The new book out this week has a bunch of great routes in the A (Anti Atlas) region crossing the Issil Plain which lies between Tazenakht and Taliouine.
Both are good bases to kick off a traverse of the plain towards (or from) what I used to call Jebel Timouka but might more correctly be called Jebel Tawzart – an escarpment which rings the plain to the south.
These routes cross six passes or Tizis labelled below. From the west Tizi Ounzi, Tizi Tarslemt, Tizi Tawzart, Tizi Haroun, the unnamed ‘Issil pass’ and the Tizi Mourirt which is not on any M4 route but is worth a look and is part of the RoC.

Tizi Ounzi
1750m (Routes A2, A3)
West of Aguins, the Ounzi is not so dramatic but is a fun way of accessing or leaving the plain on the west side. Coming down the Ounzi towards Aguins, you get a good view of the Tarslemt pass up ahead.

Tizi Tarslemt
1896m (Routes A2, A3)
The Tarslemt starts as a broad ramp rising up onto the jebel with great views over the plain before swinging through a few switchbacks to nearly 1900m and down the far side and the canyons beyond

Tizi Tawzart
1940m (Routes A3, A5)
Tawzart takes a steep line up the jebel from Algouz and consequently got damaged by the recent rains: big bikes may struggle. And as you’ll read in the book, all vehicles may struggle trying to follow Route A5 right down the Anissi canyon. On A3, once you get to Anissi, the track gets more maintained to the west.

Tizi Haroun
1825m (Route A6)
Well known from previous Morocco Overland editions, Haroun rises to give huge views over the Issil plain (top of the page), but after the pylon turn-off down to rock-bound Lemdint, the trail turns into an unmaintained ‘BLV’; in a car expect to be crawling for hours at walking pace. And that was before the big rains…

‘Issil Pass’
1825m (Route A7)
I’ve found no name for the ‘Issil pass’, as i call it, another old classic from previous editions, with a jaw-dropping reveal if heading northbound on A7 or the TMT. Riding it last week, the valley to Amtazguine is slowly getting asphalted, but the switchback climb between Mawas and Issil remains an easy and epic gravel track.

Tizi Mourirt
1825m (RoC)
I’ve often thought there was something up here but never looked carefully enough. The Route of the Caravans pushbikers did and logged a route via Tizi Mourirt (Tizi n’Tlite), which comes down to A7 near Mawas village. One for next time.

ⴰⵄⴻⴷⴷⵉ ⵡⵉⵙ 7
Local Amazigh legends speak of a lost pass somewhere in the Jebel Tawzart, an ancient trade route now known as the The 7th Pass or ⴰⵄⴻⴷⴷⵉ ⵡⵉⵙ7 which got smothered in some Atlantis-like cataclysm, just as a treasure-laden caravan was passing through. It’s thought to lie somewhere in the higher reaches of the Jebel’s rim between Mourirt and Tawzart.