Mauritania, Western Sahara & Morocco
Mauritania – Country 39
Western Sahara /Morocco – Country 40
The wait for the boy’s Moroccan visas gave us a bit of a break from driving, but the wait also meant we were losing time to drive up to Morocco and the ferry across to Spain. It got to a point, I couldn’t wait anymore I needed to start driving if we were to keep on track.
So I reluctantly arranged 3 drivers to assist me in driving from Dakar through Mauritania, Western Sahara to Morocco. To say my security wasn’t happy with my decision, was an understatement… I didn’t have a choice, I couldn’t wait and I couldn’t let 3 strangers drive the cars without me through 3 countries (which proved correct when a few things on the cars needed attention and border hassles caused us problems). Before I left, one of the guys made me a grab bag, filled with essentials to survive if I needed to run and hide (I was driving through potentially dangerous areas…). But… when I saw the terrain we were driving through, flat desert for as far as the eye can see, any thought of running went right out of my mind, what’s the point when there is nowhere to hide (luckily I didn’t have to!!).
My 3 new crew and I left at 6.30am on Wednesday, about 5 hours into the drive, the guys pull over and tell me 2 of them don’t have passports!!!! I had asked this question before we left they said they had the documents they needed… So one of the 3 guys gets out of the car at the side of the road to hitch a lift back to Dakar. Now I am left with 2 drivers one of which
Now I am left with 2 drivers one of which can’t get into Morocco (Mmmm). We carry on and get the ferry across to Mauritania. I heard this border post was a really hectic one of worst in West Africa and I was ready for trouble, but I think after going through as many border posts as I have been through it takes a lot to be the worst – it was fine, just took 3 hours due to everyone taking a 2 hour lunch…
So the 3 of us made it to Nouakchott 14.5 hours after we started and minus my voice, which I had lost due to a chest infection. I also forgot to mention that the guys with me didn’t really speak English and my french can get me fed and find a bed but not much else… So with no voice, it was a big struggle to understand each other… In
So with no voice, it was a big struggle to understand each other… In Nouakchott I tried to find someone that spoke English to try and arrange another driver. Luckily the guy at reception did speak English and knew someone that could help (yeah!!!!). That was great news. So I took my tired and by this stage very sick self to bed. The next morning I waited for the new driver to arrive, it was great, I would now have 2 drivers with passports to drive with me to Morocco. When the guy arrived he looked presentable confirmed he had a passport so we were all set – until!!! He told us he didn’t have a drivers license WTF!!! At this stage, I just laughed. Back to square 1.
I went and sat at reception to work out my next move. Also sitting there was a guy waiting for some colleagues. He said hello ( in English) so I jumped on him (not literally…) and asked him where I could change money. He made a phone call and told me his employees would be along shortly to help me. 2 guys arrived, I thought they were bringing the cash to me (happens in most countries…) but no I had to go with them. I jumped into their car (I know, I know!!!) and off we went to change money. While we were driving I told one of them my problem and he said they could help me, but just needed to check with their boss from the hotel. After changing money the guys dropped me back at the hotel, we were gone awhile ( the one Senegalese guy accompanying me to morocco was pacing outside the hotel wondering where I was, he was very relieved when I showed up, I knew then he would have my back over the coming days). 30 minutes later one of the guys came back with his bag and became my 2nd driver. There was now 3 of us again all of us with license and passports so off we went.
After changing money the guys dropped me back at the hotel, we were gone awhile ( the one Senegalese guy accompanying me to morocco was pacing outside the hotel wondering where I was, he was very relieved when I showed up, I knew then he would have my back over the coming days). 30 minutes later one of the guys came back with his bag and became my 2nd driver. There was now 3 of us again all of us with license and passports so off we went.
Due to our late start, we didn’t make the border crossing in time, the border had a hotel but was all very dodgy, with too many people involved in my problems, so we drove 50km to the closest town to find a bed, after a nice short day of 8.5 hours on the road.
The next morning we got to the border around 8 am (that’s when they opened, lazy buggers…), and cleared through here around 9.30am some of the officials had a lay in…
Then it was time to drive through the notorious ‘No Mans Land’ there is supposed to be land mines here so you should keep to already driven tracks and not drive in the dunes just in case… The few km you have to travel is full of scrapped cars, lots of broken TV sets(?). Now, there might well still be mines here, but I think that is just a ruse to keep people from being noisy. There were lots of groups of parked cars and people just off the road in the dunes, doing(???) I don’t know what, the threat of the mines kept me away…
Once we crossed the danger zone, we were at the Moroccan border, this took a quick 6 hours to clear!!! We’re not in Africa (as I know it) anymore!! I had to temporarily import the cars into Morocco but couldn’t do all three on my passport, so each of the guys imported one for me. This presented me with ANOTHER problem ( when are they going to stop, not anytime soon!!!). The guys now needed to accompany me to the north of Morocco to get the ferry instead of Marrakech which was the original plan (I was hoping, to meet the team here, but that didn’t go as planned (funny that!) and they went straight to Spain). Luckily the guys said no problem, by this time we had become a tight little trio and we’re having fun despite 5 days of nonstop driving through the desert and all of us beyond exhausted.
The drive is long, long flat sections with the occasional sand dune. Luckily a lot of the road through the Western Sahara is along the coast which gave some diversity to the road. It was also hectically windy, as soon as you opened the window (at the 25+ police stops!!) you got blasted, half the time it felt like you had just come off the beach!
There are a few tiny towns along the way to grab a bite to eat, I’m very glad we didn’t have to try and prepare food with all the sand flying around… The temperatures ranged from a blistering 44 degrees down to a freezing 20 degrees, sometimes within an hour or two (that did my chest infection the world of good…).
We made it to Marrakech. it was a bit of a culture shock, there were great roads, proper shops, Mc Donald’s!! I’m not sure how I was feeling about the ever decreasing number of KM I had left to do in Africa (not over the moon that’s for sure!!).
The guy I found in Mauritania was Moroccan and was super excited to show us the sites. So even though the body was broken, we walked for hours visiting the incredible, vibrant, packed (insanely so), colourful, noisy Jemaa El Fna square. Here we played with snakes (not my idea), listen to music, watched magic, had a henna tattoo (just me, my 5th no went unheard…), ate street food, shopped in the magical souks (got a few nice things), sat on the roof top and watched the world (looked like literally) go by.
We only had a day and a half in Marrakech before we drove to Casablanca a huge city with the largest mosque in Africa (beautiful at night). In Casablanca, DHL arranged lunch with some ex-Moroccan rugby players (very sweet guys) and a trip to a boy’s home for 300 abandoned kids who were all very impressed a girl could drive so far…
After the short stop in Casablanca, we headed for Tanger (such a beautiful place on the ocean) and my next change of drivers!!! I had to arrange 2 more guys (DHL to the rescue) to help me get the cars out of the guy’s names (they didn’t have European visas) into theirs so we could cross into Spain to meet my team.
The changes happened at customs and I had to say a very sad goodbye to two men who came to my rescue and even though we were total strangers and couldn’t really communicate we bonded on a very hectic trip from Dakar to Tanger and over 70 hours of driving.
AFRICA DONE!!!!!
