| |
Travel
Journal
Africa
Day
20 Nouadibou to Nouaghar
Sadly
we left our French couple and German behind, replacing them with
'Comedy Ahmed', our guide. Promising us sincerely that we would
reach the capital in one day and that taking a 2wd camper van and
motorbike (piloted by a Swiss pair) with us would not slow us down,
we duly set off into the desert.
Ahmed drove the camper van, which was worryingly stuck within an
hour of leaving. Our electric compressor became the most useful
bit of kit as tyre pressures were dropped from a controversial 60psi
down to a much improved 20psi. The vehicles were impeccable, easily
coping with the desert terrain, which is more than can be said for
Comedy Ahmed driving the van. Mind you the regular stops to dig
it out at least allowed one of us to perfect the desert toilet….
GPS and our maps proved what we knew, progress was slow, the route
was bizarre but against all the odds, Comedy Ahmed got us, the motorbike
and what remained of the camper van to a small fishing village called
Nouaghar at only ten o'clock at night. Still, it'd only been dark
for three hours and we'd only had to dig/pull/push the camper van
about a third of the way.
Yet more 'permits' to purchase and an entry fee to the campsite
(in truth just a walled off piece of desert) and we finally crawled
into our sleeping bags at just gone midnight - way past our Africa
bedtime of eight thirty. Worryingly, on the short trip to the campsite
Ernie's clutch started sticking in first and second gears - not
a lot we could do now though.
TOP
Day
19 Dakhla to Nouadibou
Left
not as early as we would like, the campsite water pump required
our tools to begin to work! Heading down to the Mauritanian border,
again through acres of desert scrub, we begun to bump into local
"guides" who could facilitate the border crossing etc.
With our fluent French and Arabic on board we were hopeful that
we would be okay, besides there was no more room at the inn!
The Moroccan border was exited with minimal fuss, although we naturally
were made to wait until after lunch.. Off into no-mans land we headed.
Within about 500m one vehicle was partially stuck in deep sand and
there appeared to be no border post at all, bit of low ratio and
we were off, hoping that the tent on the horizon was the post.
It was, and thanks to our fluent French speakers, who brilliantly
put the whole place at ease, plus the good fortune of the local
regional army commander making his inspection, we got through with
minimal hassle. This time we decided to take up the offer of a guide
to the campsite in Nouadibou, arriving at dusk after our guide seemed
to ignore all the nice roads that the other traffic was taking…we
should have known.
TOP
Day
18 Layoone to Dakhla
Beautiful
morning as we packed up in the still desert air, unaware that the
weather was about to change. Driving again down the edge of the
Sahara sandwiched between the sea and the desert with a vast expanse
of nothing for hours on end, quite awe inspiring. We also had a
taste of a sandstorm, with driving sands for hour after hour. Neither
vehicle ,we have since discovered, is 'sand tight', you could build
a sand castle in the foot wells by the time the day was done!
Dahkla itself is on a peninsula with water either side, the wind
had dropped and we were able to pitch camp in a site surrounded
by four wheel drives now, instead of the ubiquitous RVs, evidently
things were getting serious…
That evening we met a French couple and an Arabic speaking German
whose journey down the coast was similar. Space was duly made, after
all schoolboy French at border crossings only gets you so far…
TOP
Day
17 Agadir to Layooene
Again
an early start in order to try and cover as much distance as possible
before the light disappears. The drive took us along the coast,
at least on the map, but in reality it was along the edge of the
Sahara. Countryside varies between the odd dune and acres and acres
of dry desert scrub. Towards the end of the day the sea finally
came into view, although we had the pleasure of driving through
a locust storm before hand!!
The night's camp was in the desert itself (Les Bedouins), an amazing
campsite 4km off the tarmac road, with fantastic toilets (particularly
in Austin's opinion) and views of the desert at night.
TOP
Day
16 Imlil to Agadir
Up
early to descend down to the coastal town of Agadir. Wonderful views
of the Atlas mountains surrounded by a lake of clouds. The countryside
became progressively drier with the odd orange tree plantation;
the fertile valley sandwiched between the high atlas to the north
and the anti-atlas to the south. As we reached Agadir itself the
temperature climbed noticeably, as did the development. The town
is extremely developed, including a French style hypermarket allowing
us to stock up before heading out into the desert. Anti-malarials
were also started, a sign that we had really begun. Sadly Austin
was struck down with a dose of Moroccan D&V, inevitable in a
trip like this.
TOP
Day
14/15 Marrakech to Imlil
We
set off early from our campsite and headed towards the imposing,
snow-capped Atlas mountains for a few days 'rest and relaxation',
driving through the dramatic foothills on our way to the village
of Imlil. After leaving the two vehicles under the watchful eye
of the hostel owner, Mohammed, we headed out with his brother on
a tough two day trek up Jebel Toubkal. The highest mountain in the
Atlas, it is snow capped and despite being incredibly hard going
it was exhilarating to reach the top.
TOP
Day
13 - Morocco
A much
better day today saw us successfully picking up our visas from the
chap at the Mauritanian Embassy as well as being reunited with Bert.
He was looking grand with a brand new radiator (clean teeth I like
to think) and raring to go.
We wasted no time in getting packed up and heading for Marrakesh,
Casablanca had proved to be frantic, smelly and pretty darn expensive.
The drive to Marrakesh was beautiful and gave us a great sense of
beginning to get out into the Africa we were expecting. All deep
red earth, eucalyptus trees and low mud buildings. That's a bit
more like it. Our moods have lifted exponentially and it feels great
to be on the road again, if only for a short while.
Bert behaved like a true gent on the drive down and refused to get
hot under the collar, proving the expense of fitting the radiator
worthwhile and an all round relief.
We settled down that night for a beef stew in our set up that is
looking more professional by the day and working more efficiently
each time we set up. Dare we say it we am even comfortable camping!
The couple of days we plan to check out Marrakesh and give Bert
and Ernie a bit of a trial up the nearby Mountain ranges to see
how they cope with some rougher driving conditions. And then we
make for the desert.....
TOP
Day
12 - Morocco
The
two groups joined up today and unfortunately missed the opening
time for the Mauritanian Embassy so the visa applications would
have to wait another day.
Likewise the news from the very competent mechanics at the Garage
(SMEIA Dealership, Blvd Ba Hmad, Cas.) was not great. The radiator
was corroded to the point of death and needed replacement, bad news
not to have picked up on this before leaving but thankfully it was
able to be sorted there and then and we could pick Bert up the following
day.
We ventured out into Casablanca for sustenance that evening and
failed to find Rick's Bar or Humphrey Bogart but did have a hearty
Tagine and some kind of fish.... (uh oh here we go).
TOP
Day
11 - Morocco
We
decided to split up into two groups with Giles and Austin taking
Bert to Casablanca and Andy and Duncan staying in Rabat to pick
up visas for Mali.
This proved the start of a very long day with Andy and Duncan spending
hours in the embassy resolutely refusing to move until someone on
their lunch break took pity on them and furnished them with our
visas. Austin and Giles ended up driving into central Casablanca
(6 Million people, size of London, no map...lots of pain). They
eventually found the garage and headed to a hotel where they found
they needed their passports to check in which were in the embassy....
One trip to the police commissary later they were checked in and
the two groups collapsed in their respective locations for the night.
TOP
|
