Day 2 Akka Laasker- Ait Aghte Agouti 30 klms

We leave early again after breakfast and it seems that the guides have well organised the food and essentials for the trip. Minted tea is the staple beverage and unsalted flat bread. In ancient times salt was a relative luxury. In fact Roman soldiers were paid in salt or money to buy salt, hence the word `salary' the etymology of which is tied to `salarius' (latin-pertaining to salt).

The first stage of the hike is four hours on flatter terrain and soaring temperatures again. An occasional snake or scorpion are the only creatures we meet and the smell of wild growing thyme invigorates.

Lunch this time is taken in a troglodyte (prehistoric cave dwellers) grotto, which eliminates the need to pitch the tent, which is quite an ordeal in the heat.These grottos continue to be used after thousands of years by nomadic Berber shepards, who move their flocks onto the higher plains during summer. This is a timeless socio-economic system, which provides meat and skins to villages. The nomad must first seek permission from the village chief, before grazing his flocks and is usually granted a month. He stores the droppings of his flock in the grottos, where villagers collect them for use as fertilisers.

We criss-cross a greatly diminished river and then scale steep hills of rock and shale. The camp site is perched over a small village along the river. In fact, it becomes evident that people of these parts build their villages where nature has best provided its graces, unlike places like Los Angeles and other modern cities.
Twilight sets over small pastures and orchids which provide a variety of vegetables and fruits. Workers collect their yields and carry it home on their heads and shoulders. It feels strange to be in such a place of life, just next to abject desolation.

Life is concentrated by and around the source of its survival, water. There are birds, butterflys and goats grazing on the red stoney hills behind us. The guides pitch the tent and seranade returning workers below, with traditional instruments.

A small boy is brought to us, suffering from an eye infection. I treat him with some medicines I have brought and am happy to see him better the next morning. The nearest hospital would be 2 or 3 days walk from here.

As the sun sets, the chant of an iman perched in his minaret resonates from somewhere far along the parched valley.