Volunteers translate Amouddou into international languages as its director reveals the series’ secrets

Volunteers from several countries have begun translating Amouddou on YouTube into international languages, most notably English and Spanish.

Coinciding with the twentieth anniversary of the Moroccan documentary programme, the initiative aims to make Amouddou better known worldwide after its considerable success both in Morocco and abroad.

Director and journalist Hassan Boufous told Al3omk that subtitles had long been in the minds of the programme’s producers and creators because of the many requests received from viewers and fans inside and outside Morocco. Limited financial resources, however, had prevented the project.

As viewers continued to press for translations, Boufous explained, the idea of volunteer subtitling emerged through YouTube, whose tools allow translation into different languages as well as ongoing review and correction.

Boufous—whose distinctive narration is closely associated with Amouddou, an Amazigh word meaning travel or journey—said the first translations focused especially on the opening episodes of season 12, devoted to the Canary Islands. Volunteers completed the work, and a Moroccan man and his American wife contributed to some episodes.

He stressed that participation remains open to everyone who loves the programme. The volunteer project helps introduce Moroccan heritage to a wider audience and strengthens the country’s tourism profile. Boufous added that, for twenty years, the team had cared for Amouddou with complete dedication, giving its sweat and blood so the programme could appear at its very best.

He recalled that Amouddou’s journeys uncovered stories that might otherwise have remained unknown. These included the 1930 journey of the young French explorer Michel Vieuchange to southern Morocco, which offered an opportunity to highlight forgotten heritage in the region, and the discovery that some Canary Islanders still spoke Amazigh, among many other findings.

Boufous also pointed to difficult moments faced by the crew, particularly while filming dangerous scenes. Examples included the Ras El Ma cave episodes near Chefchaouen and work at locations containing mines in the eastern Moroccan Sahara.

He confirmed that the programme would continue into a thirteenth season, filming episodes about the Middle Atlas. Some seasons required two years or more to complete, while production paused between 2011 and 2014.

The earliest episodes lasted only 26 minutes. From the seventh season onward, their duration increased to 52 minutes. By that point, the programme had reached 177 episodes across twelve seasons.

Amouddou has won multiple awards and attracts a large audience. Its high-quality cinematography gives the programme its captivating images, and it was the first Moroccan programme to use drones for aerial filming as well as high-resolution 4K technology.