Atlas Mountains Morocco 2000

The villagers are generally very shy of cameras, but this child seemed quite unaware or was perhaps more interested in us, than avoiding a photograph.

Commuting is a bit different in the Atlas mountains.

There is a lot of red and brown in Morocco, but this just makes the contrast with the ribbons of green that follow the watercourses even more striking.

Wonderful walking along several km of broad ridge leading back from the summit of Jebel Mgoun.

A reminder that mountain-building involves some pretty serious forces.

Another view of the Jbel Mgoun ridge descending from the summit (also the same route up).

Descending one of the great bowls on Mgoun's northern slopes, in amongst a field of broken rocks we came across several types of wild flower. I suspect that although the conditions are harsh the lack of browsing animals makes the most difference to their survival.

Seemingly very fragile flowers growing amongst the loose rocks on Jbel Mgoun's northern slopes

These flowers and the other two shots were all taken within a few metres of each other. There must be some sort of special microclimate that makes conditions more favourable than they appear.