So back into Morocco with a huge amount of desert to get though. The good thing about being in a Unimog is that you never rush anywhere, it's always 'Unimog speed'. We only went off road a handful of times on our way north to Dakhla. The reason for this was the warning signs on the sides of the road displaying a scull and crossbones saying "Danger!! Mines!!". If that doesn't put you off pulling off the road nothing will! I only expected this to be the case nearer Mauritania and once we got a bit of road behind us we tempted fate and went looking for some of the most untouched coastline on the planet...

So after a few days we plodded on to Dakhla. Out here, as you might imagine, there're not many markets so we needed to start making progress towards the next large town, being Dakhla.

Over the years I've spent a few months at Dakhla because it's an awesome place to travel to and spend time kitesurfing. Though on this trip we haven't got the storage capacity to carry such equipment it was interesting to see how the sport was booming at Dakhla. What we did do at Dakhla was spend some time fishing. Normally I find fishing quite boring waiting for hours on end with out catching anything. It seems at Dakhla the lagoons are teeming with life and it's almost impossible not to catch any fish.
There're also some really nice pistes to explore. This is a very sandy environment so we were very aware of deep soft sand traps, luckily we didn't get caught out. We were approached on a few occasions while off-road and warned about land mines. We met a Swiss couple who had experienced the military detonate three mines just one week before!
So what's Dakhla all about and why should you go there? Most people who go to Dakhla are there for the fishing or kitesurfing. Others use it as a staging post before or after a trip further south into Africa. The town has quite a laid back atmosphere and comes alive in the evening. There's a really big military presence in the town and it has a large commercial fishing industry. It's well worth going to the fish souk as the quality and price of the fish is really good. Another fond memory is Camel Kebab, well worth tasting one of these! We always look forward to getting to Dakhla, this time we spent over three weeks there on our way north. Next time I really want to have longer here and have my kitesurfing kit with me. It seems that most people, especially overlanders pass by without spending anywhere near enough time to get a flavor of this desert city and area.

After leaving Dakhla we head North. The desert coast here isn't the image most people imagine. Instead of sand dunes rolling into the ocean, it's very rugged and nearly all cliffs. A few hundred kilometers along there's a fishing village N24° 41' 55.59", W14° 53' 4.01". There's not much there unless you like harsh coast and fishing. But it makes a really nice stop for a couple of nights.

Most of our drive north was uneventful and we ended up spending most of the time on road rather than on the desert pistes. We had been trying to decide whether we should attempt to drive along a notable piste called Plage Blanche. It's a track that leads from one of the northern most towns in the desert, Tan Tan and follows the coast around the edge of the Anti Atlas and up to Sidi Ifni. We knew that there's 40km to do along the beach which has to be done at low tide. At high tide the sand above high water mark is too soft and impossible to traverse. Once the tide has gone out it's possible to drive on the flat hard sand that would be covered by water at high tide. Cally, quite sensibly decided that, as we only had three wheels getting drive, the tides being against us and having to do it solo, we would not be driving along the beach. We then spoke to some people that had done in it an extremely well prepared Land Cruiser said it was very dirty, lots of litter and the last big truck to get stuck there had the tide come up and then cost about €1500 to get recovered. So decision made, inland pistes north to an old Legionnaire Fort called Bou-Jerif.
This area is typical of Morocco, very rocky pistes. When you can't get along much faster than a fast walking pace it's amazing how much scenery you to can take in!

We really liked Bou-Jerif and we could have spent days there cycling and walking. Bou-Jerif is quite a well known 'nice place' to go and spend a few nights. Apparently it's a meeting, gathering place for overlanders who are coming and going from deeper Africa. Luckily when we were there it was just about deserted, if it had been busy I'm sure it wouldn't have felt the same.
So on we go. Sidi Ifni, a popular town but didn't do anything for us. The coast along here is nice and untouched, plenty of places to park up for a night or two. Our goal from here was to go back to visit our friend Nigel. He's got some land with stunning views out over the Atlantic, there's also some rough tracks to get access to miles of virgin beach. And of course, the chance to do a bit of paragliding.

We had a really relaxed time at Nigel's place, spending quite a few nights camped down by the beach. We had miles of beach to ourselves, mussels to collect from rocks at low tide, fish in the sea, let the good times roll.
After our break at Nigel's we decided to head inland. We'd been told many times that the area of Tafraoute is stunning so we decided to plod in that direction. We dropped in at Tiznit Souk, got enough fresh fruit, vegetables and meat to last us a month (nothing unusual there for us!) and headed for the hills. What can I say about trip through this region, other than it was some of the nicest country we've been through. There's loads of lovely places to spend the night. Some of our favorite nights here were in canyons and mountain sides over looking the Ameln Valley. There are gold mines in the area and as a result lots of unpaved roads to explore (most of which are on no map). There's also some lovely pistes going through the palmarie oasis. The only problem encountered here were the palm trees over hanging the track. Fine if you are a Moroccan driving though in your Renault 4! But in a tall Unimog we took many scratches along the sides and windows. At times Cally sat on the cab with a bow saw hacking away at the larger branches. It's times like this that a small chain saw would be really useful.

When we descended into the Ameln Valley the weather changed. A fierce wind was blowing from the Sahara and reduced visibility to less than one kilometer at times. This was a shame, to be in such a dramatic landscape and not being able to fully appreciate it. While looking for the Painted Rocks I was amazed by the amount of tracks we could've gone down. One day we must return when the visibility is better. I reckon you could get lost for days here.

From the Painted rocks we planned on heading North just about all the way until we reached Spain. We had a look around Tafraoute but wasn't over impressed with the town. Maybe it was the weather that made it a bit dreary, but I found there was too many tourists here. Despite being a bit let down by the town of Tafraoute, this is an area I really could spend a bit of time exploring. The country side and landscape is hard to beat.
So up and over the mountains we go. Taroudant

...Mauritania