Tickets and Tours for Ouzoud Waterfalls Experiences

Ouzoud is the tallest waterfall in Morocco: a hundred and ten metres down a red rock face, in three drops. It stands on the El Abid river in the Atlas foothills, about a hundred and fifty kilometres northeast of Marrakesh. The name means olives in Amazigh. Old mills still work at the lip.

Barbary macaques live in the gorge below. They are monkeys, not apes, and the only macaque species left in Africa. They come down to the paths morning and afternoon because people feed them. That is bad for the animals, and it is how bites happen.

The visit itself is a descent and a climb back. A path drops from the car park through olive terraces and cafés to the pool, twenty minutes down and longer up. Small flat-bottomed boats push out into the spray for a few dirhams. Afternoon sun puts a rainbow across the lower drop.

Nearly everyone arrives from Marrakesh on a day trip, and the driving is the larger half. Two and a half hours each way leaves roughly three hours at the falls. That covers the descent, the boats and lunch. Guided versions add the walk downstream into the gorge.

Practical

• Water. Heaviest from March to May on Atlas snowmelt, and thin by September. It never stops entirely.
• The climb back. Steep steps and dirt in full sun, and the reason people underestimate this trip.
• Monkeys. Do not feed them and do not carry food in your hand. The peanut sellers on the path are there for the photograph.
• Shoes. Wet rock and spray near the bottom. Grip, not sandals.
• Swimming. The pool at the foot is cold, swimmable, and has nowhere to change.
• Crowds. Coaches land between eleven and three. Either side of that the gorge is quiet, which is what a private departure buys.
• Money. Cash for the boat, the parking and the unofficial guides who attach themselves at the top.