Reuters photographer Youssef Boudlal travelled to the High Atlas mountains in Morocco to document the lives of the Berber people.
"It took a ten-hour drive from Casablanca to get to the mountain range and another five hours of hiking, with mules carrying our bags, to get to the village," he said. The village consisted of 16 houses built into the mountain itself at a height of 1,780 metres.
Berber men walk in the valley of Ait Sghir in the Agoudal region of Morocco, in the snowy foothills of the High Atlas mountains in MoroccoYoussef Boudlal/Reuters
The inhabitants farm and herd cattle, and make and sell carpets, honey, olive oil and pottery.
The villagers have no electricity, running water, paved roads or schools. Children have to walk for five hours to get to Tilmi, the nearest village with a school.
Berber women weave traditional carpets in the village of Ait Sghir in the High Atlas region of MoroccoYoussef Boudlal/ReutersChildren play in Ait Sghir village in the High Atlas region of MoroccoYoussef Boudlal/ReutersChildren watch TV in their house in Tilmi village in the High Atlas region of MoroccoYoussef Boudlal/ReutersA boy warms his feet by a fire in Ait Sghir villageYoussef Boudlal/ReutersA woman prepares bread in her doorway in Ait Sghir villageYoussef Boudlal/ReutersBerber women wash a child in Ait Sghir village in the High Atlas region of MoroccoYoussef Boudlal/ReutersA woman mourns her donkey after discovering it had fallen ill and died in Ait SghirYoussef Boudlal/Reuters
"Walking through the village felt like stepping into the past. Some women were carrying water from the river, others were cooking in traditional outdoor ovens and all around children were playing in the dirt with no toys to speak of. They live in a beautiful place, but a hard one to live in, nonetheless," Boudlal said.
It takes almost four hours for villagers fetch water on the backs of their mules. They keep it outside in a container with their food; there are no fridges.
"A villager died of exposure two weeks before we arrived after he got lost on his way home."
Berber men transport food and goods on mules between villages in the High Atlas region of MoroccoYoussef Boudlal/ReutersBerber men return home after transporting food and goods between villages in the High Atlas region of Morocco on mules, as the paths are too rocky for vehiclesYoussef Boudlal/ReutersVillagers try to find a mobile phone network signal at Ait Sghir village in the High Atlas region of MoroccoYoussef Boudlal/ReutersA woman and her children warm themselves around a fire in their home in Tilmi village in the High Atlas region of MoroccoYoussef Boudlal/ReutersWomen hold their babies as they keep warm by the fireside in the village of Ait SghirYoussef Boudlal/ReutersBari Moumouch, a 20-year-old Berber mother, walks with her baby on her back in the village of Ait SghirYoussef Boudlal/ReutersBari Moumouch plays with her baby in the village of Ait SghirYoussef Boudlal/ReutersA woman smiles as she warms herself near a fire at her home in Tilmi villageYoussef Boudlal/Reuters
Boudlal says: "We might tend to focus on the villagers' lack of basic amenities but, at least for me, when you live with them you can feel their happiness even if they live under difficult conditions. Sometimes I wonder; who is better off, really?"
