Ouzoud Falls - TIS Marrakech [Day 5]

The Ouzoud Falls are stunning! They are the highest waterfalls in all of North Africa, and the second highest in Africa. The falls never stop. They never dry out. During summertime there will be less streams, but water will still be flowing. The falls are an impressively 110m high.

It takes over 2 hours to get here from Marrakech. On the way to the falls, you'll drive through the mountain and many small villages. It gives you a good insight on how they live outside of the city. You'll notice the big differences between the Western culture and the African culture.

The hike

Visiting the falls involves some hiking to do. I'd say that it's very possible for most people to do this hike. I'm still not 100% recovered from my knee surgeries and other leg issues and I'm very capable of doing the hike. The road down is unpaved, but the hike up on the other side of the falls is paved.

You start at the top of the falls where you get a first glimpse of the falls. You can take a look over the ledge and look down the 110m high falls. I hope you're not afraid of heights!

When we were at the falls, unfortunately the water was brown. This is due to the heavy rainfall the day before. When there's heavy rainfall, the falls turn brown from the mud. It takes a few days for the water to get clear again. On a good day the falls should be clear water!

There are a lot of monkeys on the way down. There are also street sellers trying to sell you peanuts to feed the monkeys. You'll pass some small shops on the way down with the same stuff that they sell Marrakech. According to our guide, it's a lot cheaper than in Marrakech. But take this with a grain of salt. We didn't look at the prices. We didn't came to shop, but for the falls and to take pictures.

On the way down are some very nice viewpoints of the falls. These are some perfect spots for pictures.

All the way down is where it starts to get impressive. It's at this point where the falls truly get amazing. You can feel all the energy of the water falling down. The falls are so huge! The water drops fly all the way around. It's all the way down here that I got the best pictures. There are also small rowing boats in the lake below. They will take you really close to the falls and then to the other side of the lake. This boat trip costs 20 dr (€2), which is totally worth it.

Our boat guide stopped at a rock in the middle of the lake so we could pose for pictures. I immediately jumped out of the boat and set foot on that rock. I could just feel the strength of the falls. The drops were splashing in my face and all I could feel was joy and calmness.

This was truly an impressive experience! But be careful about the tour. Even tho this is a paid tour, the tour guide expects to get tipped. When we got off the bus and met our guide, he told us that the tip is not mandatory and we could give however much we like. At the end of the tour decided he expected a minimum of 20 dr per person. One person of our group wanted to give 10 dr, but it wasn't enough. He wanted at least 20. But then when one guy wanted to tip him 20, he suddenly wanted 30. It's this behavior that made me decide to not tip at all. Also the person with the 10 dr didn't tip anymore and some others also didn't. I think he would've been able to get more tips if he wasn't this picky and very respectful towards how much people wanted to tip.

Lastly you get guided into a restaurant for lunch. Which of course isn't going to get you the best deal. It's obviously a tourist trap. We're a group of travel bloggers and instagram influencers and not your average tourist group who falls for this stuff. We told the restaurant owner that we didn't want to eat there and this way we got half price. The only reason we stayed is because the organizers of the summit had to be back in time to continue planning for the summit. The food itself was good. But way overpriced. When we got half off was only a bit on the pricy side.

Special thanks

I want to thank everyone from Trablin to organize the summit and all the pre tours! It's a very unique experience to meet all these amazing travel bloggers and influencers from all over the world! Here's a picture of me with Patricia from Trablin.