Calipau Sahara Dakhla

... friendly local named Aziz offered to take us to the market. He took us to the local butcher to purchase the meat for the meal. Camel was the specialty of the region so we decided to get a couple of kilos of minced camel meat. The cut of meat that he was putting in the mincer looked very good quality. Next we purchased all the vegetables and fruit for breakfast.<br><br>Our camp site was several hours drive away from Dakla on a very sandy section of desert ...

... as it was you may as well be peeing in a wind tunnel. Oliver and his fellow master chefs Kelvin and Teresa did a sterling job for lunch having cooked up a vegetable frittata the night before. Most delicious indeed and a welcomed change to the stock standard salad rolls and fruit. Lunch stops are generally an hour or so allowing adequate time to stretch legs and give Jay a rest from driving. He is the only person licensed to drive this here truck ...

C est vraiment un trou paumé mais c est une ville strategique pour le maroc. D ou une presence militaire tres importante. Vu le nombre de militaire j ai fait tres peu de photo. Meme si je garderai le souvenir de mon passage de la frontiere Maroc Mauritanie

Route longue et fastidieuse de Boujdour à Daklha. Rien pour s'arréter, seulement pour besoins naturels. Mais nous vous avons trouvé quelques pécheurs. Arrivée à Daklha vers 15:00 et constat après le plein que nous avons consommé 16 l/100 contre 9 hier. Fuite de gas-oil diagnostiquée. Recherche d'un grand garage, aprés avoir perdu l'adresse de l'hotel qui n' a qu'un nom écrit en nouilles! Mohammed, super mécano ...

500 km de désert, c'est long et de peu d'intéret. Mais nous avons cherché les meilleurs coins et vous les proposons en photo. Ce soir nuit dans un Camping 4*, coté Bungalow de luxe (lits, eau y compris chaude, cuisine, salon télé) Beucoup mieux qu'hier soir à Tan-Tan ou pour 9 Euros la chambre double, les cancrelats étaient inclus!!!

... the war is that many areas of Western Sahara, particularly those near the border with Mauritania are still full of landmines, a fact evidenced by the many skull and crossbones, "Danger! Mines!" signs we saw along the road as we continued south. Our next campsite was another bush camp on some bluffs high above the Atlantic beaches about halfway between Laayoune and Dakhla, Western Sahara's other main town. We had a pleasant night drinking beer and talking ...

... ce bout de désert grand comme la france. Voici l'histoire de ma semaine en attendant la Maurtianie! Après avoir passé 2 jours à Rabat et obtenu mon visa mauritanien, rencontré des gens tous plus timbrés les uns que les autres, d'autres sympathiques, je suis parti pour le sud en compagnie de mon nouvel ami Tony, un français qui part au Brésil en stop...!! Premiere étape, El Jadida, ancien port portugais, aujourd'hui ville sans grande importance ni trop de charme ...

... ate a chicken Tajine there. The rest of the day consisted in driving until we finally reached the GPS waypoint given by Inaki, 25km before Dakhla. La journée fut longue. Nous nous sommes reveille vers 07h30, alors que Maite et Inaki étaient déjà sur le départ pour une longue étape vers Dakhla. De notre côté, Ben et moi avons pris le temps de tout mettre en ordre pour le départ. J'ai vérifié le groupe électrogène qui fonctionne bien malgré mes inquiétudes ...

... without attracting attention, we inadvertently did what it seems impossible to avoid in Morocco, attracted attention. The reflective mood having been broken by polite but repeated offers of accommodation, we accepted Mohammed's offer to park Bronwen for free outside his Auberge. We assumed that he would be after our money in other ways - guide, meals etc, but were glad of the relative protection from other touts that his offer presented. After parking up and taking a walk ...

... has half a dozen hotels on it - although as far as we could ascertain we were the only 'tourists' in the whole town), a kasbah in ruins on a hill and three nice beaches within walking distance.  We were staying in a recommended place, and had heard great things about the food.  We weren't to be disappointed, and were served our best tajines yet.  Almost on a par with the food was the slightly surreal musical choice of the owner.  Each evening ...