28th Jan 2016
A journey to the end of the
road in the Sahara Desert….And back !
It was very kind of the guys at the camp site to
offer us the use of a shower and toilet in a private room, but it didn’t work
THAT well ! Yes there was loo paper, so
a promising start. But when Janet
returned from the shower, she reckoned it took over 10 minutes for the hot
water to come through, and then it was a bit sporadic – Albeit acceptable. My turn, and I waited my 10 minutes, but no
hot water arrived, so I gave up, washed a few important bits, and then called
it quits ! Ah the joys of Morocco ! Off to the Sahara.........
After breakfast we packed up
and headed off down the road. M’Hamid is
about 90 kms south, and is officially the end of the road, with the Algerian
border (a no go area at the moment !) 40 kms further on, and Sahara Desert continuing for the
next thousand kilometres, or whatever !
Before leaving we went to check out one other campsite that had been full last
night, and on the way there we were followed by a tow truck, hooting his horn
and the people in the cab waving at us.
We ignored them and headed on to the campsite – But the truck followed
us all the way ! Eventually we stopped
at the camp site, and the truck driver came to my window and handed me his garage
business card, saying “Nice Toyota you have monsieur. I have Toyota garage, I can fix your
car. You need better suspension. Etc etc” .
I thanked him, told him my suspension was just fine, and he left, while we examined the camp site – It was
gorgeous – Shame it had been full last night !
Ah well. On to M’Hamid.
The road to M’Hamid is across
a rocky plain, through little towns like Tamegroute and Anagam. Since the 11th C, Tamegroute has
been an important religious and educational centre with influence widely felt
not only in the Draa region, but further afield. There are libraries here containing Koranic
documents written on gazelle hides, from the 13th C. Additionally, Tamegroute is also famous for
its green glazed pottery – Different from other glazes in the area, and there
are a number of stalls alongside the road selling their wares.
Shortly after Tamegroute we
came to the Tinfou Dunes, and the Kasbah Sahara Sky. The Tinfou dunes are ones first glimpse of
Saharan sand dunes, although it is only a tiny taste of the desert. The Sahara Sky is a 3 star hotel with an
observatory on the roof, for viewing of the usually clear Saharan skies. We continued on towards M’Hamid, through
another spectacular (if smaller) mountain pass, after which the two lane road
deteriorated into a rough single lane road with big drop offs and rough gravel
on the sides. This was particularly
nasty because, unlike the Australian system on such roads where two passing
cars both put 2 wheels in the dirt, here the locals play chicken with you and
try to force you off the road completely while they stay on the tarmac in the
middle ! A few got a bit of a surprise
when I took them on, but eventually I decided it was easier just to let them
have their bit of road !
A lot of the roads round here
are “pistes”, or vague tracks through the desert that are sometimes well
defined, and at other times need a good GPS to get you through, while also
sometimes ending up in soft sand dunes that require good 4 WD vehicle
capabilities as well as good off road driving skills to get through. I have the vehicle, and although my off road
skills are there, they are admittedly limited.
In Australia it is common sense to have at least 2 vehicles when heading
off road, and without that luxury I am just a tad hesitant about setting off
across the Sahara. But when we were
about 18 kms out of M’Hamid we saw a well marked trail off the road just where
our book said it would be, with Saharan dunes beckoning. So off we went, following these nice
white-painted rocks……
After about 1 km, the painted
rocks disappeared ! Undeterred because I
was marking my GPS maps about every km or so (so I could at least get back to
my starting point, following my “breadcrumbs”), we carried on, following
increasingly faint tyre marks across the desert ! Lawrence of Arabia had nothing on me – El
Vagabondo was at the helm !
Suddenly, we saw something in
the heat haze in the distance – What was it ?
As we got closer, we saw it was a ship – The one of the desert – Our
first camel !! It turned
out he had a
friend, and came over to check us out before snuffling and spitting (as camels do) and heading back out
into his desert. As we wound across the
desert, trying to read the sand and make sure we didn’t find any soft areas, we
saw another hazy sight in the distance, and heading towards it, we found a
Bedouin camp with tents etc. Actually, I
think it was a tourist desert camp, where people pay to go on over night camel
treks and stay in the desert overnight, but to us it was truly a deserted Bedouin
camp in the desert ! What a find !
After inspecting it, and
finding no sign of life (it’s a tough existence out here in the Sahara, and
many don’t make it home……), we moved on, hoping that our drinking water and
fuel would last until we found M’Hamid 12 sandy kms further ahead. We found a dry river bed and followed that
for a while – Until we suddenly saw a white and orange dot ahead. Getting closer, it turned out to be a French
truck, driven by French Anthony and Dutch Maryé, who had driven all the way
down through Egypt, down E Africa to S
Africa, and then back up W Afrtica
!! They had decided to stop for a couple
of days rest in the seclusion of this river bed – Until we rocked up and said
G’Day ! Had a very pleasant half hour
with them, and then left them in peace, and headed off through the desert to
find somewhere for lunch.
After finding a shaded spot
out of the hot sun, we had a pleasant lunch, before continuing to follow our
GPS until we found the main road again just outside M’Hamid. Not a lot in M’Hamid – Although the palm
frond wind breaks set up alongside the road to prevent sand blowing across the
road reminded one once again of how tough it is in the summer out in the
Sahara. We drove through the old earth
walled town, and suddenly the road just stopped. This is the end of the road. From here it is Sahara desert, and, just 40
kms away, the Algerian border.
