Sunday morning the mosques woke us up early. Time to leave. From St Louis to the small Mauritanian border at Diama is only a short drive, less than one hour. Going south to north is going much smoother than the other way. The Senegalese custom officer recognized me and the car from the last time when we were passing with the Budapest-Bamako rally. He had already the 2020 edition sticker on his car! These days you can buy Mauritanian visas at the border, really easy. The road along the Senegal river was dry but still a bit hard because water levels were still high and trucks which have been stuck on many places on the dam, had made deep tracks in the muddy road. But with the CX on high level we managed. We saw lots of birds and a few warthogs. After leaving the river the landscape quickly changes in a desert. Poor villages, dust, camels, car wrecks, no women on the street, goats, plastic, very windy and a potholed road. Near Nouakchott the road became better but also more and more mad max traffic. Total anarchy on the road. Most cars and trucks have no indicators, mirrors or braking lights. Surprisingly we managed to navigate through the city without any accident. We slept in a simple but nice place where we met a bunch of French car sellers who just sold their cars and where about flying home. We helped them a bit to get rid of their smuggled Pastis and red wine. The next day just in time we drove out of Nouakchott because the whole Mauritanian army was waiting outside of town, probably for their annual parade and the road would be blocked for hours. Hundreds and hundreds of Toyota landcruiser pickups loaded wilt soldiers and big guns. A typical desert army. The rest of the day nothing really much to see here except a lot of sand, wind, police checkpoints. The police was always polite. After about five hours we reached the Moroccan border which we passed in about 1,5 hours without any problems, a new record for me. Just before sunset we checked in at Hotel Barbas about 80 km across the border. The wind had become stronger and colder. For the first time we had to put on our long trousers and pullovers and sleep under a couple of blankets. The next day it was still cold and windy. Another long driving day in the desert. But this part of the Sahara is more scenic. Dunes, stony hills, salt pans, boulders and sometimes fantastic views on the Atlantic Ocean. The end of the day we reached Laayoune where we spent the night in hotel San Mao Sahara. In the hotel we met a few Dutch participants of the Amsterdam Dakar challenge who where travelling in the opposite direction. They told us about an serious accident that had happened with a Dutch overland truck near Tantan. We checked Facebook and saw that it was a group of three trucks and people we know viavia where on one of he trucks, but not the one that had crashed. The next day we drove another big distance to Guelmim and about halfway we saw the result of the accident.One of the MAN trucks had rolled over one or two times and was seriously damaged but not completely wrecked. Two people were seriously wounded and in the hospital now. Four men were here at the site to get things organized. The crashed truck was back on his wheels and even able to drive again, but what a giant mess to clean up. It looked like an airplane crash site. We tried to cheer them up a bit but no help was needed. The next day they planned to drive in a few days back to Casablanca to get the truck repaired.... This is really the thing we always feared when we were driving around the Africa with our own overland truck. see www.afri-kasa-fari.nl. It never happened with us but tipping over is a real danger with vehicles like this, especially on busy narrow roads in bad condition with high shoulders. By incident we found that evening the most beautiful place in Morocco to spend the night. Villa Boujouf in the oasis Tighmert is really fantastic and the host Francois is a very good cook. After four days driving about 2000 km and sleeping in shitty hotels this was a splurge we really deserved. In the morning we visited the nearby kasba caravanserai. A museum and a very interesting place with Abdou, the owner. From Tighmert we drove to Tata. This part of the Sahara is so beautiful. Unfortunately we don't have much time and not the vehicle to go off-road, but driving on little desert roads is also fantastic. The CX is still doing fine, sometimes we have to fill up with some hydraulic fluid, but still I didn't found the leak. Also the in Liberia repaired hole in the exhaust is growing slowly back but it doesn't worry us too much. We will see when we are back home, only 4000 km or so to go. On the campsite in Tata we met Pier and Jacqueline, Dutch friends of us, who are travelling (and rallying) for about a half year in Morocco and Mauritania. We spent two nights and a day with our friends and slept in our little tent. It was so nice to see them in this setting.They are also real travelers and Africa lovers. Temperatures really start to drop during the night but with some extra blankets is was OK. Time to repair the interior heating of the CX which I blocked in Ghana because it was always on maximum temperature. I installed a manual valve in the hose so in case we need some warmth we just have to open the bonnet and open the valve with a screwdriver. From Tata we drove in two days to Marrakesh. Two days driving in the desert and the Atlas mountains on little scenic roads. This part of Morocco is so beautiful! The night we spent in Ouarzazate in a room which had actually a tented roof and no heating. Even with some extra blankets it was so cold. Night temperature is only 2 degrees here. We checked the internet and we booked a room in a raid (a traditional Moroccan house with an interior garden) in Marrakesh for two nights, with heating! In Ouarzazate we drove along some film sets in the desert. A bit further is the famous ruined city Ait ben Haddou, used in the Game of Thrones as the city Pentos In Marrakesh we parked the CX for two nights in a private parking in the medina and lived like regular tourists for two days. Visiting the souks and palaces, eating in tourist restaurants and buying souvenirs. After Marrakesh one last stop in Fez, another beautiful city with a very old medina. The road is a perfect French style 'Peage' highway. This are the kind of roads where the CX really feels at home. Cruise control set on 120, music, just driving. But always stay alert on crossing pedestrians. In Fez we spoiled ourselves for the last night on the African continent with a palace like room in a centuries old riad. Of course we visited the famous tanneries where Fez is famous for. The next day we drove all the way to the new harbor of Tanger. We are definitely getting closer to Europe, the last hours we drove in the rain. Just before Tanger Med we filled up with the last cheap fuel and took a ferry to Barcelona.
2 Comments
Julio / Team Mexico
11/26/2019 11:41:57 pm
Cheers / SALUDOS.....We met in Banjul on your way down.
Reply
Leave a Reply. |
Kees and Bien A limousine, a grand lady but also a tough winning rally car in the 1977 -1979 editions of the Rally du Senegal and winning! |