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DAY 21, SAT 24/02. 60 kms North of Mauritanian Border to Nouadhibou. 171 kms. Total 4607. Camping Abba.
After packing up camp we headed straight to the Moroccan border check point at Fort Guerguerat. We didn’t arrive quite as early as we would have liked and the Moroccan officials took quite a while to give our passports back, about an hour. After that straight forward – nothing more than a cursory glance by the customs official. You then drive across some rough tracks across what is essentially “no man’s land”. Quite confusing as loads of different tracks leading everywhere and there are apparently mines about in this area so you are warned not to stray too far off the track(s). I’m sure they all lead to the Mauritanian border, but if you want something to aim for, head for this way point, just on the other side of the Mauri border control: N21°19.562’ W16°56.729’
The Mauritanian side of the border is a bit more basic than the Moroccan side to say the least! A caravan for the official money change and small wooden huts for the insurance sales, visa office and customs. But surprisingly efficient and hassle free. We were through in no time at all and before all the cars that were there before us for some reason? The essentials are: 20 euro per person for one month visa (can pay in euro); 10 euro for dounne/customs to stamp carnet – may be more if you don’t have one and need temp import permit (not too sure if this is legit or if there should be no charge with carnet? I half heartedly tried arguing but was more interested in just getting through with minimal hassle); meant to change money at official bank caravan to pay for insurance (300 UM/1 euro) but we had already changed at the unofficial rate at the military check point before the border (320 UM/1 euro), just changed 10 euro at the official rate so no one got suspicious; we paid 5000 UM for insurance (10 days) – again I think slightly over charged (I was lead to believe going rate was 3400 UM for 10 days or approx 1 euro per day but they will always find some reason to charge more. I was told because it was a “big car” when I question the price, others have been told it’s because they have older/UK number plates not like the Europeans….) Again, I suppose, it depends how long and how hard you feel like arguing? Once through you soon back on the tar road to Nouadhibou or Nouakchott.
We headed into Nouadhibou, very excited to be spending our 1st night in a proper campsite since Essaouira, 5 nights ago! And hot showers! Didn’t get up to much, showered, drank Mauritanian tea with the staff, loaded up some GPS info, did a bit of internet and came back to camp quite late for a quick snack before bed. Chatted to a large group of 17 Dutch mechanical students & 1 teacher, taking 4 or 5 vans down to Senegal to donate to a school there and then flying back. Even though it was still a bit windy we put up the tent and managed a decent night’s sleep.
DAY 22, SUN 25/02. Nouadhibou to near KM 195 Way Point, R2 piste to Atar. 206 kms. Total 4813 kms. Bush(Desert)camp
We weren’t 100% sure which route we were taking after Nouadhibou. We were sort of waiting to see if we would meant up with any other groups and which route they were taking, however the day before we both separately decided to take the R2 piste (Chris Scott’s Sahara Overland book) to Atar along the railway line, so that’s what we did. Approx 540 kms across the desert, all offroad, except the last 10 & 1st 95 kms where you can now follow the newly paved road to Nouakchott before joining the piste. On our own 2! Quite brave/optimistic considering we were Saharan novices, but we felt confident as we were fully prepared and had good gps info for this route. 1st day went really well except for one small blip when we were 1st joining the piste coming round the town of Bou Lanouar. There was some soft sand and we weren’t sure of the way through so we bogged down. Just had to deflate the tires as we were still running road pressures, shovel away some sand and we were away again. There was one more ridge/dune to cross, we chickened out of the 1st 2 tracks crossing it and opted for the 3rd one and powered over, now with our confidence restored. After that it was mainly rocky with some corrugations and only a little sand so we reinflated the tires. There was one more sandy section where we deflated the tires again unnecessarily thinking there would be more only to have to reinflate them straight afterwards. Stopped just near the KM 195 way point to camp in the desert. Very pleasant as not much wind so we slept up in the tent. Cracked a bottle of whiskey (next best thing to a beer) to celebrate our 1st successful day in the desert.
