Tizi-n-Test

Tizi-n-Test is a small pass in the High Atlas. The road through it, connecting Marrakech and Taroudannt, is one of Africa 's finest drives.

The S501 between Marrakech and Taroudant (for Agadir) follows an old trading route across the High Atlas. The pass is at 2,093m, where a commemorative plaque certifies that the road through it was laid between 1926 and 1932. Asni, Ouirgane, Talaat-n-Yacoub and Tin-Mal are all worth visiting. Be warned that the road is particularly challenging on the 1,600m descent from the high pass to Taroudannt, twisting and turning, narrow, broken up by water from the mountain and without crash barriers.

The fertile valley between Ouirgane and the high pass, watered by the Nfiss River , is the traditional land of the Gondolas, one of several Berber tribes who struggled for control of the High Atlas in the 19th century. In 1906, the rival Glaoui tribe attacked the Nfiss valley and burned the Kasbah of Talaat-n-Yacoub. As a result, the Gondola built the castle of Agadir-n-Goof, a few kilometres before Tin-Mal, in 1907. France, who colonised Morocco in 1912, made political bargains with the Berber rulers: the Glaoui leader was created Pasha of Marrakech, while the Gondola remained in control of the High Atlas. After capturing Taroudannt in 1913, the Gondola leader was acknowledged as the effective ruler of the south.

The best views are to be had from the TV relay station a kilometre before the pass, or slightly below the pass. In clear weather there is a magnificent view of the last of the High Atlas villages, the Soups plain and the Anti-Atlas Mountains .

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