OverlandSphere
Overland Travel, Expedition & Adventure Information for 4x4, motorcycle and truck overlanders
On the fringes of the Sahara in Southern Morocco a seasonal phenomenon occurs in wetter years. Rain collects in a shallow, temporary salt lake, offering a feeding and resting site for thousands of migratory birds on their arduous journeys from Africa to Northern lands. This ephemeral lagoon was our camp for the night. By first light the Ornithological Orchestra is…
Hi Guys, My route over the last few days. We left Marakesh with spirits high and ready to ride the famous atlas mountains. Our destination Was Zagora. We left Marakesh with an orange juice off course. We made our way through the morning traffic and headed out of town on a wonderfull twisting road towards the mountains. We had some…
In 1956 the French left Morocco after 44-years of occupation but recent times have seen a new invasion; from the Southern Spanish Ports they come in their thousands, a campervan cavalcade marching to a victory of sunshine and low-cost campsites. Throughout natural history, species with the means (ie-wings) have wisely selected to spend their winter months in the sunshine of…
Way back in 1962, British director David Lean choose the dusty town of Ouarzazate and its surrounding area to film his epic movie ‘Lawrence of Arabia’. Lean recognised the potential of the area as a unique and versatile film location and inadvertently started the small dusty towns long love affair with Hollywood. Ouarzazate and the smaller UNESCO World Heritage site…
Salaam Aleikum, My route over the last few days. I had a slow start the morning after the last blog. I had a quick coffee and packed in a rush as Dave was ready to go. We had a long day ahead of us as we wanted to push to Marrakech, the one city I have been looking forward to…
Driving in Morocco is hazardous in many ways and off-road driving on the ‘piste’ even more so as we discovered when we hit a large field of Fesh-Fesh! “Fesh-Fesh, what is Fesh-Fesh?” I hear you cry. Fesh-Fesh, as the Arabians call it, is the by-product of thousands of years of erosion; sand that has been worn down from it’s granular…
Imlil, Marrakesh-Tensift-Al Haouz, Morocco. We spent a few days driving around southern Morocco along the coast towards Agadir. We then turned inland to take a road that would lead us straight to the Atlas Mountains. The views from the narrow, windy road were stunning with mountains all around us, often one after the other in different shades of grey, and…
Tiznit, Souss-Massa-Draa, Morocco. The Africa Expedition is nearly over. Right now we are in Morocco to relax and enjoy the African continent for a few more days before we take the ferry to Europe on the 20th of April. Two days later, on the 22nd, we can pop open the champagne because it will have been a year since we…
Cape Bojador, Laâyoune-Boujdour-Sakia El Hamra, Western Sahara. “Where are you now? In which country?”, asks the clerk at the fuel station in the middle of the desert between Dakhla and Boujdour. A trick question with two answers, but only one is right. I look at him and think for a second. He looks scruffy, unshaven but his eyes are fierce…
Morocco, a short hop from Spain and not requiring a Carnet, has long been a favoured overlanding destination for many Europeans. During our time here we have spotted overland vehicles from Holland, Germany, Czech Republic, Poland, Italy, England and of course it is incredibly popular with the French, whose native language (along with Arabic) is spoken throughout. The 3-month visa,…
Across the valleys of South Western Morocco we camped amongst vast plains of dark, twisted, prickly trees extending from arid soil and bearing hard, oval, bright green fruit. These fruits contain a nut, at the centre of which is a small, hard kernel that produces a rich, nutty oil when crushed. Argan oil is one of the world’s rarest oils…
Leaving the pasta and noodles in Bee-Bee, I was invited to join a Moroccan chef in his restaurant kitchen to learn how to prepare two classic Moroccan dishes; Tagine and Couscous. ‘Tagine’ is actually the name of the conical-shaped earthenware dish that the meal is served in, similar to a ‘Casserole’. The fish tagine is made with red mullet, potatoes…
If the lanes and alleys of the souk and Kasbah are the arteries of Marrakech, then Djemaa el Fna is its heart- a central square pulsating with life. During the day it’s a comparatively sedate scene although still impossible to cross without being intercepted by trinket hawkers, water sellers, snake charmers and orange juice vendors. Horse-drawn carriages lug tourists around…
The transition from European familiar to African unfamiliar is only a 90-minute sail across the Straits of Gibraltar. As with the arrival to any foreign country for the first time, there is always the excitement, yet slight trepidation of the unknown; language, money, people, food, culture, roads and everyday life. Our initial route in Morocco took us down the Atlantic…
