What is the Atlas cedar forest of Morocco?

The Atlas cedar (Cedrus atlantica) forms one of Morocco's most unexpected landscapes. These are huge, ancient conifers — some over forty metres tall and centuries old — carpeting the slopes of the Middle Atlas around Azrou and Ifrane. The first time I drove guests up here from Fes, they kept asking if we were still in Morocco: pine-scented air, dappled green light, even snow in winter. Ifrane is nicknamed 'Little Switzerland' for good reason.

The forest's celebrity tree was the Cèdre Gouraud, a colossal cedar named after a French general, long a pilgrimage stop for photos near Azrou. The original eventually died of old age, but the area still holds magnificent giants, and the name lives on for the grove. Walking among trunks so broad you can't reach around them, beneath a canopy that has stood for hundreds of years, is genuinely humbling.

These cedars are far more than scenery — they're an ecosystem. Their shade and seeds support the Barbary macaques that troop through the branches, along with wild boar, foxes and birds of prey. The cool, humid microclimate they create is an island of biodiversity in a hot country. Cedar wood has also been prized for centuries for carved ceilings and doors you'll admire in the medersas of Fes.

I love this forest as a contrast day — a green, breathable pause between the imperial cities and the desert. We'll stop for a walk among the trees, find the macaques, and have mint tea at a forest café with the smell of cedar resin in the air. It reminds guests that Morocco isn't only sand and souks; it's a country of remarkable ecological range, and these old cedars are among its quiet wonders.