We passed an old weather
beaten sign saying “Auberge La Boussole Du Sahara”, with a painting of a blue
turbaned Tuareg and some camels, and headed on into the desert. About 1 km later we came to the Auberge,
where we were greeted warmly by Omar, and taken inside the small hut where we
were brought sweet Moroccan tea, and the people there all wanted to know where
we were from and how we had reached the Sahara. So, as we drank our tea, we told them…..
After a while, despite many
offers to take us out into the desert for the night (“You will never see a
finer sight” we were told, and for once I believed them), we decided to head back. Like so many places we have visited, Morocco
is not a place where you can see or do everything in a short time – It takes
many visits. And as we only have a
month, we decided to stay mostly on the black stuff, and keep moving.
We decided to head back to
Zagora, and then head west towards Agadir.
But first back to Zagora. As we
left M’Hamid, we
saw a number of buggies and off road rally vehicles – There
was a 5 day desert rally in progress, and it ended today. Then it was back up
the road we had come, enjoying the different afternoon light on the dunes and
mountains as we headed north. In Anagam
we saw men and boys heading home from markets we had seen in the morning,
riding their donkey carts with their days purchases in the back.
After a while we came back to
the Dunes of Tinfou, so we decided to go and have a closer look. Driving past the 3 star hotel (really ?), the
dunes are small but perfectly formed – They could be fake, but apparently they
aren’t. We parked at the bottom for some
pics, Janet took a hike up to the top, while I got hassled by Mohammed and his
3 camels who wanted me to go for a ride.
Mohammed became quite pushy (apparently this is a very touristy area due
to its ease of access), so I pushed back, and Mohammed and his camels left in a
huff.
Once Mohammed had gone, Janet
felt the coast was clear to return, and we headed off round the dune – A kind
of circumnavigation of the Sahara, but in miniature ! Well, we got about half way round, but
suddenly the hard surface turned to soft sand – And I was still in 2 WD !! Silly boy – rule No 1 is always be in 4 WD
just in case. Anyway, we duly got
bogged, and even through we put it in 4 WD we still couldn’t get out. So in true Bedouin style, I set Janet to
digging out the sand around the tyres while I did the highly technical job of
letting the air out of the tyres. Once
all was completed, we managed to reverse out no problems, and we went back to
the highway and continued back to Zagora.
Trouble was, I now had about
20 psi in my tyres instead of the usual 45, so Troopie was a bit sloppy on the
road. I also had to drive slowly so as
not to over heat the tyres. (Yes I have
a compressor, but it was inside packed away – It is now in the front and easy
to reach (Off road rule No 2 is always keep your compressor hand to re-inflate
your tyres !!)). We knew the important
religious and educational centre was only 20 kms up the road, so we headed
there and found a very nice little Pneu shop with a big compressor, and a gang
of 4 descended on my car to reflate my tyres – I think we were the highlight of
their day normally filled with mending bicycle punctures ! They wanted nothing for helping us out, so we
slipped them a few dirhams, a couple of Aussie stick pins, and some bonbons,
and went on our way (once again) to Zagora, passing a big crowd watching a
local soccer match on a dirt pitch.
We arrived at the previously
inspected Oasis Palmier campsite, and on being shown to a delightful spot amongst the palm trees,
were brought a little side table, with a table cloth, and tow bench seats. A light was hung from a palm tree, and some
Moroccan mint tea brought to our table as a welcome. What a gorgeous little place. Our neighbours in the campsite were on
bicylces, and on talking to them, they were from Brisbane !! Small world.
That evening we gave Matt and Alison some vegemite on bread (they don’t
carry any Vegemite on their bikes !) and shared a bottle of vino and some tales
around the dinner table. Lovely evening,
although I think I still would rather be travelling in Morocco in Troopie than
on a bicycle ! I am sure we will bump
into them again. The fact that they went
to Iceland last summer, and the tales they told me about their adventures
there, have only reinforced my urge to go there somehow. Just how to do it and when is the problem !
As last night turned out to
be quite late, we decided to spend an extra day in the lovely camp site here,
have a rest, and get a few chores done.
So we had a lazy morning this morning, did laundry, checked a few things
on the car, resorted clothes (putting away colder weather clothes and getting
out warmer ones), and chatting to the several people in the camp site,
including one Austrian couple in a 6 cyl Troopie and a German couple in an
older 4 cyl one. With everything done,
and our roads for tomorrow decided (the route less well trodden, as usual !),
we turned in, looking forward to more adventures tomorrow.
out he had a
friend, and came over to check us out before snuffling and spitting (as camels do) and heading back out
into his desert. As we wound across the
desert, trying to read the sand and make sure we didn’t find any soft areas, we
saw another hazy sight in the distance, and heading towards it, we found a
Bedouin camp with tents etc. Actually, I
think it was a tourist desert camp, where people pay to go on over night camel
treks and stay in the desert overnight, but to us it was truly a deserted Bedouin
camp in the desert ! What a find !
saw a number of buggies and off road rally vehicles – There
was a 5 day desert rally in progress, and it ended today. Then it was back up
the road we had come, enjoying the different afternoon light on the dunes and
mountains as we headed north. In Anagam
we saw men and boys heading home from markets we had seen in the morning,
riding their donkey carts with their days purchases in the back.
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