On Boxing Day, we departed Dakhla for the Mauritanian border – a mere 350km away. On the way, we stopped in to have a coffee with Crystal and Francesco (in their camper van) and then stopped in at Ocean Vagabond to say goodbye to Freya. Then, onto the open road and head south. We didn’t want to arrive at the…
We are about to leave Western Sahara and cross into Mauritania. We have thoroughly enjoyed our time in Morocco and Western Sahara, but look forward to heading southwards. Before we leave Western Sahara, though, I thought I’d add another budget update. Our daily budget has continued to fall steadily through Morocco as we take advantage of the low fuel price. …
Christmas Lunch is served! Wow, that was a close call… we almost ended up becoming residents of Dakhla! After checking out all the camp sites at Dakhla we chose to stay at Camping Moussafir. Not because it has the best views, but because it has electricity – important since we were planning to stay for a few days. We settled…
Dakhla, Western Sahara Finally – we have a few days to catch-up with ourselves after the long dash through Western Sahara. We wanted to be close-ish to the border (a mere 300km away) for Christmas, so that we can cross into Mauritania shortly afterwards. We have met some friendly people and are just loving all the sunshine! A few days…
Such a contrast to reach the flats of Western Sahara. We left Icht and headed towards Tan-Tan on the tar. Although we had originally planned to drive the pistes from Assa to Smara, local opinion was divided on whether the military would turn us back or not. In the end, we headed to the coast and started the long journey…
Just under a week ago we left Agadir to start our journey towards the Mauritanian border. We had a choice of going down the coast via Tiznit, or venturing into the mountains via Tafroute. As we would be following the coast from Laayoune southwards, we chose to go through the mountains. What a good choice! At our campsite just north…
In spite of the fact that I love camping, being outdoors, running, mountain biking hiking … I also like to look good (don’t we all) and having a decent hairstyle is important to me. Furthermore, I like short hair – soooo much easier to manage than long hair. So, the prospect of travelling for a year without the services of…
Safi, Morocco We always knew that getting our Mauritanian visas was going to be a chore. For starters, Rabat was out of our way. We couldn’t apply for visas when we first entered Morocco, and so we had to make the 600km trek from Agadir to Rabat to apply for the visas nearer to us entering Mauritania. It was 48…
There really are no words to adequately describe the experience of travelling with Shibani – George. We met George and Jack in Zagora – two Frenchmen travelling in Morocco since the beginning of October. George is in a green Mercedes van and Jack on a motorbike. We all spent the day at Chez Aziz / Garage Iriki having work done…
Viking Explorer came across a note on the Norwegian Forum “Tur paa Hjul” about an interesting staircase in Morocco called “Himmelstreppe” or “Stairway to Heaven”. It wasn’t that far off our own route through Morocco, and so we added it to the itinerary. Heading west from Erfoud, and dodging a few very determined touts, we made our way to the…
As we headed from Merzouga – where we spent a very relaxing few days – we heard about the market in Rissani. It is held 3 times a week (Sunday, Tuesday and Thursday) and is a meeting place of traders, Berbers, Nomads who converge on the town to trade their wares. A must see – so we saw. After parking…
Merzouga, Morocco Today, again, we met an interesting person. Our little stroll into the village finished 4 hours later after meeting Francois. We saw Francois yesterday for the first time while we were playing ‘small world’ with Chris (see yesterday’s blog if you haven’t already). He arrived in the village high street on his recumbent bicycle. Today, we saw his…
(including the missing bits …) Merzouga, Morocco It is a truly small world! Read on, and I’ll get to the point… We have been in the southern part of Morocco for about 10 days now. It is “dead season” here – right inbetween the two major tourist seasons of late summer (Aug-Oct) and Dec – so there are not too…
Merzouga, Morocco Three days by camel … or rather, three days by trusty Brodie. One of the attractions of Morocco is the vast number of pistes that link up various towns and villages. The majority are, of course, not marked on maps, adding significantly to the appeal. A few tracks have been detailed in Chris Scott’s book, and although somewhat…
So, as we arrived in the town of Zagora, at the bottom end of the Draa Valley, a motorcycle pulled up alongside us, and a chap was telling us all about his garage and waved a business card at us. We politely declined, but this had little effect on him. This suddenness still startles African GirlChild, and arouses a feeling…
And so, with a ltitle bit of extra time, I have been able to add some content to the blog. Please check out the border crossings page. Also, photos have been added for France (I know, it seems like ages since we were there!) and also from the gorges we travelled through in Morocco. Enjoy!…