The High Atlas mountains in Morocco are home to several Berber villages where inhabitants do not have electricity, paved roads or access to doctors and make their living from farming and making and selling olive oil and pottery.

Reuters photographer Youssef Boudlal travelled to the High Atlas mountains to document the lives of the Berber people.

With the help of a Berber guide, they travelled to the village where people live far from the comforts of modern life.

It took a ten-hour drive from Casablanca to get to the mountain range and another five hours of hiking, with mules carrying bags, to get to the village.

The inhabitants farm and herd cattle, and make and sell carpets, honey, olive oil and pottery.

The villagers have no electricity, running water, paved roads or schools. Children have to walk for five hours to get to Tilmi, the nearest village with a school.

"Walking through the village was like stepping into the past. Some women were carrying water from the river, others were cooking in traditional outdoor ovens and all around children were playing in the dirt with no toys to speak of," describes Youssef Boudlal.

They live in a beautiful place, but a hard one to live in, nonetheless.

There is no hot or drinking water, no electricity, and no schools.

It takes almost four hours for villagers bring water on the backs of their mules. They keep it outside in a container alongside their food; there are no fridges.

According to the United Nations, extreme weather fluctuations and erosion that causes flooding and landslides have led to a drop in agricultural productivity in the area.

"We might tend to focus on the villagers’ lack of basic amenities but, at least for me, when you live with them you can feel their happiness even if they live under difficult conditions.

"In their speech, you will find no complexity, no clutter. Sometimes I wonder; who is better off, really?"