The Atlas are the most northerly of Africa's mountains, extending in a broken chain for over 1,500 km across Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. The High Atlas, home of the highest peaks in North Africa, is the western part of the range. Here the peaks, a dozen of which are over 3,900 metres, form a complex of jagged ridges and deep narrow valleys running 400 km across Morocco. The Atlas Mountains separate the northern moist Mediterranean climate from the arid south. Northward the mountains drop steeply, while southward they slope gradually into the hot, dry Sahara, which stretches for over a thousand kilometres.

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