Morocco - Part 2

Deserts and wild flowers

The route from the Gorges de Todros to Nekob took us through the Sahora mountain range. The geology here was very different from the sedimentary structures seen further north. These mountains are formed of igneous intrusive and massive banded iron stone. The journey took us five hours to complete and was over the roughest roads I have driven on...period. The roads were basically rocks, and they were sharp and big.....not good for tyres or anything else. This took my off road driving experience to a different level and being conscious of the great distances we still have to travel I drove with caution, rarely able to drive at even 5 miles per hour. As with most out of the way places though, we got to see sights that only can be accessed by 4x4 vehicles. The wind was quite fierce and there were frequently sand whirl winds moving across the landscape. As you can imagine, Proper Job was a real mess when we arrived at the campsite in Nekob. The campsite even had a swimming pool, with water in it, but was way too cold for a plunge. Keeping equipment and Proper Job clean is a constant challenge with adventure travel but something that you need to keep on top of. The winds thankfully died down at around 7 pm so we were able to cook dinner and have a solid nights rest.

The following day we travelled further south towards Zagora, which is famous for its dates and figs. Unfortunately, this is not the time of year for them...darn, as I was looking forward to feasting on them ! We stayed at a good camp site called Auberge Palm Oasis. Conscious of the distances to be travelled to the Mauritania border and the time it takes we decided to spend one night in Zagora and keep moving south. The interesting part of Zagora is the old town, as the new part of the city is not much to look at. The following morning we headed south again to the end of the road.....a place called Mhamid. This is the last town before the real desert and the road literally ends there. Beyond is the realm of 4x4 off roaders and desert nomads. It was here we noticed the air conditioning in the car had stopped working, and in Mhamid discovered the main Toyota garage was back in Zagora. There are not any good campsites in Mhamid itself, but there is a good one in Oulad Driss, a small town a couple of kilometres before. Luckily there was a small garage opposite, and the mechanic specialised in Toyota’s. We were told the problem was gas pressure and that the ‘gas man’ would arrive at 10pm to fix it. I had my doubts but he turned up and fixed it.....or so we thought !!

Enquiries with the camp management regarding the potential crossing of the desert and Lake Iriki were positive and we were assured it was no problem and the track of approximately 100km to our next destination, Foum Zguid, was good. So the following day we packed up by 10am and headed into the desert. Within a few kilometres we realised that what the Moroccans call good roads is relative. Here you basically navigateby GPS to ensure you are going in the right general direction. The track went through stretches of thick sand and a rock strewn landscape. The landscape here is bleak with only a scattering of small desert trees and the very occasional oasis. We ploughed through the sand, engaging the centre diffs for the first time, and drove as carefully as we could over the rocks to minimise impact on Proper Job. Over the next few hours there was only one occasion, coming across a large compacted mud flat, that we were able to reach 40 mph. The rest of the drive was at less than 15 mph. Because of the poor conditions the going was painfully slow and we realised we would be driving like this for quite a few hours. This would be a real test of Proper Job’s reputation of reliability. Six hours, a few 4x4 vehicles and two military check points later (one who told us we had strayed in Algeria....luckily only a joke), we hit tarmac and with relief drove into Foum Zguid. First task at camp was to give Proper Job a thorough check over. Luckily, it seemed that there was little damage. I forgot to mention the air conditioner; it seemed that it had not been fixed and was starting to play up again. That evening we watched Arsenal get slaughtered by Barcelona in a local cafe full of avid Barcelona fans. It seems that literally everyone in Morocco supports Barcelona....no wonder it is one of the richest clubs in the world if it can capture a whole countries support.

The following day we headed towards Tata, which would take us mid way to the coast. On the way, we picked up a Moroccan who was managing a group of Belgian quad bikers. He needed a lift to Tata so we obliged. When we arrived we asked him if he could take us to a refrigeration engineer. We spent the next 3 hours with an engineer (who put more gas into the air con system), a mechanic and an electrician (who installed an override switch to the air conditioning heat exchange). They were confident the problem was now fixed.....the problem being not enough power to the system. We drove off, and I decided to test the system.....and surprise surprise it wasn’t working properly. After returning to the mechanic for another hour, I decided to cut my losses as enough was enough for one day. That evening we watched Man Utd throw away the game to Bayern Munich, albeit there was a very dodgy sending off which left Man Utd one man short for the second half. Oh well, no English clubs in the semi finals of the Championship this year.

