Morocco
Off-road tracks in and south of the Atlas Mountains
By Tony and Elly van Gastel
Tammo van Gastel
Marike van der Peet
After having lived in Accra, Ghana for six years we are now living in Syria in the Middle East. From Ghana we made several very interesting desert trips to Niger and Mali (see bottom of this page). In terms of off-roading the Middle East Syria has much less to offer than the West Africa.
This year (2004) we had a ‘grand’ plan. Let’s visit Morocco and do the tracks in the south along the Algerian border. This involved quite a bit of driving: 4000 km from Syria to Holland, 2500 km from Holland to the ferry in Algeciras (Spain) and another 5500 km from Algeciras back to Syria. In Holland my wife and I were joined by our son and his girlfriend in his Landcruiser BJ45 (1982).
Crossing the Strait of Gibraltar
This was a big surprise. We arrived at 22:00 hours at the port in Algeciras without ticket, just trying to find out what the ferry schedule was. Well, at 23:00 hours we were on board of a fast ferry to Ceuta (the Spanish town on the African mainland), where we arrived one hour later. Rather different from other ferries we were used to (such as the Aqaba - Nuweiba (Egypt)).
Border formalities: Ceuta is a Spanish enclave and leaving Spanish territory is no problem. You are hardly stopped and even waved through. Into Morocco took a bit more time, but within one hour we were in Morocco, without any payment. Only regular car papers (in my case Syria car papers) and the essential insurance paper (green card) are required. The green card is a great thing. With our Syrian car papers we bought the insurance in Holland at a cost of Euro 350 for two months, but we could use it throughout our travel in all European countries, from Turkey to Holland, Spain, Morocco and back to Syria.
Morocco
In Morocco we drove almost 4000 km. This beautiful country has to offer something for everyone. It has the Atlas Mountains, the beaches, the imperial cities (Rabat, Fez, Meknes, and Marrakesh), the wadis and deserts. It has some good campsites and moreover, you are officially allowed to camp in the wild. Fuel is cheap compared to Europe. It is a safe country, people are friendly and cost of living is still rather low. The only disadvantages are that they speak French (or Arabic or Berber) and the temperature in the South is a bit high in summer. Well, a bit! It got over 45oC almost daily and often up to 50oC. But the combination of off-road and high temperatures does give you the real feel.
Back home, we had uploaded the GPS with the routes, mainly from Chris Scott’s book ‘Sahara Overland’. We also found some interesting routes on a French website (http://www.chez.com/voyages4x4/roadbook_maroc.htm), which we used as guidelines. We planned to do as much as possible in the two and half weeks we had; some of the Atlas routes but mainly the tracks along the fringes of the Sahara at the Moroccan side of the brder with Algeria.
Marrakesh to Ouazarzate
Our first route started in Marrakesh, where we camped at the Firdaous Camping (310 43.1300’N 7059.0093’W), 12 km north of Marrakesh on the Settat road. An enjoyable and spacious campsite with good showers, which helped us to endure the 45oC temperature. From Marrakesh in the direction of Fez, turning off to Sidi Rahal and to the.barrages at (310 41.8715’N 70 20.7917’W). The off-road track (piste) starts soon after the large barrage and is a very easy and good track. Waypoints are hardly necessary. Occasionally the track has deep ruts, which shows that it can be muddy in the rainy season. We thought the track was a very nice ‘introduction’ to the Atlas Mountains with beautiful vistas and occasionally small groups of traditional mud brick houses (photo), blending into the landscape. The track goes all the way uphill to about 1600-1700 m. After130 km and six hours from the campsite north of Marrakesh we reached the main tarmac road (310 27.0896N 70 23.614’W) from Marrakesh to Ouazarzate.
