"I had to live in the desert before I could understand the full value of grass in a green ditch." Ella Maillart
"What makes the desert beautiful is that somewhere it hides a well." Antoine de Saint-Exupery
Camping at the edge of the world:
Gray skies, a slight mist, flat rocky earth as far as the eye can see. A jagged cliff with no discernable bottom, the roar of an ocean below, heard but not seen. We have reached the end of the earth. Nature's creativity seems either to end here, or not yet to have begun. The landscape is simple, the weather is consistent and uniform, always seeming to be on the verge of changing to either sun or rain, but never doing so. We are 10km south of El Ouatia. Today we cross into Western Sahara.
The next two nights were desert. The desert continues to change, some days large sand dunes appear, but mostly it is a mixture of sand, rock, and scrub brush. There are mesas in the distance. The rocks are hollowed out due to sand constantly blowing against them. One day the sand became a brilliant white for about an hour as we drove. We camped 30 minutes off the road on a bluff overlooking the sea, two shipwrecks in the distance. We made the trek down to one, climbing about the rusted out hull. The military soldiers came to visit, and asked if we had whiskey, as they wanted to drink some. We camped behind a small mountain the next night, the wind howling in the desert. The mornings were damp if we were close to the sea. This is a cold desert sometimes. The ocean comes and goes. The coast is huge cliffs, or giant stretches of completely empty beach. Fishing tents appear often. The towns we pass are colonial. Local Moroccans encouraged to move south through housing subsidies and tax free zones. Flags are flown everywhere, buildings have propaganda wall paintings of Berbers waiving Moroccan flags. The message seems clear, this is Moroccan Sahara, not Western Sahara. The towns have grand entryways, light posts, four lane highways. The buildings on the front street look good, but most in the back roads are unfinished. Hollow cities, plonked down overnight it seems.
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Western Sahara |
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Desert camping |
Ship wrecks |
Yesterday we found a bottle of whiskey that a friend had hidden on his way down, (alcohol is not allowed in Mauritania). He left us instructions as to where he had hidden it. We searched, and found it sticking out of a pile of sand. It was a welcome diversion, and made for an entertaining evening. We camped by the road that night, sandy wind never stopped.
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Hidden desert whisky |
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Treasure hunters |
In the morning we headed for the border. Getting out of Morocco was easy, go to this and that office, show forms, get stamps, and finally we were out. The no mans land between the two countries was about 2km. It has no paved section, and no actual road to really follow, just various tracks on hard rock. Burned out cars littered the area, along with washing machines, old tires, and TV's. Numerous "fixers" were on hand on the Mauritanian side, to help with formalities. We got our visas ($65.00 or 55 Euros), and then went to get stamped into the country. We had to sit with the head of the border for a while and chat, which was nice, but took a long time. The sniffer dog jumped in our car for a search, we got the car formalities settled, bought car insurance, and finally we were out.
We drove to Nouadhibbou, about 50km away. The landscape was empty, sand blowing across the road. Mauritania is a transition country from the Arab/Berber north, to the sub saharan south. The town was an amazing mix of colorful fabrics, mosques, donkey carts, goats, and hectic driving. The semi organization of Morocco was gone, and things got a bit more chaotic. Most of the men wear a turban type cloth wrapped around their head and face. Women were either veiled, or wearing bright patterned clothes. We found a place to stay, Chez Ali, and went for our first shower in 10 days. The evening was spent wandering the the markets, and getting food. We are taking a few days to rest here, and then will ride the iron ore train out into the desert, for a few days in the oasis area. Should be great!