Visiting the Glaoui salt mine near Telouet
 

On our recent trip we hired KTM 790 and 890 bikes from Noureddine at BM Attitude in Marrakech.



On our return to Marrakech we chose not to stop at Ait Benhaddou which was submerged beneath a torrent of day trippers from Marrakech, and instead continued north on the same road to Anmiter, where a the road takes you west towards Telouet, home of Thami el Glaoui.

El Glaoui was one of the three 'Lords of the Atlas' controlling the major routes over the High Atlas mountains south of Marrakech. El Glaoui controlled the pass known as the Tizi n' Telouet which was the main direct route before the French constructed the Tizi n' Tichka in 1936. Sadly, the Telouet Kasbah (one of many owned by the family) was damaged in the 2023 earthquake and at the time of writing is still closed awaiting repair.

But as well as tributes from passing merchants, El Glaoui had many other sources of revenue, one of these being the salt mine near Telouet.



This video shows the approach from the east from the direction of Ait Benhaddou on a beautiful section of road. What comes out quite well on the GoPro video is the excellent condition of the re-engineered road from Anmiter towards Telouet, it's a real joy if you are on a motorbike. The video gives an impression of higher speed than reality. I tend to ride slowly in Morocco to enjoy the wonderful scenery and you can see from the speedo that I was actually only doing 40-50 kph (25-30 mph).Once on the track you might notice a lookout tower on the hilltop to the right, to protect the mine.



This second video shot on an iPhone shows the interior of the mine, which is still being worked. The location of the mine is marked on Google Maps as 'Ancient Salt Mine of Télouet'. I gave a 50 dh note to cover the two of us and some sample rocks to take home which the miners were well pleased with.

If you are interested in the background to the El Glaoui 'crime family', read Gavin Maxwell's excellent book.

Also https://blog.travel-exploration.com/...-pacha-glaoui/

I’ve been wondering about the Tizi n' Telouet (2450m) for years.
It's less than 6km NNW of Telouet.
On the north side, at Ait n Amer on the N9 (31.36882, -7.38796), a village track leaves the highway and reaches the pass in about 24km where a line of pylons from Nour solar plant marches over the watershed.
From the col, on aerials it looked like only 2km direct to where a rideable track picked up, but from what I now know, even a hardy salt-mule would struggle to reach Telouet.

https://saharaoverland.files.wordpre.../01/tizitl.jpg

A couple of years ago some Spanish guys crossed the Telouet (and a whole lot more), and thoughtfully put their track up on Wikiloc.
Afaict, in the vid below the col stage starts at 22.20, but it’s worth finding time to watch the full 80 mins if you don’t mind having your mind blown by what a light dirt bike can manage in Morocco’s mountains.

The Men Who Ride Like Goats, I called them.

https://saharaoverland.files.wordpre.../01/easwit.jpg

I’ve been meaning to read the Maxwell book for years. I’ve just received Charles de Foucauld’s Reconnaissance au Maroc, 1883–1884; A Critical Edition in English. He used the Telouet which as Tim says, was the more established crossing at that time. There’s talk of a ‘Tizi n’Glaoui’: Tizi n Glaoui; it contains three passes, at Telouet, Tichka, and Tamanat’ (west of Tichka, afaict). Tichka was used when Telouet was snowed over.