To get to the next route we had first to cross the High Atlas (Tizi-n-Tichka). Great landscape. First along a wadi (with water) and oleanders in full blossom. Along the road semi-precious stones, rocks with minerals, and fossils are offered in wayside stalls. Then the road winds through a beautiful, barren landscape with a large number of hairpin curves to the top Tizi-n-Tichka (about 2200 m). Almost chilly up there; a temperature difference with Marrakesh of 25oC. Soon after the summit we turned off and drove over a tarmac road to Telouet, with its famous, but crumbling kasbah.
From Telouet to Animiter, where the piste starts (310 17.0943’N 70 08.9856’W). This is a great piste and a must for everyone. Not only because of the track, but the scenery is great. The track winds along a wadi which always had some water. The track is very narrow indeed and we hoped there would not be any oncoming cars. It would not be possible to pass each other. Along the track are the nicest kasbahs, we had seen that far. Beautiful mud houses (three or more stories) with often white painted window panes. Often several kasbahs not far apart. It very much reminds of Yemen. One roll of film after the other was exposed. Even more digital photos were taken. People still lived in the houses of these kasbahs, unlike the kasbah of Telouet now only a monument.
The track could occasionally be very stony. We drove through a narrow gorge (310 12.5084’N 70 08.0284’W), We climbed up to a plateau (310 11.6339’N 70 07.9003’W), without any habitation, then again steeply down to the wadi. Sometimes at the right side, sometimes at the left side, but almost always steep drops to the bottom of the wadi. Many kasbahs with often storks nesting on top of the towers of the kasbah. The piste ends in Tamdacht (310 05.2677’N 70 08.6100’W), which again is a great kasbah. The actual lengths of the second leg of the piste was approximately 40 km, which we did in 3.5 hours. Later on, on the left we visited the Qsar of Ait Benhaddou (photo), a UNESCO site, still inhabited.
Due to fuel pump problems with the BJ45 we moved first to Ouazarzate and then back to Marrakesh, because the BJ45 needed more attention. In Marrakesh the fuel pump was taken apart; they searched the city for a new one (could not find one), wanted to go to Casablanca, but in the end they said - as they do too often in the third world - no problem. It did produce much more blue exhaust fumes than we would like to see. (Back in Holland, the blue fumes were a result of a badly timed and loss of vacuum in the diesel pump)
Chris Scott’s Igherm-Tata Route
We left Marrakesh as soon as we could, but not before having visited the souk andthe ‘big doing’ at Jemaa el Fna square, with dancers, snake charmers, juice sellers and other ‘artists’ trying to make a living.
Next morning we moved on and crossed the High Atlas via the Tizi-n-Test. Although the descent provides great vistas and the road (tarmac) is rather narrow, we preferred 
the Tizi-n-Tichka. Via Taroudant, we drove to Igherm, were we did Chris’ track to Tata. Chris described it very well and we enjoyed the steep, very slow, stony descent into the wadi. The mountains (Anti Atlas) must be an eldorado for geologists with all the different layers. Down in the wadi are beautiful ‘palmeraies’ (palm plantations), also harvesting of olives was in full swing and we visited a place where they extracted the oil. A donkey turning the mill. We camped (photo) at a nice spot between the palms in one of the palmeraies along the wadi. Next day we had a surprise, because the tarmac started (290 57.9165’N 080 14.1987’W) much earlier than described by Scott. The actual length of the piste was only just over 25 km. From the exit of the Commune de Tagmout it was 40 km downhill towards the beautiful desert town of Tata on the fringes of the Atlas/Sahara. A great, colorful market, where we stocked up on vegetables, fruits and fuel.
Tata to Mhamid along the Morocco-Algeria border
Finally we left the Atlas behind us. The routes in the Atlas were great, but the off-road part was always very short. We now had before us a few routes in the northern part of the Sahara.
The first route would bring us from Tata to Mhamid. After approximately 80 km from Tata, on an excellent tarmac road, the track starts (290 49.7243’N 70 12.3894’W). The beginning of the piste is somewhat difficult to find, but once we found the track it was rather easy going. We occasionally drove through some very stony wadis. Generally, the landscape was boring; gravel plain after gravel plain, intersected by wadis. At the left-hand side, in the far distance, the Atlas and at the right-hand side mountains in what must be Algeria. We were never far from the border and were sometimes wondering if we had not crossed it.
