Morocco: High Atlas Mountain Service

Meet up with your group at a pre-selected location at your home airport. Once everyone has arrived, check your bags and go through security as a group. From here you will board your flight and depart for your international flight to Morocco. This first day is counted as a full day of travel because the standard travel time to this destination exceeds 12 hours. This may change depending on your departure location.

Flight Details: Rustic Pathways will be happy to book your flight as an add-on service.

Arrive into Mohammed V Casablanca International Airport (CMN) and meet your Program Leaders who will be with you for the duration of the program. Depart directly to Bin El Ouidan, literally meaning “between the rivers.“ Join the group for an orientation discussion about the week ahead, expectations for your adventure, and an introduction to the local culture.

Depart for one of our Amazigh villages in the High Atlas Mountains, the largest mountain range in North Africa. Meet your village hosts, and learn about your service initiative. In the evening, prepare for tomorrow’s service work with your group.

Overnight: Guesthouse in Amazigh village

Wake to the jaw-dropping mountains surrounding you and participate in language lessons with locals over breakfast. After breakfast, head to the service site. Community service projects are always designed with a grassroots approach, meaning they’re selected and implemented collaboratively with community members and Rustic groups. These projects provide important space for exchange between our students and locals, while investing positive energy and resources into the ongoing development initiatives in rural Morocco.

Considering service initiatives in the village are ongoing, we’ll be able to identify our specific service goals at the beginning of the week. On one afternoon, you’ll have the opportunity to meet the sheikh (authority figure) of the village. Come prepared with questions about politics, religion, and Berber culture. Join your group for a post-service debrief in the evening, discussing what you experienced and learned through hands-on work in the community.

Overnight: Guesthouse in Amazigh village

Bid the community farewell and weave your way through the final towering peaks of the High Atlas Mountains back to the red city of Marrakech.

Visit Bahia Palace and an authentic spice shop. Conclude your day with dinner in Jemaa El-Fna square. The mosque will sound a call to prayer as smoke from kabob stands billows overhead in this frenetic market. 

Overnight: Hotel in Marrakech 

Explore Marrakech and its bustling souqs full of fascinating wares—everything from magic boxes to ostrich eggs and whale vertebrae. Visit Bahia Palace, and an authentic spice shop. Conclude your day with dinner in Jemaa El-Fna square. The mosque will sound a call to prayer as smoke from kabob stands billows overhead in this frenetic market.

At the end of each program, students reflect on their experiences and the issues they engaged with, and talk about how to apply this new understanding to their own worlds. During or after their closing discussion, groups participate in Rustic Ties, a unique and powerful activity that allows students to capture the memories and learning moments of their program to process and share with their communities back home.

Overnight: Hotel in Marrakech

Your Program Leaders will take you to Mohammed V Casablanca International Airport (CMN) for your departure as you say goodbyes and reflect on your adventure.

Flight Details: Rustic Pathways will be happy to book your flight as an add-on service.