Heading South

After he was satisfied with his handiwork, he went to shower and wash his clothes. They had a bite on the camping grounds and then left to look for parts and other materials. Of Agadir, they saw the radiator place, the place where they sought a water pump, the other that was down the road and sold them a water bottle for the radiator and the Metro Cash and Carry where they did some shopping for the road.

Then, they left Agadir, passing through small towns, lots of traffic, on the way to Sidi Ifni, a small coastal town further south. The others were also on their way there. They stopped at a patisserie in Tiznit for some biscuits and then proceeded into and out of Midleft and carried on. These small coastal towns were busy with people on their beaches – grey sandy coast fronts with waves from the Atlantic crashing on them.

We reached Sidi Ifni after the others. They had found the one camp site, El Barco which is said to be full of caravans in the high season. Well, each his/her own, because it was not much of a place, below the upper promenade of the town and next to another promenade running alongside the site, public lights blazing all night and a view of a rather rough sea is what it is all about. The ablutions exist but are in this state of disrepair and are smelly, the toilets are nothing to go by either. They spent a fairly rough night in quite a wind there and packing up the next morning was a job.

camels on the road

 Further down the coast, it was not full desert, we already met with the police asking questions. Most of them are pretty happy to get one of the ‘fiches’ that had been prepared in advance. The road was quite free and pretty boring – the odd camels and donkeys, dunes from time to time but otherwise just sand, rocks and small bushes. They both drove that day and were both sleepy by 13h30.

Finally they found the sign to the camp - le Bédouin, 4.2km into the desert but towards the sea. There was a near gale force wind blowing when they got there, hence they opted to use the Bedouin tented rooms that were free. The place was fairly well appointed taking into account that it IS in the middle of the desert. Showers and toilets work and the youngsters who are manning the camp seem to know what they are about.

 She took the cooking duty and decided to make a tajine-like mince-meat mixture which she served with elbow macaroni. For a fee, they sat under the big tent that served as restaurant and had this dinner. 

The running water is salty and only meant to wash with. The shower is solar and was fairly warm. The mattresses offered were adequate. They used their own bedding and got some sleep in the midst of the strong wind and the glare of the moon in the night. 

The next morning, there was not much packing to be done. They managed to leave Le Bédouin before 8h00. It was again a long road ahead to Dakhla. They were stopped by numerous police and army ‘barrages’. It was this long list of questions or just asking for one of these ‘fiches’. And again they were both sleepy by 12. The drive was pretty much like the one of the previous day with some lonely and empty beaches to be seen from far and some rather dramatic cliffs with sea birds on them.

There were a number of small towns on the way, very small, in the time when Coen was in these parts but now they are growing fast, with the usual ENTRANCE  as they have seen quite a few along the roads that they have taken: two ‘tower’ type constructions on each side, an attempt at growing rows of palm trees and benches (sometimes marble clad too) along with lines of street lamps – they noted that the more south they went the less nice these street lights were.

At last they reached Dakhla, at the very beginning of this big bay kite surfers seem to be having a good time. The place is well known for this activity. The camping they were looking for was not very satisfactory but after some roaming around they were given directions to another one at the other end of the peninsula. There they dealt with Samir who suggested they set up camp at the very end of his site where the wind would not affect them too much.

The wind was still up and it was a mission to set the tent up. Pegs had to be put in to hold the tent down but they managed in the end.

Dinner was a mish-mash affair of cheese and tomato sandwiches with broiled chicken and rosemary tea afterwards. Elismé inaugurated her Dhm15 tajine with a vegetable creation.

After a quick wash, they went to bed.

We stayed another night there. During the day, they went hunting for a tyre repair place. This allowed them to see the town a bit: the notorious talent of these people to give directions, they practically had to grid the town in order to find the place. Finally, one outboard motor shopkeeper gave them the accurate directions and they found it. 

The repair done, they went shopping for fruits, vegetables and meat. The others had tall orders of t-bones, packets of mince and such when in fact the butchers only have mutton and dromadarian meat available. She bought some mutton finally. Back at camp, she worked at translating the one document that was sent to her and finished it by the evening.

The rest of the time at the camp was spent with some washing, cleaning, blogging and sorting out the photos taken the previous days. Since they wanted to leave early, they decided to ask the guys of the camp to put some freshly caught fish on the grill. That evening they had a nice dinner of ‘courbine’ fish grilled with herbs and served on a bed of potatoes and carrots. It was excellent fish. 

 The next day they were on their way to the border. The road was good, pretty much the same scenery of beaches, cliffs and desert, up to the border but also had lots of roadblocks where they had to hand out ‘fiches’ mostly. And eventually the border post…. 

That was a procedure, passports to be stamped, then the police, then the customs and then through the boom, another check point. Then the cars went through the no-man’s land, a piece of desert where there are no roads, vehicles just find their own way in and out of there.