AP PHOTOS: Berbers live on in Morocco's Atlas Mountains
IMILCHIL, Morocco (AP) — Deep in Morocco's Atlas Mountains, the ancient Berbers live on, defying a harsh environment and loyal to their traditions and way of life in some of the most hard-to-reach parts of the African continent.
Indomitable and proud, they call themselves the Amazigh, which is believed to mean "free people" or "noble men," and trace their origins as an indigenous people in western North Africa to at least 10,000 B.C.
Amazigh villages are scattered across arid desert landscapes with burnt-orange rock, occasionally dotted with lush green slopes and surrounded by snow-capped peaks.
Today they rely on cattle and agriculture as their main sources of income and maintain a nomadic lifestyle closely resembling that of their ancestors.
Some live in clay houses with no electricity or running water while a few still dwell with their sheep and goats in remote mountain caves.