Imlil and Tizi-N-Test

I ended up travelling by grand taxi, by myself, from Marakkesh to Imlil. It is not a long way, and normally one would go by “taxi collectif” rather than solo, thus spreading out the cost between several passengers (usually six), making it super cheap, but super uncomfortable as well. However, misinformation lead me to believe that it would be much easier than it was, to get a shared taxi to the small mountain village, and so I ended up footing the entire bill by myself. The first of several such episodes of misinformation over the next few days, I had a nagging feeling that things were going to start to go sideways on me…

I ended up in another lovely riad at the upper end of this village, which was truly a beautiful and restful spot. “Tranquille” is a favourite expression in Moroccan French, and that it was, as I was the only guest. Whilst there, I did a couple of easy hikes in the surrounding vicinity, but nothing terribly strenuous or challenging, due to my solo status. It was nice to be in the mountains and wander around in the hills a bit.

Before I left Marakkesh, I had spoken to a few locals about the route that I was planning on taking, to get their opinion. All of them agreed that it was a good plan, which led me to believe that it could be executed without too much trouble. Learn as you go, girl! The route would take me straight south of Marakkesh through the High Atlas Mountains over the pass known as Tizi-N-Test, and ending at the small city of Taroudannte. According to my road map, it was a good road, indicating a fairly regular amount of traffic.

After a couple of nights in the Imlil Riad my next move was to get to the nearby larger town of Asni, which I came through on my way to Imlil. There should have been numerous taxis every day to get there, but of course, there seemed to be something of a hold up or delay, whilst drivers had a conflab. First indication of trouble ahead. I was informed that once I got to Asni, I would be able to get another shared (collective) taxi to a place called Ijoukak, at which point I would take another shared taxi through Tizi-N-Test to Taroudannte. But, isn’t there a bus? I asked. Well, no one seemed to know exactly if there was one or not. Seemed like maybe there was, once a week, but no one could say for sure what day specifically, never mind what time! Second indication of trouble ahead.

So, I finally made it to Asni, and was immediately swooped down upon by a local offering to help me out in getting a taxi to Ijoukak, and that “No, there was no bus today.” After being offered tea (third indication of trouble ahead) and the help of finding a driver willing to take me (no others were looking for transportation in that direction I was told, so it would be just me to pay the whole fare again) I was traipsed around from taxi to taxi with the promise of working something out with a diver. But then everything went into a stall, supposedly because it was noontime prayers. (fourth indication.) At this point I considered bailing out, and just returning to Marakkesh to figure out a new plan, but I really wanted to see this route, so I stuck to my guns. Finally a driver was located, and money was paid, and off I went with the driver grinning like a fiend (fifth indication) and wheeling around each bend like a complete maniac. After too many near misses, I was very relieved to get out of that taxi at Ijoukak, where I started to find the next collective taxi for the remainder of the route through the famed Tizi-n-Test and on to Taroudannte.

It was only a minute or two later that I notice a couple of young travellers get out of a mini-bus. They had obviously come from the same direction as I had, and could only be going the same direction as I was going. I approached them to confirm my suspicions and found that I was correct. In fact they had left Imlil about the same time I had, but managed to find the mini-bus that I was looking for but was steered away from by unscrupulous taxi drivers. We were all given the same information - that there would be no problem betting from Ijoukak to Taroudannte by shared taxi. Obviously it was in all our best interests to team up, and so we introduced ourselves and concurred on details of our destination.

They were Carola, an Austrian, and Marco, an Italian/Austrian. It was her 4th trip to Morocco and his 1st. She speaks a tiny bit of Arabic and Berber, which is often helpful, and really knows what is the score in Morocco which is also helpful. Both of them have had issues with shared taxi drivers and have dubbed them the “Moroccan Taxi Mafia”, which I agree is a very apt label.

Shortly after our mutual introductions, we notice a shared taxi with three people in it, heading back to Taroudannte. We immediately made tracks for it, but the driver waved us off. He said his taxi was full, and quickly departed with his three passengers. (Sixth indication - this was the tipping point.) Full is comprised of six passengers. By the rules, shared taxis are not allowed to forbid you from sharing the ride as long as there are unpaid places available. By the appearance of the three passengers in the taxi it was highly unlikely that they paid for six places between the three of them. This meant that we had to wait for the next taxi to arrive and for another three passengers wanting to travel to Taroudannte. Or for the bus to arrive.

I went to the café where it seemed the bus stop was, and inquired if there was a bus coming that day. Yes, the fellow assured me, it was coming at about 3 or 4 o’clock. Okay, at least we had that in our back pocket, so we waited. And waited. And waited. Two hours turned into three, it was apparent that no bus was coming. It was getting late in the day and looking like we were going to be stuck in this desperate little place.

We now realized that these guys were all conspiring against us, in order to force us, in desperation, to pay a ransom fee for a ride to Taroudannte. We three were disgusted by their dishonesty, and Carola really let them have it. When she asked the coffee shop vendor why he told me that there was a bus coming, he flatly denied it. They all looked on sheepishly as if they were completely innocent and naïve.

Since there were now no taxis available, a private car owner who was somewhat sympathetic to our plight, offered to take us to Taroudannte in his own vehicle for about twice as much as it should have cost us. I was prepared to throw in for all of the excess above what it should have cost, just to “get outta Dodge” and away from these malevolent men. It was agreed that we would pay him, and make no mention of the fact should we be stopped by the police, since it was illegal for him to carry out such a transaction.

So finally we left as the sun was setting and at such an angle as to make it almost impossible to see much of the Tizi-n-Test after all. It was another amazing road down the south side of the High Atlas Mountains with impressive hair-pin turns and steep inclines. What we were able to see, when shaded by the surrounding slopes was very impressive and beautiful. What we didn’t see, due to the blinding effect of the setting sun on the dirty windows, was as beautiful, I’m sure! Within about an hour and a half we were dropped at the taxi stand where we easily found a shared ride to Taroudannte, about another 20 kms down the highway.

I hate arriving in any new place after dark, but such was the case for us in Taroudannte. I was very glad to not be on my own though, and eventually we found suitable enough accommodation for the night. The day had been quite an ordeal. I was happy to put it behind me, but I couldn’t help asking myself over and over - What was the point of those people to do what they did?

Carola and Marco had a plane to catch the next day, from Agadir airport. We arranged a shared taxi ride to Inezgane, which is a main transportation hub just south of Agadir. Enroute, Carola realized that we would pass right by the airport, and so we had the driver stop to let them off just across the highway from the airport, a short walk away.

I got out in Inezgane to find yet another shared taxi ride to the town of Tiznit. I was directed to the appropriate position for Tiznit taxis, and found something of a petit rebellion in progress. The normal price for a shared taxi to Tiznit is 27 dirham. The driver was insisting on 47 dirham, but the waiting passengers refused to pay. There were about a dozen of them holding out for the next taxi to take them, and there were three passengers in the taxi willing to pay the extortion rate. I was of two minds, not wanting to be party to more taxi mafia blackmail, but also not wanting to be left stranded for untold hours waiting to be ripped off in the end after all. Having no appetite for another such episode, it easily made sense for me to pay an extra couple of euros for the assurance of my timely arrival in Tiznit. The minute I put my suitcase in the trunk, two more passengers threw in the towel, and we were away.