Barbary macaque troops in the Middle Atlas cedar forest
Barbary macaque (Macaca sylvanus). Azrou–Ifrane, Middle Atlas, Morocco.
Best time: 1 Nov – 31 Mar (November to March). Where: Cèdre Gouraud forest, Azrou, Ifrane National Park – Aïn Leuh / Cascades de Ras el Ma, Aguelmame Sidi Ali & Dayet Aoua (Middle Atlas lakes) (Morocco). Time of day: From sunrise until about 10:00 as troops leave the sleeping trees and feed.
- You can go on your own
- Free
- Binoculars helpful
- Sound 3/5
Open it in the interactive calendarSunrise and sunset listening times for the day you pick, and the map.
When is the best time?
Peak: 1 Nov – 31 Mar. Mating season November–March (most vocal, most fighting); births April–June; cedar forest snowbound in January–February
Active from 1 Jan to 31 Dec (all year) in a typical year.
Time of day
From sunrise until about 10:00 as troops leave the sleeping trees and feed; a second bout of calling in the last 2 hours before sunset
- Morning foraging: sunrise → 3 h after sunrise
- Evening return: 2 h before sunset → sunset
What will you hear?
Barks, screams and the soft 'ooh' contact grunts of a troop moving through 30 m Atlas cedars, chest-thumping squabbles in the mating season, with Levaillant's woodpecker, firecrest and nuthatch in the canopy and wind in the cedars.
Binoculars?
Binoculars helpful. Roadside troops are at arm's length; binoculars for wild troops in 30 m cedars and Levaillant's woodpecker.
Where to go
- Cèdre Gouraud forest, Azrou — The habituated roadside troops — easy, but fed, stressed and next to the coach car park. Walk 1–2 km into the forest on the pistes for wild-behaving troops. Map
- Ifrane National Park – Aïn Leuh / Cascades de Ras el Ma — Larger, less habituated troops in the mixed cedar-oak; park HQ in Ifrane. Map
- Aguelmame Sidi Ali & Dayet Aoua (Middle Atlas lakes) — Same excursion: lakes with breeding crested coot, marbled teal and ruddy shelduck, and wintering ducks. Map
How to go on your own, and what it costs
Bus/grand taxi to Azrou, then 6 km on the N13 towards Ifrane to the Cèdre Gouraud turn-off; forest pistes are open and free. Ifrane NP has no gate or fee; the Aïn Leuh road and the lake circuit are public. No feeding, no permit needed for day recording.
Cost: Free (2026).
Field-recording notes
Do not feed or approach the macaques — tourist-fed troops show measurable stress and poorer health, and feeding is prohibited in the national park. Cedar forest at 1,800–2,000 m is superb for ambience: still, cold dawns in autumn and spring, snow silence in January. Noise sources are the N8/N13 roads, the Azrou souk on Tuesdays, cattle and sheep with bells, and chainsaws where cedar is cut. Mid-week and off the coach hours (before 09:00) is the only realistic way to record a troop without human voices.
Sources
- Wikipedia – Barbary macaque (ecology, mating season, tourism effects)
- ANEF – Moroccan national parks authority
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More: all spectacles in Morocco · mountain wildlife · Morocco in January · Morocco in February · Morocco in March · Morocco in November · Morocco in December