The temperature was ‘normal’ for this time of the year! It reached 45oC and above. What a blessing to come across a waterhole in one of the wadis (290 39.6107’N 70 12.3128’W) where we could have a swim. It was hard to leave and go back into the dry, very hot and rather boring desert. Occasionally we lost the track; did some cross-country driving, and tried to find some rock inscriptions (290 44.9783’N 60 53.4933’W). Then, rather suddenly, you reach Lake Iraki (290 46.2543’N 60 34.8264W), a huge, dry flood plain that continues as far as you can see to the left, right and ahead. Without any stones or gravel, it is all sand, and lots of cracks formed in the surface, indicating that at some time there had been water. We saw many fata morganas or was there really water in the lake? On the map it looks like there could be. We zigzaged a bit around, but only found more fata morganas and no water. What a pity we would have loved another swim.
On, on, we tried to take a short cut and ended up in front of some dunes (290 56.3818N 60 22.0635’W). Tried to get around them, cross them, got stuck (sand ladders are very helpful) and backed up about 10 km to pick up a stony track. We did not want to follow this stony track; we new there must be a nice dune track. We tried a few times to reach there, but without luck. We spent the night at a sandy ridge (got stuck there) and to make it worse we had a heavy sand storm during the night. We slept in the car, but kept the backdoor open because of the heat. So, you can imagine how much red sand got in the car. It was really everywhere; all our belongings had the same reddish color. We had to give the car a complete ‘cleanup’.
Next day the track was again very stony with dunes in the distance at our right hand side. We had now decided not to give up that easily and tried to cross some dunes to find a track. We walked at least a kilometer through the sand (at temperatures touching 50°C) to investigate and search for the track.
We crossed the dunes (290 53.3492’N 60 12.6042’W) and managed to find the sandy track and thoroughly enjoyed it, the dunes as well as the sight of the Bedouins on the plains. We reached a big waterhole in a wadi (290 50.9500’N 60 02.6517’W), where 100s of camels, arriving from all directions, were watered. There appeared to be several waterholes. The water was sweet and drinkable. We emptied the jerry cans with the salty water, we had taken in the waterhole, where we swam the day before, and had our jerry cans filled with good water.
The moment we stopped, we realized that the BJ had a leaking radiator hosepipe. A serious problem? Not really; we removed the hose and taped it. It took us an extra 45 minutes and a lot of cursing (temperature was now reaching 50°C), but it did the job. In Zagora we bought a new spare hosepipe, but never replaced the taped one.
We again lost our way (290 52.0238’N 50 45.2792’W), had to go cross country, ended up in front of some dunes, crossed them (290 52.3685’N 50 44.9827’W) at some place without problem. In the late afternoon we reached the tarmac close to Tagounite. The 245 km track had taken us two days (14 hrs), we had a swim, got stuck a few times, enjoyed the dunes and the sand driving. The waterhole was a gift from above.
Mhamid: 
On the tarmac we drove the 15 km to Mhamid (290 49.5103’N 50 43.1201’W), a typical Moroccan desert town, close to the Algerian border. This area is very touristy, but not in summer, when temperatures reach up to 55°C. There are many places for lodging or camping. We were only interested in camping and found a campsite with swimming pool. No camping in the wild, we needed that pool; the last two days had been bloody hot and dusty. We had used wet towels over our heads or in the neck to survive the 50°C. You may feel this is a waste of precious water, but we had mainly used the salty water from the waterhole.
We camped in Paradise Garden, just north of the town of Mhamid. Camping with nice swimming pool. It was not cheap but worth the price. We swam, did the laundry, had cold beer, swam again and prepared a nice dinner. The European manager offered us homemade date liquor, we had to taste. Specialty of the house. Next day it showed up on our bill together with the rather expensive beers. That evening we had another sand storm, but were much better prepared. In spite of the fact that Paradise Garden is a very nice place, we do not recommend it.
