"IMPENETRABLE" ATLAS MOUNTAINS NOW TO BE TOURIST CENTRE

Shannon News, 14 August 1928, Page 4

"IMPENETRABLE" ATLAS MOUNTAINS NOW TO BE TOURIST CENTRE

ROAD ALREADY CUTS THROUGH PRIMITIVE WILDS, AMID GIANT CEDARS. , '**> CASABLANCA, June 2(3. A comfortable stay in the centre of the Atlas Mountains, the impenetrability of which rivals that of the Himalayas both in legend and in fact, will be possible for travellers, if plans the French are making in Morocco are not upset. Duo to the dissident tribes inhabiting that immense mountain barrier — in itself a formidable defense —which separates Morocco from the. Sahara Desert, the Atlas country is paefied today only in the sense that the cordon of outposts from Taza to Agadir serves to prevent the predatory hill folk from making inroads upon the plains. The establishment of military control and administration is gradually making certain areas safe for civilians, though any excursion into the higher gorges is likely to ;be very much an adventure, and requires escorts and introductions to the local kalds. The southern ' capital of Morocco, Marrakcsh, is sufficiently "near the Grand Atlas for visitors to admire the distant view of the mountain wall rising sheer and magnificent out of the level plateau surrounding the city, with its now-mantled peaks floating ethereally at 14,000 feet above sea level,', and gleaming with extraordinary clearness above the hazy atmosphere which hides the lower slopes of the range. Short day trips can be made from Marrakcsh by automobile to the foothills at such points at Deinnat, Asm' antl Amsmiz. - The Middle Atlas is a section at present practically unknown, to tourists, being as inaccessible as the Riff spur which runs north from it. • It is here that a new road was recently opened, linking the city of Makncs with the Upper M'uluya Valley at Midclt, and traversing the intervening heights by the pass of Trek Ajir. This road cuts through wild scenery and forest belts in which giant cedars have, for centuries withstood the . brunt of winter snows, and where panthers, wild boar and many other kinds of game hide unid the trees and scrub. A scheme is now being considered for building a tourist centre with a big hotel, at a spot near the road and by the side of a three-mile lakc> known is Agelman Sidi Ali,'at an altitude*of 6500 feet, where there are many natural attractions, including mountain , rambling. At the same time the locality will provide an excellent hill station for state officials and other Europeans working in Morocco to spend their summer vacations.

From there, once sufficient securityis established, a day's motoring would take one to many fascinating Berber villages..such as Ain Leuh, Khenifra or Bekrit, •already accessible by' road, but often considered unsafe without military escort.