet poppies are common, not to mention a colorful cornucopia of violet, yellow, white, pink, blue and purple flowers that I wish I knew all the names of! :) Anyway, I love to photograph them all and can enjoy their beauty without knowing all their names. Springtime is also the greenest time in Ifrane when the hillsides are covered in verdant grasses benefiting from the snowmelt and spring rains.

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5. Hiking and Mountain Biking

Ifrane is an ideal location for hiking a mountain biking, and I've made my own list of 45 trails in the area (and still adding more!). There is nothing quite like having a silent forest all to yourself as you listen to the breeze in the cedar branches and watch a black kite soar overhead.

TO SEE 3 GREAT HIKES IN IFRANE CLICK HERE OR WATCH BELOW:

Atlas cedar forest.

I often like to ride my mountain bike to one of my seven favorite spots--Kolin's Korner-- and read a book under a towering tree. I leisurely eat my lunch and read for a couple of hours, then tear off through the woods on my mountain bike across trails I've cleared, finally arriving at home feeling invigorated and refreshed!

At the top of the Azrou Cliff.

For hikers, there are several interesting geographical features to visit such as (these are my names since they aren't named on the map) the Fox Bowl--an extinct volcanic crater 50 meters deep and circled by cedar trees; Raven's Roost--a rocky promontory that commands a spectacular view of the Azrou valley; the Azrou cliff--a precipitous drop that overlooks the town of Azrou; and the Sinkhole--a deep vertical shaft circled by cedars, whose cliffs are home to roosting owls, wood pigeons, and choughs, and whose boulder-filled bottom shelters a pair of foxes.

Hiking in deep snow among the cedars.

For mountain bikers, you can head off into the woods just over the hill from the Shell station and explore some of the old logging paths, but if you want to discover some of the best trails I would have to show you. Some of their names might whet your appetite: the Panorama Trail, Sunday's Seven Hour Suicide Ride, the Cone, Rock and Roll, Macaque Supertrack and my very own 29 kilometer Tour d'Ifrane.

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