Moroccan ergs and hammada

Tuesday 8 Jan (milage 26 piste, 194 roads, total 924)
Steve is riding a Honda Transalp and we headed out from Hotel Said in the direction of the erg (sand sea), avoiding some of the mad 4×4 drivers racing across the hamada (rock desert).  We had been told about an Italian-owned hotel that had been ruined by floods.  The owners had been warned not to build in that particular spot which is known to the locals as ‘the mouth of the snake.’  Foum–the arabic word for mouth–is sometimes used to describe a river mouth meeting the sea (as in the English ‘Aber’ prefix), but is also used to describe a river coming out of a confined space such as a canyon and spreading out on a plain, as in Foum Zguid and Foum El Hassane.  So building Riad Maria in a place called Foum El Hench–mouth of the snake–should have set warning bells ringing. 

In June 2006 very heavy rains in east and south-east Morocco killed six people.  Merzouga–in what is regarded as a semi-desert region–had 105 mm of water in two hours, and a wave of water over two metres high descended on the Riad Maria, with the results shown.  The rains were so effective that the water table for the entire region is now only two metres below ground level.

Riad Maria after the flood

Riding on, we come across the result of one of the 4×4 races, dismounting just in time to hear the guide telling the unabashed driver, “L’accident n’est pas couvert par l’assurance” which roughly translates as ‘this is going to cost you big time mate’.

Plonker with camera

We are headed for Hotel Jasmine, at 24 years the oldest of the 70-plus hotels in the Erg Chebbi area.  It has probably the most commanding position in the dunes with a lake by the side and birds singing in the trees.  In the distance are two camel caravans and a very experienced biker riding directly over the dunes.  Not on a GS, mind.  The rate is 300 dirham half board, so I will probably stay there on another trip.

The view from Hotel Jasmine terrace

We try various ways to reach the piste round the back of the erg, but found it too sandy for fully-laden bikes.

Steve surveys the route of the 2006 Dakar Rally

We head back via Desert Inn, another of the older hotels, then take the very fast piste to Rissani.  We are generally riding at 55 mph, and for a few seconds I take the bike up to 75 mph to get an appreciation of the speeds at which the Dakar cmpetitors ride. Frightening!

During a nuss nuss (coffee) pause in Rissani I get another text from Adrian saying he is now on the ferry back to Spain.

Mares’ tails in the sky are a sign of continuing good weather

Normally if heading west from the Erfoud area I would take the road via Tinerhir and the gorges of the Todra and Dades to Ouarzazate, but this time we go via Alnif to Zagora.  The scenery is far better than the northern route and I would take that route again. On the way we pass the start of the special stage used in the 2007 Dakar.

I remember getting stuck in the Navara Outlaw in the river bed to the right

Steve has booked Dar Raha in Amazraou just to the south of Zagora and it proves to be an excellent choice as we chill out enjoying beer and peanuts on the roof as the stars emerged.  One of the planets is visible which I later learn is Mars.

Dar Raha: highly recommended

Wednesday 9 Jan (mileage 64 piste, 83 roads, total 1073)
We are staying at Dar Raha for two nights, so we plan an offroad route that runs from Zagora to Beni Zouir, but we aren’t paying attention and end up heading north east instead of north west.  Never mind, let’s see where this goes. 

Great piste

I’ve never been happy with sand riding so I take the opportunity to improve my skills.  When you reach a sandy section the general idea is ‘slow in, power out’. The power lifts weight from the front tyre to prevent it digging in, and provides traction to the rear.  It’s all very well being told this, but it takes nerve to do, so I practice on small sections, then bigger, then bigger still. After a while I have it and am powering through without problems (just as well for I will really need these skills for Sénégal).

Then I realise we were heading towards a tizi (pass) where I had problems on an earlier trip—a chock full of football-sized boulders in a gorge with no alternate route.  Oh well, at least I don’t have luggage on this time!  But when we get there, the boulders are gone, which goes to show you can never predict what a piste will be like.

Steve halts by an old guy sitting beside a shelter optimistically described as a tea shop.  One of the women washes out glasses then dries them on a pretty bit of cloth that’s been sitting on the ground.

Oh well

I have a few phrases of Arabic, some words of Berber and fairly good French but Steve doesn’t need any of these to communicate and manages well with a calm, soft-spoken English.  The two women have a variety of fairly worthless coins they want to trade, including some pre-euro French and an English 10p piece.  Steve sets about buying the 10p from them and you can see the panic in their faces.  How do they know whether he was about to cheat them out of an extremely valuable coin? 

High finance in the desert

Eventually Steve persuads them to accept 2 dirham (15p), and the two teas cost another 4 dirham.  I am also feeling generous and offer 3 dirham for a pitiful attempt at a necklace secured at the back with a button, but am turned down. 

Back on our bikes we need to find a piste headed north.  We can see one on the GPS 36km further on, but I follow a faint trail through an oued (river) bed and it turned out fine.  Initially. 

The piste divides into two.  We explore the start of one fork, then go back and take the other.  think we made the wrong choice, this is obviously the moped trail as it gets progressively narrower and I realise the well-defined vehicle tracks have been those of 4x4s going up our fork and then turning back.

Our moped piste

We rejoin a vehicle piste heading towards Tarhbult which is an extremely boneshaking track over rock slabs.  After a section on godron (Fr: tarmac) to Tansikht we take another piste running south towards Zagora.  This was a real Jeckell and Hyde piste, initially hard-packed earth with beautiful swooping corners with high berms to aid cornering, but later on there are some real technical stone sections. 

Passing a marabout

At one stage I am leading, with Steve out of sight, and the piste forks with a high road going through a village, or so I thought.  It ends up being a dead end and by the time I retrace my steps I can see Steve’s tyre tracks in the piste.  So now he is in the lead, probably trying to catch me and there is a jolly chase until he realises and stops.

When we got back to Dar Raha I had a text from Billy saying they had been in Zagora the previous night (just a couple of miles away from us) and were now heading for Rissani where they were planning to camp. 

Tim