Driving on the dunes of Erg Chebbi

     In the morning I decided to have a go at the dunes of the Erg.

Driving over the dunes can be very dangerous, or either you know the way or can "read" the form of the dune or then you have to walk a lot to be sure what's on the other side.

      So, to make my life easier I hired a guide. I must say that I was impressed with the way he knows and rides on the dunes.

Here is a video :

We took us to a very high dune, I was amazed that was possible to drive so high !

When we exited the erg, I was so impressed with the little moped that I asked the guy if he wanted to swap, he would drive my RR and I would try is Docker. I think we was so surprised that he said yes without thinking  !

Arrival at Erg Chebbi .

      After getting the repair done, we headed to the Auberg du Sud, on the Erg Chebbi

Some more pictures already on the Erg.

Both the rise and down of the Sun and the Moon is something diferent in the desert, unfornately my point and shot camera cannot do much but I still tried to capture the magic.

New radious arm bushes, Morocco design + a special souvenir

        With so many kms over stoney pistes together with the terrible quality of Britpart bushes, it was only a matter of time before one would give up and that's what happened.
        Just compare the front and  the rear bush.

To get a new one I drove to Rissani, where a guy cut a new one from a piece of rubber that looked like an old tyre....

....and after fitting. I can tell you that it worked so well that it's still there  today !

In the meantime, while the man was having fun with the big knife cutting the rubber, I saw an old Land Rover sign above a shop entrance, and to the owner's surprise I offered to buy it. We gave us some tea, food and a deal was struck.

School at Khemlíya

     Like I said before, I brought some clothes and other goods to give to the children, so we visited a school in a small town of Khemlíya, were we meet a really nice teacher, he told us about all the work he has done for the school, I must say I was very impressed. Were's a few pictures :

The boys playing with the ball I gave.

The entrance for the School, talking with the teacher.

Route MS12 Mecissi to Merzouga

The route started well, with nice open spaces, just the way I like it.

But, not much into the piste, a strong wind started, making visibility really bad. The image below is better than the reality at the time, it was dificult to see the piste !

The camp for the night...

...and the beautiful sunrise we got that morning

that morning something rare happened, it rained in the desert and we got the most beautiful rainbow, we could see the full arc.

a couple more photos, incluiding a well.

Route MS4 Tagounite to Alnif

After leaving M'hamid and the excelent hotel Tabarkat, we followed the piste MS4. We leave some images below .

Our camping place for the night :

At the end of the route, about 7 km from the N12 we came across a two guys, with a trycicle that refused to start. since I don't understand much about that vehicles, I offered to tow them to thee main road. They couldn't be more happy and said the own a cafe , next time I pass by the will give me a free lunch !

School in M'hamid

One of the things I learned from my wonderfull wife is the love for children. With that in mind, I brought clothes, shoes, toys and school books and gave it at the school in M'hamid. The director gave us a friendly welcome and showed the school around, before visiting the classroom where it explained who we were and what we were doing there.

It was a very emotional moment for me !

Erg Chegaga

Arriving at M'hamid the objective was clear, to visit the Erg Chegaga, there's still a 50 km distance between M'hamid and the Erg itself.



We came across some fast parts...

...but also some sandy ones

but after a couple of hours the Erg was in sight.

Time for some fun in the dunes and more pictures.

Conection Midelt to Tazzarine

Because of the terrible weather in the North of Morocco,we runned down to the South, by Tarmac.

Even though is not the pistes that I was aiming for, the South, even by tarmac roads is very beautiful. I leave a few images below !