Western Sahara: Tan-Tan - Boujdour - Dakhla - Guerguerat

Written by traveladdict

Last updated 2005-06-01 01:47:00

November 28, 2003: Tan-Tan - Boujdour A beautiful, quiet beach early in the morning and then we continue the long way south through the Western Sahara, direction Mauritania.

Along the way, we catch up with Gauthier, a Belgian guy we met earlier in Sidi Ifni, Jan, a Dutchman and an English family with two children. We are all heading for Mauritania.

It's a whole day of driving and filling in "fiches" for the police and the gendarmes, who are posted along the route. We are really in the Sahara! Just before dark, we find a place for the night at the beach. The shipwreck makes the scene complete. Gauthier turns out a wonderful cook. He makes us a grilled steak on the charcoal with veggies and bread. Oh man oh man! Finger-licking good!

November 29, 2003: Boujdour - Dakhla 300 km to go to Dakhla! It is hot and very windy. The scenery is dusty and rocky, but there are areas with purple and yellow flowers. We see some dromedaries crossing the road.

7 km before Dakhla, we go on the camp site Moussafir. We use this quiet afternoon for cleaning, checking and preparing the car. Nice and relax. Most people here make the crossing to Mauritania. We see all types of cars: trucks, vans, jeeps,? and some motorbikes.

Not being certain about the kind of food we are about to find the next weeks, we decide to enjoy the luxury of dining at a good Spanish restaurant in Dakhla in the company of our touring friends. We have a delicious soup "fruits the mer" and a mixed plate of grilled fish.

November 30, 2003: Dakhla - 70 km before Guerguerat From now on, it will be a different kind of traveling. We made a little "convoy" with The Flintstones (The English family: Dee, Tim and the children Carla and Nick) and Gauthier the Belgian. The next days or maybe even weeks, we will travel together.

We need a lot of food supplies for this group of 7, so we go shopping in Dakhla. Potatoes, rice, spaghetti, chocolate, bread, vegetables,? and chicken. We choose 4 big and healthy looking chickens and they get slaughtered right in front of us. Can't get any fresher!

Around noon, we leave the camp site and we drive till some 70 km before the border with Mauritania. Here we have a last cheap fuel refill at a gas station. It is also a hotel and a gathering of overlanders: we see a lot of familiar faces.

Not so attracted to spend the night here, we go and find an excellent camping spot nearby, hidden behind some rocks.

December 1, 2003: 70 km before Guerguerat - Nouadhibou We are in no rush and we have a nice breakfast with "lost bread" and tea at the camp fire. At 11.45 a.m., we start the border formalities at Guerguerat.

Pictures with this story: www.traveladdict.be