Panorama Photo

A curious case of homonymy is that between the well-known Atlantic resort of Sidi Ifni and this very remote place among the highest mountains of Morocco. The point is that the suggestive lake lying just below the Toubkal summit, on the Saharian side, bears the name of Lac d'Ifni. At the same time, "sidi" indicates the shrine dedicated to some Muslim saint. And there is one right near the top of the high moraine, visible here, barring the lake and thus witnessing unmistakably its glacial (!!) origins.
The lake may be reached during the popular trekking circuit around the Jebel Toubkal: on the opposite side of the 3600 m high Tizi-n-Ouano ("the high pass") one finds the Toubkal refuges, which are the basis for the popular ascent to the highest mountain of Northern Africa.
A far more adventurous undertaking would be to reach the lake from the other side, starting from Aoulouz and following the reputedly tough Jebel Siroua pistes, from which a side trail reaches the village of Amsouzert and ends up close to the shrine. I was never able to tackle this task up do now, due to lack of time or to the fact the Siroua pistes are reported to be, more often than not, in bad conditions: this was the case, for example, of the last winter. However, I will try again in the future!
Hoping in the permission of the owner, I have marked some points in Pano 1648 which are helpful to understand the present one, namely: the village of Amsouzert (1740), the beautiful red top of the Dôme d'Ifni (3876), hiding the lake, the Sidi Ifni moraine, and the village of Tissaldal (2100), through which the next day I continued my counter-clockwise Toubkal circuit.