N.B: An interesting detail when off-loading the track, was that we could have taken a short cut straight to Mhamid at around 290 51.1464’N 50 46.1122’W before we reached the tarmac road. It would have been only 6 km (as the crow flies) to Mhamid (instead of the 35km).
Next morning, after a last and another final swim (We had paid for 24 hours and not a minute more; the manager kept a close eye on that), we drove northwards. Halfway up the Draa valley (via Zagora to Tansikht), before turning east to Alnif, where we had planned another off-road track. The Draa valley is definitely worth visiting with its beautiful kasbahs along the wadi. A wadi which had water all the way.
Alnif to Rissani
There is a clear turnoff from the main road about 10.km after Alnif. The track first leads to several village and then makes such a detour to the Tizi-n-Izari (310 05.4489’N 40 52.5512’W) that several times we expected to have lost the track to Fezzou. After the summit, the track goes through one village after the other and this makes this first part of the track interesting. It leads through rural Morocco. There is some agriculture, farm houses and palmeraies. In Fezzou you leave the main track (300 57.2835’N 40 53.8815’W) into a stony wadi and from there we kept on crossing an endless stony plain, sometimes we followed a clear track, but often we were just bumping along. The plain was altogether more than 35km with a mountain range (300 58.3209’N 40 47.5111’W) in between. Would we ever reach the mountain? It was difficult to find where to get into the mountains, but we were lucky because in the middle of the plain was a small house (300 59.4590’N 40 42.5660’W) with an old man, who pointed us in the right direction. After reaching the mountain (310 01.5450’N 40 36.3170’W), we found the track and had to go up. It was very sandy. The top layer looks a bit firm, but there is all sand/gravel underneath. I think that is what they call ‘foum’ in some descriptions. The BJ45 got stuck, the 80 seems to have less problems. It seems it has something to do with the fact that the 80 is able to go extremely slow in low gear without stalling, while the 45 refuses to do that. I am sure there must be a mechanical explanation for this, but I am not a mechanic. After having crossed the worst foum, we stopped and spent a quiet night. This time without a sand storm; we had the place to ourselves.
Next morning we continued cross-country, crossing a mountain range, driving for a long time through a wadi and filling up our water supply at a waterhole (300 59.8317’N 40 27.2517’W). Then we got into some small dunes before reaching the big wadi. No way to cross (300 59.2366’N 40 26.8036’W) (photo). We followed the wadi north and checked out several places where we might be able to cross. There was either water or we found it too muddy. We could walk through to the other side, but were not ready to dig the cars out of the mud for hours. Sand is ok, but this was mud. We decided to trace back our steps. About 15-20 km back we had noticed a track leading north. This track brought us to about 10 km before Rissane, where the tarmac road started (310 10.9045’N 40 21.3734’W). The total length of the piste was about 140km, which took us two days.
Then from Rissani to Merzouga where we camped next to the Auberge Dunes d’Or (310 12.1205’N 40 01.6325’W) in the sand under a few trees. Great views on Erg Chebbi (photo). We had more time on our hands now and decided to reduced tire pressure of the BJ, which had had some more problems negotiating the sand. Amazing how easy the car now handled the sand. From then on we reduced tire pressure, whenever we expected soft sand and had no more problems. Unfortunately, we had for some time a tractor roaring in front of our camp, which was moving a dune. The Auberge owner explained that this had to be done once or twice a year, otherwise the Auberge would disappear under the ‘moving’ sand dunes of Erg Chebbi.
In the evening there was another sandstorm. We had to flee into the Auberge, where they had closed all doors and windows and it was chokingly hot inside. Even inside it was dusty; closing the windows did not stop the sand from getting in.
Around Erg Chebbi
The Erg Chebbi, Morocco’s most praised dune sight. The ‘moving’ sands of Morocco. We enjoyed it and it is indeed comparable with other dunes in the world, but the main difference is the dunes can be reached via a tarmac road. Anybody can get there. One does not have to make an effort (except for the fact that it is hot in the summer).