Having been told over the past couple of days that there was a large Toyota garage in Agadir, I decided we should make a detour and give one last shot at fixing the air con before we get to West Africa where the humidity and heat will be oppressive. Up early, we headed west 400 km to Agadir, a thriving tourist destination. On arrival, we stumbled by accident on a Toyota garage, who after an hour advised us that the other Toyota garage in town would be able to help as they didn’t have spare parts. So on to Toyota garage number 2. Here I spent an hour trying to explain to a mechanic (who had no English) the problem. He seemed to be suggesting going to another Toyota garage. I then asked if one of the other mechanicscould speak English, and lo and behold one could. Very frustrating. Anyway, after a brief conversation with the English speaking mechanic, we were told that there could only be three things wrong, the most likely being there was not enough gas in the system. However, Proper Job needs R12 gas and another Toyota garage dealt with that. So it was on to Toyota garage number 3. We eventually found this one and after an hour waiting for the air con technician to arrive, we were informed that the problem indeed was there was not enough gas in the system, but they did not have the R12 gas. In fact there was none in Morocco. After some further investigation, it appears that this type of gas has been banned worldwide (I think) as it is damaging to the earth’s atmosphere.

Anyway, so that was that and we will have to live with an underperforming air con. Stayed overnight in a hotel in Agadir and the following morning sent an email to Paul at Footloose 4x4 to see if he could come up with a plan, then drove southwards to Sidi Ifni, a small village on the coast. The weather is noticeably cooler here so back out with the warmer clothes. Nice campsite on the beach, with WIFI so was able to connect up with family and friends whilst sitting under Proper Job’s awning....cool. Had a long chat with Will (the previous owner ) to get the low down on travel through Western Sahara and dealings at the Senegal border....thanks again for your assistance Will.

The following day we stocked up with some food stuff and headed along the coastal road towards Tan Tan, which we estimated was about a 3 hour journey. The drive is quite scenic although the sea mist was quite thick so we did not get the full advantage of taking the ‘scenic route’. We drove through Bou Jerif and that is where the tarmac ended. I then recalled the part in Will’s blog about a terrible route past Bou Jerif towards Tan Tan, so not wanting to put Proper Job through another mauling, we turned around and headed back to Sidi Ifni and the tarmac road inland. Two hours wasted we arrived at Tan Tan at around 5.30pm. We were warmly greeted on the way into town by a friendly policeman who pointed us towards the camp site 25km away at Tan Tan Plage. We set off towards the camp site and then discovered that the round-abouts in Morocco are sometimes not all they appear to be. Some you have to stop at certain points whilst traversing around the round-about. We didn’t, and a policeman noticed. Traffic fine number two, and this time there was no negotiating the price down, so the full 400Dh. That episode over, we found the camp site, which was undergoing major works, and probably the worst from an appearance point of view that we had stayed at so far.

The following day we headed further south along the coast towards Tarfaya, and the landscape became more and more desert like. The towns and villages became smaller and more run down, and fishing seemed to be the main industry and pastime. As we approached Tarfaya we noticed a small fishermans house on the headland and three touring vans besides it.....looked like a good camping spot. We decided to check Tarfaya out first. After a quick whiz around, it became apparent there was nothing much in the town and it seemed the sands were slowly but surely reclaiming it. We headed back to the fisherman’s hut and parked overlooking the beach. With my keen interest in fishing, and after showing some of my pictures of fish caught in Canada and Cuba, we were warmly welcomed and promised fish tagine for dinner. Great, no need to cook tuna and rice tonight....and it is a bit windy. The fisherman lived up to their promise and invited us into their hut for dinner, and it was delicious. A local policeman turned up and produced a bottle of French red wine, which was not that good but ‘beggars can’t be choosers’ as the saying goes. We swapped stories and tales as best we could with the language barriers, but I think they got the gist of the huge fish I have caught ! Eventually we called it an evening and headed for the tent, drifting to sleep with the sound of the waves crashing on the beach.

The following day, I got up at 7am to find the fisherman had been out to check their nets and had a bunch of fish to sell at the market. I made them coffee and they headed off to the market. They did not ask for any payment for the camping or the dinner so I stuck 50Dh into a box of sugar I had given them earlier. Once again we are impressed by the friendliness of the Berber people.

We then drove southwards through the Western Sahara to the Mauritania border. We plan to stay 6 days in Mauritania and my next post will be after that !!