Jbel Saghro

Jbel Saghro is a volcanic massif in the eastern Anti-Atlas, between the Dadès Valley and the Draa. The landscape is otherworldly — black basalt towers, eroded pinnacles, dry riverbeds, and a silence that is almost physical.

The plateau is the homeland of the Ait Atta, the last Amazigh confederation to resist the French. The Battle of Bou Gafer in 1933 — fought on the heights of Jbel Saghro — was the final major engagement of the French pacification campaign. The Ait Atta held the mountain for weeks before negotiating a surrender on their own terms.

Trekking in the Saghro is the alternative to the Toubkal circuit — fewer people, lower altitude, wilder terrain. The routes run between Nkob to the south and Boumalne Dadès to the north. Nomadic families still move through the valleys with their flocks. The best season is November to March, when the desert below is cool and the high passes of the Atlas are closed by snow.