An interesting observation was that we saw many people digging in the dunes? Where they looking for something? It was usually a very small group of two or three people they had blankets with them! Blankets at this time of the day? The temperature was close to 50 again. Later we found out that there is a belief that the hot sand can cure arthritis and the like. One must be submerged for a few minutes in the very hot sand and then cover the body in a blanket to keep the high temperature as long as possible. The sand must have been terribly hot; we were not able to walk barefoot on it. You must really believe in it; we felt it has more to do with torture.
The next day we made a very late start and decided to find the track which leads all around the Erg (Satellite photo) . It was approximately 50 km (2 hrs) with sand, dunes and lots of foum. It was a bit difficult to find the track where to round the northern tip of the Erg, but once you find it you just keep the Erg as close as possible to your right-hand side. This will get you in trouble several times, but then return and find a track a bit further away. Wherever you drive, you can be assured of great views on the Erg. Here are a few way points: (a) 310 12.1205’N 40 01.6325’W (the Auberge), (b) 310 13.0755’N 40 01.1758’W, (c) 310 13.8100’N 30 58.4261’W, (d) 310 11.7281’N 30 55.3708’W, (e) 310 06.8719’N 30 55.9728’W, (f) 310 04.4540’N 30 58.0850’W and (g) 310 02.9335’N 40 00.2370’W. Enjoy it!
6. Tinerhir and up North to ElKsiba
Driving up to the Todra Gorge, out of Tinerhir, provides exceptionally superb views (photo) of the wadi with its palmeraies. Lots and lots of greenery and agricultural crops, bordered by traditional Moroccan houses. Three or more stories mud brick houses and villages, occasionally painted in pink. Here and there the bright white 
minaret of a mosque. Again touristy Morocco at its best. The Gorge itself is spectacular, but too many tourists. The drive to the plateau is along the wadi, all on tarmac. After approximately 40 km, the piste starts (310 46.5733’N 50 27.3941’W). It meanders along a wadi with lots of agricultural activity and small villages. Then it gets out of the wadi and starts a long climb up the summit (Tizi Tirherhouzine). A very narrow track, up and up, one hairpin after the other; great views. We met an oncoming lorry and it took quite a bit of time before we managed to continue. Luckily we were at the safe side (i.e. the mountain side) of the steep track. The top (310 52.3772’N 50 28.5380’W) is at almost 2700 meter and the temperature had dropped at least 20 degrees. Always refreshing.
Then down to Agoudal. This part goes along a wadi and the further down we went along the wadi the more agriculture we saw. The village of Agoudal (320 00.4927’N 50 29.3427’W) was surrounded by harvest-ready fields of wheat and lots of other crops. After several small villages the piste ends (320 05.9853’N 50 30.6230’W) and joins the tarmac road to Rich. The total track length had only been 40 km We followed the main road for about 8 km into the direction of Imichil, before we turned off (320 09.1495’N 50 34.5179’W) on a piste to Tounfeet (112 km). However, we 
discontinued this effort after 10 kilometers, because the track was very slow due to ruts and potholes. We would have another 6 hrs to go before reaching Tounfeet . Then we would have another track to Midelt. Since we were running out of ‘holiday time’, we returned and continued on the main road to Imichil and all the way to El Ksiba. We tried to pick up another piste (in Tassent - 320 14.0295’N 50 42.5106’W) to Beni Mellal, but this track ended after a few kilometres. It seemed impossible to continue. We gave up looking for off-road tracks and drove to El Ksiba (110 km from the end of the piste), where we camped.
Next day we drove back to Ceuta, crossed the Strait of Gibraltar and started our long haul to Aleppo, Syria; approximately 5500 km from Algeciras.
Please contact me for detailed waypoints. Read about my earlier visits to Timbuktu, the Air and the Tenere
Travellers reports from the Sahara