The Volkswagen Amarok PanAmericana tackles Morocco’s Rif Mountains, from the tarmac out of Tangier to a fir forest 2 000 m above Chefchaouen, the Blue Pearl.
Nearly 2 000 m above sea level, there’s a plateau marked as Plaza España, a name borrowed from the Spanish by our lunch spot in the contoured, coniferous network of the Rif Mountains in northern Morocco. We sat cross-legged on Berber rugs, stomachs filled with kefta (ground meat on skewers), cooked peppers and khobz (similar to pita), absorbing a lesson in local botany. ‘It’s called the Moroccan fir (Abies marocana),’ explained the local chef, pointing to the impressive horizon line of fir-filled limestone slopes. ‘It’s a type of tree – there’s another species belonging to the same genus in Sierra de Grazalema Natural Park, Spain, which is called the Spanish fir tree (A. pinsapo). But this is A. marocana, which is endemic to this area. It only grows at over 1 500 m above sea level,’ he continued.
We found ourselves in this forest in the sky thanks to the low-down torque and four-wheel-drive systems of a fleet of Volkswagen Amarok PanAmericana double-cabs, and the Volkswagen Group’s intention to remind global markets of the magnificent piece of engineering that constitutes a double-cab bakkie in this day and age. Gone are the days when the light commercial vehicle segment required simply a workhorse, and Volkswagen’s current-generation Amarok – along with the Ford Ranger, with which it shares its platform – sets the standard for luxury and comfort coupled to capability in the segment.
What separates the two vehicles is what Volkswagen did afterwards – its own sheetmetal, cabin, steering and damper calibration. A route mixing Tangier tarmac with mountain gravel was where the finishing work came to life against a spectacular backdrop.
Into Talassemtane National Park
In less than 24 hours, we had made it from Tangier-Ibn Battouta International Airport – getting to grips with the right (wrong) side of the road and the lawless approach to traffic circles – and up into Talassemtane National Park, in the western Rif Mountains, just outside Chefchaouen. Created in 2004 and recognised by UNESCO as part of the Intercontinental Biosphere Reserve of the Mediterranean, the park covers close to 590 km² of rugged terrain, deep gorges and dense forest. It exists specifically to protect the A. marocana. Paint me a still life of a mountain unbothered, and perhaps you’ll capture the view from our plateau: firs standing unfazed, ranks of them running toward the ridgeline, uniform in shape but unmistakably wild.
Towards the start of our surreal ascent to this endangered mountainous forest, before a switchback in the gravel took the convoy from the face of the slopes, inwards and up, we were afforded a bird’s-eye view of the city of Chefchaouen, the ‘Blue Pearl’, its rooftops glaring into the harsh daylight. Lapis lazuli in a sea of limestone.
Chefchaouen: inside Morocco’s Blue Pearl
Chefchaouen earns its nickname without much argument. Every wall, stair and doorway in the old medina is painted some shade of blue, from pale powder to deep cobalt, and the effect is disorientating, like walking through a town that has been left out in the sun to fade evenly. Nobody can agree on why. Some credit Jewish refugees who arrived in the ’30s and painted the town blue as a reminder of the sky and a deterrent to mosquitoes. Others point to older Andalusian traditions carried over by Muslim and Jewish families fleeing the Reconquista, who settled here after the town was founded in 1471 as a mountain fortress against Portuguese incursions. Whatever the origin, the upkeep is a communal ritual, with residents repainting their section of wall each year before the rains set in.
Thanks to the nature of the trip – an off-roading epic through the Rif Mountains, which ended with dinner in the city itself – we had the unique luxury of experiencing the visual wonder twofold: Once from the slopes and again at eye level. From afar, the city is a piercing blue iris among the lower mountain folds; up close, in the valley, its personality reveals itself. The knowing eye of the local follows you as you pick your way through the maze of cerulean side streets, narrow stairwells and knee-height doors. There’s a mystery to the blue walls.
As impressive as it was to see Chefchaouen from the ridges of the Rif Mountains, it was equally spectacular to inspect the mountain range from below, to watch the evening working its way down the cliff-face in a dance of yellow light. I caught the best of it from the terrace of Triana Café & Restaurant, a rooftop restaurant tucked into the upper medina whose menu features the tagines, grilled fish and mint teas typical of Moroccan and Andalusian cooking.
The beauty of a vehicle, especially an elite-grade double-cab like the Amarok, is the access it allows you to the world. One evening, we were flying down a two-hour straight from Tangier to Chefchaouen, espousing the virtues of the Amarok’s V6 engine mated perfectly to a 10-speed automatic and the absence of cabin noise as co-pilot Calvin Fisher and I went story for story. The next morning, we engaged four-wheel drive, and only disengaged it after the experiential marvel of climbing one of the world’s most interesting mountain ranges. You could do it all on foot, but it certainly wouldn’t be a day’s work!
The Amarok PanAmericana built for the climb
The fleet for this leg of the tour was the Volkswagen Amarok PanAmericana model, the range’s dedicated off-road specification, and each vehicle was prepped specifically for Talassemtane National Park’s terrain. Reinforced suspension lifted ride height and stiffened load capacity, useful on a route that mixed loose-gravel switchbacks with the odd exposed rock ledge. A hard canopy sealed off the load bed, keeping kit dry and dust-free through a day that swung from dry heat on the N2 to intermittent rain higher up the mountain. Wrapped around all four corners were BF Goodrich All-terrain tyres, with enough sidewall to shrug off sharp limestone (though there was one casualty!). None of it changes the fact that the Amarok, underneath the kit, is still the same double-cab bakkie that handles a two-hour tar run to Chefchaouen without complaint. That range, from highway cruiser to mountain climber, is the whole point of the PanAmericana spec.
Volkswagen Amarok PanAmericana: key specs
- Engine: 3.0-litre V6 TDI diesel
- Power: 177 kW
- Transmission: 10-speed automatic
- Drive system: 4MOTION permanent 4WD, switchable 2H/4H/4A/4L
- Wheels and tyres: 18-inch Amadora alloys in black, BF Goodrich All-terrain rubber, full-size alloy spare
- Suspension: reinforced for off-road duty
- Load bed: hardtop canopy with sliding windows, movable load management system
- Underbody protection: steel (engine and transfer case), plastic (fuel tank)
- Extras: heated leather multifunction steering wheel, auxiliary heater with remote control, removable tow bracket with trailer assist
Originally published via CarMag.
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