Imlil (; ) is a small village in the high

Atlas Mountains The Atlas Mountains are a mountain range in the Maghreb in North Africa. They separate the Sahara Desert from the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean; the name "Atlantic" is derived from the mountain range, which stretches around through M ...

Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to Algeria–Morocc ...

. It is above sea level. A portrait of Imlil and the problems and prospects of Morocco's mountain populations appeared in 1984 in the book by James A. Miller called ''Imlil'' and published by Westview Press. It is close to the mountain

Jebel Toubkal Toubkal (, ), also Jbel Toubkal or Jebel Toubkal, is a mountain in central Morocco, located in the Toubkal National Park. At , it is the highest peak in Morocco, the Atlas Mountains, North Africa and the Arab world. Located south of the city of ...

, the highest peak in Northern Africa. Imlil makes a good base for attempting to summit Toubkal as it lies at the end of the tarmac road, and is a natural place to hire mountain guides and mules for the onward trek. Imlil is the centre of mountain tourism in Morocco due to its unique position. From here, 90% of visitors head up to Toubkal, the highest mountain in Morocco. Imlil is connected to

Asni Asni () is a small town in the foothills of the High Atlas mountains near Marrakesh, Morocco Morocco, officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It has coastlines on the Mediterranean Sea to t ...

and

Ikkiss Ikkiss is a small village in Morocco's High Atlas The High Atlas, also called the Grand Atlas, is a mountain range in central Morocco, North Africa, the highest part of the Atlas Mountains. The High Atlas rises in the west at the Atlantic Oce ...

by road, and shared taxis and mini buses provide services to them both. Asni is the closest town to Imlil and is where the weekly Saturday market is held. Imlil as a village is a relatively new creation. It was created to cater for the number of tourists pouring through en route to Toubkal. The original communities still exist in the valleys around Tamatert, Ait Souka, Tagadirt,

Tacheddirt Tacheddirt is a small village high up (2314 m) in the Atlas Mountains of Morocco. It is the highest settlement in the Rhirhaia valley, about 4 km further up from Ikkiss Ikkiss is a small village in Morocco's High Atlas The High Atlas, also ...

, Acheim, Taourirt n'Ait Mizane, Mzikene and Arhrene. Before the advent of mountain

tourism Tourism is travel for pleasure, and the Commerce, commercial activity of providing and supporting such travel. World Tourism Organization, UN Tourism defines tourism more generally, in terms which go "beyond the common perception of tourism as ...

, the Imlil area was well known for its

walnut A walnut is the edible seed of any tree of the genus '' Juglans'' (family Juglandaceae), particularly the Persian or English walnut, '' Juglans regia''. They are accessory fruit because the outer covering of the fruit is technically an i ...

apple An apple is a round, edible fruit produced by an apple tree (''Malus'' spp.). Fruit trees of the orchard or domestic apple (''Malus domestica''), the most widely grown in the genus, are agriculture, cultivated worldwide. The tree originated ...

s and

cherry A cherry is the fruit of many plants of the genus ''Prunus'', and is a fleshy drupe (stone fruit). Commercial cherries are obtained from cultivars of several species, such as the sweet '' Prunus avium'' and the sour '' Prunus cerasus''. The na ...

production. While these are still important to the local economy, these have been eclipsed by tourism. Both mountain tourists and Moroccans come to Imlil seeking a cool relief from the heat of the

Haouz Al Haouz () is a province A province is an administrative division within a country or sovereign state, state. The term derives from the ancient Roman , which was the major territorial and administrative unit of the Roman Empire, Roman Empire' ...

. The film '' Seven Years in Tibet'' was partly shot in the village. On 17 December 2018, two trekkers Louisa Vesterager Jespersen from Denmark and Maren Ueland from Norway, were murdered near to the village by Islamic terrorists who had pledged allegiance to ISIS. At least one victim was beheaded, with the murders videoed and posted to social media.

1995 flooding

On 17 August 1995, following of rainfall in just 2.5 hours, the village of Imlil was catastrophically flooded. A six-metre wall of water washed down the surrounding valleys, with a reported 27 times the average volume of water. Official figures state that up to 150 people, including 20-60 tourists, were killed. Forty vehicles parked near the river were washed away. The villagers experienced significant losses to food stocks and agricultural lands, as well as a depleted tourist industry over the proceeding months. The Moroccan government was quick to help, however, clearing access to the village through the blocked mountain road just four days later. By 2000 the village had still not returned to normal, with large areas of previously cultivated land still buried under flood debris. Many of their walnut trees were also washed away in the flood, each having taken up to 15 years to mature. This loss has still not been accounted for.Changing Environments

Climate

Photo Gallery

File:Imlil Marakech Morocco 2.jpg, Imlil Village File:Imlil Marakech Morocco.jpg, Noyers from Imlil Village File:Imlil Marrakech Morocco 1.jpg, Imlil village File:Imlil Marrakech Morocco 3.jpg, Imlil village

References

External links

Changing Environments By Susan Bermingham
{{coord, 31.135793, -7.918889, region:MA-HAO_type:city, display=title Mountain villages in Morocco Populated places in Al Haouz Province