About Cascades de Setti Fatma
The Setti Fatma Waterfalls (Cascades de Setti Fatma or Cascades Ourika; I think is pronounced “OO-reek-ah”) was our first waterfalling experience in Morocco. Not knowing what to expect other than what we had read in our guidebooks, they were said to be a series of seven waterfalls above the village of Setti Fatma nestled in the Ourika Valley, which itself was one of a handful of valleys in the High Atlas Mountains. In our experience, Julie, Tahia, and I (along with a guide) managed to reach just one of these waterfalls (not counting the handful of smaller waterfalls and cascades en route), which seemed to have an impressive drop of about 25-30m.
Beyond this first falls, I went alone with the guide on a very rough trail high up to an overlook that allowed me to view at least two more waterfalls in addition to the first one (see photo at the top of this page). This perspective made me appreciate the context of the overall scale of just the first three falls. We had read that conceivably you can trek up to the remaining waterfalls (assuming I didn’t miscount the falls by not counting the smaller ones we saw en route to the “first”), but it was clear to me that the ascent became more difficult and dangerous the farther up I went. Thus, I can’t comment any further on the waterfalls higher up than the three that I managed to see.

Second, this excursion was very popular, which given what I had just described about the difficulty of the trail, it seemed almost crazy to think this could be possible. Nevertheless, this might be attributable to the fact that the Ourika Valley was said to be about 64km southeast of Marrakech, which itself was a very popular and busy city. We’ve read that many foreigners come to this falls as half-day or full-day trips from Marrakech, but we noticed many more Moroccans during our visit (in fact, I recalled encountering hardly any foreign tourists in the late afternoon of our visit). What was even more baffling was that amongst the folks doing the hike were women, older children, middle-aged, and even some more elderly-aged people hiking in flip flops, barefoot, or even dress sandals (in the case of some women). We had a hard enough time on the trail with our sturdy hiking boots yet they seemed to have a successful visit themselves.

In addition to these contrasting aspects of the experience, we also encountered several smaller waterfalls and cascades throughout the excursion. I wasn’t sure if these counted as part of the seven waterfalls that our guidebooks talked about or not, but I didn’t count them as such. There were also some water channels providing some small scale water diversion besides some of these waterfalls to which our guide was quick to point out that the Berber people knew how to do this before the Romans. In fact, he said that the Romans may have learned their water channeling techniques from the Berber people.

Finally, even though I carried our daughter on the hike, I have to admit that it was a little risky given the exposure to hazards. Have a look at the photo journal below and make your evaluation as to whether the risk reward would be worth it to you or not if you’re in a similar situation with kids.
Related Top 10 Lists
No Posts Found
Trip Planning Resources
Nearby Accommodations
This content is for subscribers only. See Membership Options.Featured Images and Nearby Attractions
This content is for subscribers only. See Membership Options.Visitor Comments:
Got something you'd like to share or say to keep the conversation going? Feel free to leave a comment below...No users have replied to the content on this page
Visitor Reviews of this Waterfall:
If you have a waterfall story or write-up that you'd like to share, feel free to click the button below and fill out the form...No users have submitted a write-up/review of this waterfall