{"id":262669,"date":"2025-05-29T13:56:09","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T13:56:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/peraltafinancing.com\/adventure\/thank-you-letter-to-zina-bencheikh-intrepid-travel-blog\/"},"modified":"2025-05-29T13:56:09","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T13:56:09","slug":"thank-you-letter-to-zina-bencheikh-intrepid-travel-blog","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=262669","title":{"rendered":"Thank You Letter To Zina Bencheikh | Intrepid Travel Blog"},"content":{"rendered":"


\n<\/p>\n

\n

To help us all feel a bit closer while we\u2019re physically apart, we\u2019re sharing letters to and from those who made their adventures extra special.\u00a0Share your story with us today<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n

Dear Hafida,<\/h3>\n

I will always remember what you said the first time I tried to connect with you. \u201cWho are you? Sorry I am busy climbing Toubkal\u201d. And then you hung up on me and went back to climbing the highest mountain in Morocco.<\/p>\n

I called back and introduced myself as the General Manager of Intrepid in Morocco. \u201cI am looking for female guides and I want to meet you, just for 5 minutes!\u201d You replied that you weren\u2019t interested.<\/p>\n

READ MORE: MEET ZINA, THE INTREPID GENERAL MANAGER FIGHTING FOR GENDER EQUALITY IN MOROCCO<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

But I knew you were the first female mountain guide in Morocco and I didn\u2019t want to give up. I was impressed by the fact a woman like you existed \u2013 there\u2019s only 10 female guides in the entire country. And I knew something was connecting us \u2013 above just being Moroccan women working in tourism \u2013 but I didn\u2019t know what.<\/p>\n

And then I met you.<\/p>\n

\n
\"Hafida\"\"Hafida\"<\/p>\n

Hafida was the first female mountain guide in Morocco.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n

\n

And I convinced you to lead us, along with BBC journalist Cat Moh, on our new Women\u2019s Expedition<\/a> in the Moroccan High Atlas Mountains. A tour we designed knowing only someone like you could lead.<\/p>\n

We spent 4 days travelling and trekking together. I learnt how much generosity you have behind your warrior princess exterior. And you taught me that women can do any job in the world.<\/p>\n

Thank you for filling my job and my life with so much meaning.
Love Zina.<\/p>\n

\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014\u2014-<\/p>\n

Dear Zina,<\/h3>\n

As you know, I\u2019ve been hiking Moroccan mountains and deserts for 25 years. There aren\u2019t many women out here. We spend most of our nights in our tents, or under the stars after long hours of walking and hiking to reach summits. I am often the only women amongst my male colleagues.<\/p>\n

LEARN MORE ABOUT WOMEN\u2019S EXPEDITIONS IN MOROCCO<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n

My goal was to share my passion for the High Atlas Mountains and the Sahara desert with rural Moroccan women. To give them the chance I have been given and to help them succeed. This was a dream I only half believed in when I started\u2026 But destiny made that dream happen earlier than I thought. I can\u2019t believe I could have missed it totally! But thanks to you, your dedication, generosity, intelligence, strength and dynamism, now WE have achieved this dream together.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

\"Zina\"\"Zina\"<\/p>\n

Zina is a passionate advocate for gender equality in Morocco, and Managing Director of Intrepid Travel\u2019s EMEA business.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

I want to thank you, but also all the women and men of Intrepid in Morocco, guides and colleagues who helped to make the Women\u2019s Expeditions and all the other empowering projects happen. Thank you too, to all the men and women from Intrepid in Australia, London and other places around the world. Thank you to the extraordinary women of the BBC, Cat and Elaine who made the amazing video<\/a> that gave rural women of Morocco a voice and a face for the first time in their lives.<\/p>\n

With love,
Hafida.<\/p>\n

\"Share\"Share<\/a><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

To help us all feel a bit closer while we\u2019re physically apart, we\u2019re sharing letters to and from those who made their adventures extra special.\u00a0Share your story with us today. Dear Hafida, I will always remember what you said the first time I tried to connect with you. \u201cWho are you? Sorry I am busy […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":262670,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[11760],"tags":[94276,3767,36324,2607,542,94275],"dealstore":[],"offerexpiration":[],"class_list":["post-262669","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-adventure","tag-bencheikh","tag-blog","tag-intrepid","tag-letter","tag-travel","tag-zina"],"yoast_head":"\nThank You Letter To Zina Bencheikh | Intrepid Travel Blog - Som2ny Network<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/fivemor.com\/?p=262669\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Thank You Letter To Zina Bencheikh | Intrepid Travel Blog - Som2ny Network\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"To help us all feel a bit closer while we\u2019re physically apart, we\u2019re sharing letters to and from those who made their adventures extra special.\u00a0Share your story with us today. 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