Dadès-Toghra via the pass: the M'semrir-Tamtatoucht link is now paved

February 2025: The M'semrir-Tamtatoucht link via P7104 is now fully paved, making it possible to do the Dadès-Toghra loop via the pass.

Thanks for the info. I haven’t had the chance to go that way yet, but it shouldn’t be long now.

Thanks for the info. Do you know if the Msemrir/Agoudal route is doable in a "normal" car? 🙂

No problem, it's all paved and gorgeous. Watch out for snow in winter.

February 2025: The M'semrir-Tamtatoucht link via P7104 is fully paved, allowing you to complete the Dadès-Toghra loop via the pass.

Alas, alas, alas...

This "mythic" route, which offered the bold the crossing of Tizi n'Ouguerd Zegzaoun at 2,639 m in conditions that weren’t always easy—this track that connected not much (Msemrir) to nothing at all (Tamttoucht) while passing through a stunning high-altitude middle of nowhere—this track that served no villages and whose only purpose was to provide Msemrir with an alternative route in case of flooding on the Dadès—this track, I say, has just been completely ruined in its central section, the most beautiful part.

Instead of intelligently adapting the route to the terrain, they chose the opposite approach: the mountain in the way? Let’s "scrape" it. The debris? No problem. In the best case, it’s dumped into the ravine. Otherwise, it’s piled up by the roadside...

Reducing territorial and social disparities in rural areas... And a budget of 42,290,000 MAD...

Sure, you can now cross the range in a Clio. No need for a 4x4 or a beldi pickup.

But the "rural world" still uses the old track, with donkeys and mules...





A few glimpses of the lovely embankments...





Off you go! It’s all straight now, and there’s nothing left to see...



In conclusion: If you want to "do the loop" Dadès-Todgha, avoid this shortcut. Take the route via Agoudal instead. It’s paved too... Boumalne-Msemrir-Tilmi-Agoudal-Aït Hani-Tamttoucht-Todgha Gorge-Tinerhir.



Memories... On this track, spring 1971...

Totally agree. It's fast but the environment wasn't respected.

Totally agree. It’s fast, but the environment wasn’t respected at all.

What’s disheartening is seeing that an engineer (I assume there must be someone with that level of technical decision-making leading the project, and that they’ve been on-site...) doesn’t show the slightest concern for the environment. Just a decade ago, that wasn’t the case—some stunning "impossible roads" (like the 307, the 317, and the Ahançal link to the Aït Abdi) were built. Now, they’re making them straight, flat, and wildly oversized—roads that often serve no real purpose. But hey, "the standards" are met.

Another disaster is unfolding on the forest track section (gorgeous!) of the Zawiat Ahançal-Cathédrale route.

Endangered landscape...

They’re gonna give you some nice smooth tarmac!

View of the Cathédrale yesterday.

View of the embankment... today... You can just make out the top of the Cathédrale. P.S.: I was confronted by the site foreman for taking these photos... 😎

What a shame. I did it in 2015 with a Pajero and kept an unforgettable memory of it, planning to go back that way the next time I was in this magnificent region. So remote. Stunning in its preserved vastness. And nope 😢 I also remember a guy who ran a small café-restaurant in his sheepfold along the track, just before reaching Tamtatoucht. He kept tin cans to build miniature violins. "Barbarian Stradivarius," as he called them. I wonder if he was spared by the heartless bulldozers with no respect for anything 😢🏗️

What a shame. I did it in 2015 with a Pajero and kept an unforgettable memory of it. I was planning to go back that way the next time I was in this magnificent region. So remote. Stunning in its preserved vastness. And nope 😢

That’s exactly the right way to put it.

I also remember a guy who ran a small café-restaurant in his sheepfold along the track, just before arriving at Tamtatoucht. I wonder if he was spared by the heartless bulldozers with no respect for anything 😢... 🤬

Yes and no. He’s still in the same place, but "the road" doesn’t go past there anymore. It starts at the western exit of Tamtatoucht, whereas he’s on the old access to the track, east of Tamtatoucht. I found a photo from my last trip in 2022.

At that time, the link was divided into 3 sections: - Near Tamtatoucht: a prepared but unpaved track. Abandoned construction site. - Near M’semrir: a superb highway and major collateral damage - Between the two, on the east side of the pass: the old-school track in its original state. Hence these few photos, In Memoriam... (De profundis clamavi ad te, Domine, but it’s ruined now...)

The legendary, untouched Dadès-Todgha of yesteryear. This winding route must be the nightmare of the public works engineer. Why respect the curve of the oued when you can cut straight through the mountain and make a 6-meter-wide straight line?



A little humor...

Arrival at Tizi n'Ouguerd Zegzaoune, east side. Here, it’s simple: cut everything to the left and go straight. And the debris, to the right.

Bunch of b............. 🏴‍☠️

I see with horror that my phone’s autocorrect messed up my message 😨: Berber Stradivarius! We were all in awe of how pure the music sounded. Incredible

I see with horror that my phone’s autocorrect messed up my message 😨: Berber Stradivarius!

Barbarian Stradivarius had a pretty cool rebellious vibe to it! [;]