Rabat – A documentary about twelve people with Parkinson’s disease who climbed Morocco’s highest mountains has premiered in Belgium.
The ten-day Expedition Parkili trek took place from October 17 to October 28, 2021, but premiered in the western European country on Sunday to mark World Parkinson’s Day on April 11.
Parkinson’s is an incurable brain disease that causes uncountable shaking and stiffness, as well as difficulties with walking, balance, and coordination.
In climbing Morocco’s highest mountains, the twelve Parkinson’s mountaineers wanted to prove that “life does not stop with the diagnosis.”
“We have climbed a mountain that is rarely climbed. A mountain that is known among climbers as a heavy mountain. What we did was quite unrealistic,” Jen Maes, a neurologist that accompanied the mountaineers, told the Belgian Focus journal in an interview on Sunday.
The twelve Belgians climbed to the summit of Morocco’s highest mountain, Toubkal – 4,167 meters high and the country’s third-tallest mountain M’Goun (4,701 m).
Mount Toubkal is also the highest peak in North Africa and the tallest of the Atlas mountains. It is a popular destination for hikers and mountaineers.
The film premiered in the Cultuurhuis de Keizer movie theater in Lichtervelde, west Belgium.
World Parkinson’s Day is held every year on April 11 to raise awareness of Parkinson’s disease.
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American TV channel CNN listed Morocco’s Mount Toubkal in their ‘most beautiful places around the world’ list in 2019.
The Atlas mountain range extends from the Atlantic Coast to the Algerian border, covering a distance of 740 km.
