Snow Fun in Morocco's "Little Switzerland"

The View from Fez is in debt to Al Arabiya News for a timely reminder that Morocco is not all sun and dessert. The Atlas and High Atlas mountains have a great reputation for trekking and climbing, but also, for skiing. Now, Ifrane,‘Little Switzerland', is holding its first ever snow festival.

Built by the French in a European style, Ifrane was once a summer resort for colonial families and has long been a popular winter destination for ski-lovers. But this year, the local authorities decided to hold the town’s first ever snow festival in a bid to widen the resort’s appeal and attract larger numbers of tourists.

“This festival has many objectives for the local population in the fields of tourism, culture and development. This is the first year we have done this initiative and we will see what further steps we may take for next year,” said chairman of the provincial council, Abdallah Ouhadda.

Visiting Ifrane in winter? Rug up, it gets very cold! 

The event, which took place on Saturday (February 2), attracted thousands of visitors, both from Morocco and abroad. Alongside a colourful parade, one of the main highlights of the day was the ‘snow princess’ contest, which saw ten girls aged between 8 and 13 compete for the coveted title.

Local girl Zineb Azira, who won the prize, received her crown from Ifrane’s provincial governor.

“I am very happy because by winning this title, I brought pride to Ifrane. I am very happy to win the title of snow princess,” she said.

The idea of organizing a snow festival in Ifrane was first mooted two years ago, to boost tourism and promote the region’s rich Amazigh culture. One of the organizations behind the competition said the aim was educational. The chairman of the Toutrit - or ‘garden’ in Amazigh - Association, said organizers wanted the younger generation to be proud of their local heritage and more aware of environmental issues.

“Why a snow princess and not a snow queen? Because we wanted to play an educational role in this province for young girls and boys. The other objective of this event is to help local development in the region and also the marketing of local products,” said Abdelkader al-Achni.

Michlifen

Twenty kilometers away from Ifrane, the Michlifen ski resort is popular with urban dwellers who want to escape the cities and enjoy some outdoor exercise.

But as well as winter sports, Ifrane’s cool summer climate means the region continues to attract tourists all year round, as residents from cities such as Fes and Meknes seek to escape the scorching heat of the summer months.

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Morocco - making the animals anxious?

If you are taking a day trip out of Fez, or coming back from a day in the cool up in Ifran, it might be a good thing to heed the warnings about the Macaques (Barbary apes). Some years ago, coming through Tizi Tioumliline and on the track beside the Oued Sebbab that leads you back to Azrou I stopped for a quiet Macaque chat and while I was thus engaged another launched itself onto my back. This not an experience to be recommended.

But now, according to the journal Biological Conservation, a study reveals that Macaques at a site regularly visited by tourists showed signs of anxiety when people got too close, fed them or tried to attract their attention for a photograph.

The scientists monitored the monkeys' behaviour and also tested the animals' droppings for stress hormones.

"There's been a lot of interest, recently, in tourism and how it affects wild animal populations," explained Dr Stuart Semple, a scientist who specialises in the study of primates at the University of Roehampton in London, UK. "But while there are studies that show tourism does affect animal behaviour, we've tried to look at it much more directly, and to actually measure their levels of anxiety."

Macaque taking a time-check

Laetitia Marechal, also from Roehampton, led the study.

She and her colleagues studied 50 days of tourist-monkey interactions at Ifrane National Park in the Middle Atlas Mountains of Morocco.

A population of macaques here has become habituated to the regular visits of tourists for at least five years.

"The more tourists there were, the more anxious the macaques would become," said Dr Semple.

"Just like humans, macaques scratch themselves when they're nervous or anxious, so we use this [scratching behaviour] as a measure of their level of anxiety."

The researchers divided the interactions into three categories: feeding; neutral, which included taking photographs of the monkeys; and aggression, including the less common incidences of tourists throwing things at the macaques or physically striking them.

My opinion? Nah, I'm sitting on the fence...

"All three types of interactions seemed to make the monkeys anxious," said Dr Semple.

For the record,i t is thought there are fewer than 6,000 Barbary Macaques left in the wild. They are found mainly in mountainous regions of Algeria and Morocco.

While I agree with the scientists, I have to say that having a Macaque on my back, holding on to my ears and riding me like a small jockey on a pony, also made me anxious.