Blogs from Dakhla, South, Western Sahara, Africa
Free camping our way to the Mauritanian border
Published: April 17th 2012Africa » Western Sahara » South » Dakhla
April 14th 2012
Thursday Day 33 Woke up to a very wet tent and we waited until after breakfast to see if there was any chance of them drying. Of course it started raining and it ended up being even wetter, the gravel and sand sticking to the fly sheet as we rolled it up. We took off towards Agadir for one last stock up at the marjane and two nights of very little sleep meant I spent the majority of the morning with my iPod on, dozing. I knew when we'd arrived at our free camp site when we turned off the sealed road and onto a bumpy path that led past a farmhouse with a decent sized field full of olive trees and oddly enough, gum trees! Past the dog and machinery we drove up to a ... read more
August 29th 2011
Troche historii z drogi. Lotnisko w Marakeszu jest bardzo blisko miasta ale postanowilismy tam nie zagladac i ruszyc odrazu w trase,co prawda pojechalismy nie w ta strone co trzeba,ale mily starszy pan wywiozl nas na wlasciwa trase w stone Agadiru. Nie przemieszczalismy sie za szybko ale co dzien o kilkaset km do przodu poznajac nowych ludzi. Znow ladowalismy w Tiznicie i Tarfaji. Trafilismy w srodek ramadanu wiec czesto musielismy poscic razem z muzulmanami bo glupio pic i jesc przy kims kto posci caly dzien. SZczerze mowiac nie wytrzymywalismy i jak tylko zostawalismy sami wpychalismy w siebie szybko co sie dalo,szczegolnie wode. Ogolnie do Al Ujunu dojechalismy w kilka dni,ale nie bylo latwo ze wzgledu na policje ktora czepiala sie kierowcow ciezarowek ze nas biora na stopa i przetzymywala nas razem z kierowca do pol godziny ... read more
November 28th 2010
Ok, Western Sahara, what did we know about this? Not much, besides that it's a disputed territory. Morocco claims it, while the local claim independence. It was quite 'peaceful' for quite some time, but just when we started to plan our crossing through Western Sahara, Moroccan security forces shot dead some local protestors... The cause of the shooting is still 'not' determined. Some say it was self defence, some say it was unnessary violence.... The border was closed for some time bt was open again when we wanted to cross, so from Nouadhibou went tracked on North... Danger, mines!!! So after our fish-feast night in Nouadhibou we took a bush taxi with 2 American and a French fellow travellers through the border up until Dakhla in the middle of Western Sahara. As it was Mauritanian independence ... read more
July 3rd 2009
So Laayoune ended up being a great city at night Streets were full of people. Food and Coffee were cheap (3 course meal was about dollars? good coffee was 50 cents). Lots of fruit and amazingly colourful dressed people. And people didnt pester you trying to sell things for crazy prices. Sat on the bus today for almost 10 hours. Lots of checkpoints. I think 6, friendly police today, many smiles and hellos. Hopefully I can get some kind of ride to Mauritania tomorrow. Lots of camels here, maybe soon I will get to eat some of their meat and drink some of their milk. Still hating the french keyboards... I feel like i am learning to type again for the first time. ... read more
December 9th 2008
A blistery wind front roars through the town, and the sky is blotted out with clouds of orange and grey. One could call it a dust storm, but any storm in the Sahara is worthy of that title. The wind merely lifts all the particulate that's always present into frenzy. Maybe you just don't see it until the storm. The landmass of Western Sahara is a region sparsely populated but largely contested. This is nothing new, and is evident even by the language spoken here. The dialect is known as Hassaniya Arabic, and only has about 3 million speakers. Its origin stretches back into the Middle Ages when Bedouins led by a Beni Hassan migrated and conquered the Berber tribes. Today's more pressing issues are rooted in Africa's colonial history. A brief history: The mass known ... read more
July 7th 2008
Dakhla doesnt appear in this platform, big sourprise that is... well, so the 24 hours bus was a piece of cake, as expected. I think by now I can sleep in any position, so a bus with air conditioning seemed pretty nice. just took my sheets and towell out and I was ready to roll. in the end it was more like 28 hours I think? although it was partly my fault? cause in every police control they checked me out (only white in the bus...). first three a cop bothere to come in and find me. last three the bus driver just told meto get off and do my thing, which consisted on saying spanish student to dakhla yeah spain rocks and won the eurocup!! dakhla is wonwonwonderful. well, not really. the city is just ... read more
"We shall not give up one inch of our beloved Sahara, not a grain of its sand"
Published: May 21st 2007Africa » Western Sahara » South » Dakhla
May 21st 2007
Ess-Agadir-Laayoune-Dakhla Tom Griffith When is a country not a country? According to Morocco, and 25 other countries, and the Arab League, Western Sahara is not a real nation. It is simply the large, sandy, camel-infested, southern provinces of Morocco. According to the Western Saharan government in exile, 45 other countries, and the African Union, Western Sahara is the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, an independent country under Moroccan military control. And, according to the UN, it is a non self-governing territory, whatever that means. Whatever it is, and whoever actually owns it, it is basically just a huge patch of desert, and is one of the most sparsely-populated parts of the world. There are only about 350,000 people in the whole place, and 150,000 of them are Moroccan soldiers. So why would Morocco wan... read more
January 31st 2007
Om 19:00u vertrekt de bus, ik ben ruim op tijd, drink een colaatje op een terasje pal voor de bus en om 19:30 vertrekken we, de bus zit niet vol gelukkig en ik kan schuin op twee plaatsen zitten, er wordt regelmatig gestopt, voor een pauze of om mensen in en uit te laten stappen, het valt best mee zo het is bijna comfortabel. Als we weer een keertje stoppen rond 6:30 loop ik slaperig naar buiten voor een sigaretje en we zijn al in Tan Tan blijkt, snel mijn spullen uit de bus halen. Het is nog donker en ik sta ergens in een buiten wijk, eerst maar eens kijken of ik het centrum kan vinden, dat is niet ver gelukkig, maar het stelt ook helemaal niks voor een paar winkeltjes en restaurantjes, eerst maar ... read more
January 31st 2006
Not only is this a physical journey for me, but also a journey in english semantics. Be indulgent, have patience with my linguistic faults as I try to twitch and wrestle with english expressions that you'll find far from idiomaticly correct. It felt good to leave Chefchaouen at last, next time I'll be back with the hordes of tourists in July or August. Not only did all the hotels get booked by police and security staff prior to the kings arrival, the constant cold and the afternoon drizzle got to me at last. So of to Fes it was. Once again I had sharpened my elbows all for nothing, the hassle I'd prepared for was not to come. I mean, of course you've got the restaurant-touts at the main entrance to the medina, but they were ... read more
December 19th 2005
Leaving Tan Tan was a bit difficult, I was torn, such a scruffy little town but everyone we met had a heart of gold, I really wanted to stay on but was also concerned that 'wasting' time in Morocco would leave less time to see Mauritania! Getting a SATAS bus to Dahkla for 320Dh was a good move. Clean, heated and more spacious I knew this wasn't going to be the same journey from hell as we had had with the other bus from Casablanca! The journey was relatively uneventful apart from the odd police posts where yet again I had to interpret no less than 7 times for him, what his job was, not once did he ask me how to say it or practice it in case we hit another police post! We reached ... read more
