RIHLA

a photo from my first hike to Tizirane (2106m), which inspired the idea behind RIHLA.
News of a recent hiking accident on Mount Toubkal deeply affected me and reinforced the importance of safety-aware hiking information.
Live CLI demo: RIHLA uses the Gemini API to generate structured hiking guides for Moroccan destinations
RIHLA’s main dashboard, designed to help hikers explore Atlas Mountain destinations safely.

RIHLA (arabic word for trip) was inspired by my personal experience as an 18-year-old Moroccan who has always felt connected to the mountains . Although I grew up loving nature, my first real hiking experience happened only recently, when I climbed Tizirene and reached its 2106 m summit . While the altitude itself may not be extraordinary, the journey meant a lot to me.

During that hike, I discovered not only the beauty of the mountains, but also the importance of knowing when it is safe to hike. Shortly after, news spread that three hikers had lost their lives on Mount Toubkal . Toubkal is my dream mountain, and this deeply affected me. It made me realize how dangerous hiking can become when people lack reliable information about weather, seasons, difficulty levels, and local conditions.

I also noticed a major accessibility problem : finding experienced local guides in Morocco is still mostly informal. Hikers rely on asking locals or searching through WhatsApp, Instagram, or Facebook pages. There is no centralized platform that connects hikers, guides, and trustworthy information in one place.

At the same time, I met incredible people during my hike — people who shared advice, stories, and encouragement. That sense of connection made me want to build a real hiking community, not just a tool

RIHLA experiments with how AI can help bridge these gaps. Using Google Gemini I built a lightweight engine capable of generating hiking guides for Moroccan destinations, including safety tips, best seasons, difficulty levels, and cultural context

Through this project, I learned how to integrate generative AI APIs design effective prompts, and handle real-world technical challenges such as API configuration and model availability. One of the biggest challenges was ensuring the AI provided responsible, safety-aware information

This project was also my first real attempt at building a web application from scratch I faced many technical challenges, from debugging API errors to understanding how frontend and backend components work together. Despite the difficulties, this process taught me resilience , problem-solving and how to learn independently under pressure

RIHLA is more than a hackathon project it reflects my passion for Morocco’s mountains my concern for hiker safety and my ambition to turn this idea into a real platform that hikers and guides can use beyond this competition.