Hiking the Atlas Mountains with Morocco's first female mountain guide

Travel Goals Podcast

Conquer towering peaks and rugged trails in The High Atlas Mountains with Morocco's first female mountain guide – Hafida Hdoubane. We take a deep dive into hiking trails, female mountain guiding and community tourism with Intrepid Travel – a group adventure travel company and the world’s largest travel B Corporation. Recorded on location, join us on an immersive audio adventure as we hike through the High Atlas mountain routes, meet Amazigh villagers and guides and learn more about how Hafida first became a mountain guide.

Hafida is a trailblazer in the trekking community and became one of the first certified female mountain guides in 1994. She now leads trekking tours throughout the country, including Intrepid’s Women’s Expeditions.

At the time, most of the guides working in the Atlas Mountains were European and male, so Hafida’s entry into the hiking world was met with surprise and in some cases scepticism as Moroccan women were expected to stay at home and focus on raising a family. But Hafida decided to tread a different path and defy expectations.

From the wild Atlas mountains to Marrakech's historic medina, we meet the women who are shaking up Morocco's tourism industry and working hard to get more women into mountain and city guiding.

Thanks to Intrepid Travel for supporting this episode of the Travel Goals Podcast. Intrepid is a world leader in sustainable experience-rich travel, taking travellers to discover the world's most amazing places for more than 30 years.

The company’s mission is to create positive change through the joy of travel and they offer more than 980 trips on every continent. Visit intrepidtravel.com to find out more and to book your next adventure.

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Hi, I'm your podcast host Portia Jones, [nickname Pip Jones] and I'm a freelance travel journalist, podcaster and newsletter writer. I've travelled extensively around the world and I'm available for hire for travel journalism and podcasting. You can see my online travel journalism portfolio here.

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Make sure to connect with me online as well, I'm @travelgoalspod and @pip_says on Twitter and @pipsays and @travelgoalspodcast on Instagram.

Enjoy the podcast!