1. Marrakech - argan cooperative - Ourika Valley - Berber home visit - Setti Fatma waterfalls - riverside lunch - Marrakech
Your driver comes to the entrance of your Marrakech hotel or riad at about 10:00 and heads south for the High Atlas foothills, roughly an hour to the valley. On the way you stop at a women's argan cooperative, where you can watch the extraction and buy what they make, and there are further pauses at villages and lookout points on the valley road, terraced fields and walnut groves either side of you and the Ourika River below. Then your guide takes you into a traditional Berber family home. They pour mint tea and set out fresh bread with olive oil and honey, and your host talks about farming, how water is managed here and the traditions of a mountain community.
At Setti Fatma the guide offers the walk up to the waterfalls, about 45 minutes, crossing the river on stepping stones and picking a line through the boulders. He chooses the safest route and knows where the photographs are. Sturdy shoes are essential for this. If you would rather have an easy day, leave the hike out completely and settle instead at a riverside cafe beneath the walnut trees, where there is a natural pool to cool off in and stalls along the water to look through. Lunch is a tagine by the river, at a place your guide picks for the food, the view and fair prices rather than for commission: Berber tagine, grilled meats, fresh salads and warm bread with the stream running past. Budget 60 to 120 MAD.
Nothing sets the time you leave. When you have had enough you find your driver and take the scenic valley road back, an hour to Marrakech, with drop-off at the entrance you were collected from. The day stretches to a full one or stays a half one, as you prefer.