DAY 23, MON 26/02. KM 195 to near KM 508 Way Points, R2 Piste to Atar. 304 kms. Total 5117 kms. Bushcamp
On the road again fairly early and made good time over the 1st 90 kays which was pretty corrugated as we found them a lot easier than the previous day if you take them faster (60km/hr) although steering does become a bit of an issue! Entered the Azeffal dunes at km 283 just before midday. 60 kms of dunes followed by more sandy sections for a further 90kms. What great fun! Didn’t even get stuck at all! Very impressed with Cathey’s performance in the sand. Just as long as you had the right gear, right tire pressure and kept the foot down, nothing would stop her! Did have a bit of a disastrous stop for lunch, by which time the wind was really howling with sand and dust flying everywhere. We found the rear door had come adjar and was only held by the padlock hasp. This meant half the Saharan dust had ended up in the back and covered almost everything. Also one of our front spots above the bumper had fallen out and was only hanging by the wires. (It had developed a crack in the glass underneath the top clip/fastener somehow back in Spain which had now sheared through) Hastily cleaned up the back and duct-taped up the spot to hold it in place. Although even with the door properly closed there is no stopping the dust – it still comes in! Reached the end of the dunes at km 429 at 5.30 pm and stopped to refuel from the jerry cans and reinflate the tires. As there was only 100kms left to Atar we decided to push on and try reach camp there rather than spend another night in the desert as the gorge/valley leading through to Atar between the plateau had become a dust bowl. Bit of a tough task as the route is normally done in 3 days although the guide book says it can be done in 2 if you are in a hurry. But with the track deteriorating and our top spot lights also failing, we were now down to 1 front spot light only, we eventually called it quits just before the km 508 way point. I discovered there that the screw holding the earth connection for the top spots had worked itself loose. Pretty decent campsite actually, just followed a track down to a watering point for camels/donkeys and parked under a tree. Was pretty sheltered, surrounded by some hills at the start of a pass so not much wind or dust. But as it was late we just had a quick bite to eat before bed in the back. Couldn’t be bothered to put up the tent. Pretty impressive day for us really as we managed to cover just over 300 kms half of that in dunes, in about 8 hours! (But comparing that to Dakar standards, as we have both been reading Charlie Boorman’s “Race to Dakar”, where they cover 500 – 800 kms per day through much, much, much worse routes its pretty insignificant!)
Besides a few local vehicles in and around settlements and 1 local truck on the piste near the end we never any other vehicles on the piste, tourists or otherwise, which is a bit unusual according to the guide, so we were quite issolated!
DAY 24, TUES 27/02. KM 508 R2 piste via Atar to Chinguetti via R3 piste (Ebnou pass) and back to Atar via R4 piste (Amogjar pass). 237 kms. Total 5354 kms. Camping Auberge Bab Sahara.
Left camp quite early as there were loads of flys about due to the animals. Hit the 1st tar road for 2 days at km 529 and stopped for a photo. As we were so close to Atar we reached it at about 10 am and just stopped for a quick refuel at Total garage (one of several in town) and to buy bread out of a wheel barrow. (very good bread, came back for more the next day) Headed straight out to Chinguetti, 7th holiest city of Islam, via new road, Ebnou pass, through a bit of a sandstorm. Had a bit of tea and bread with the local tour guide before a chick visit to the mosque and library where there are ancient manuscripts. Headed back in the afternoon via the Amogjar pass/old route. A pretty spectacular, steep and very rocky descent down the gorge from the plateau to the valley below. Rocky sections needed to be taken very slowly at crawling speed so as not to damage vehicle, although by that stage we had lost one of our rear mud guards. 1st section of decent was particularly hair raising. Camped at Auberge Bab Sahara, definitely our best camp site of the trip so far (run by Europeans) Rob even treated himself to a very expensive beer (2000 UM/over 6 euros = same ass one night’s camping!) but it was worth it! Did some electrical repairs, rewired spotlights and did a more permanent repair to the damaged spotlight so they are all now working again. Also tried rewiring lead to fuel stop solenoid as Cathey has not been switching off with the ignition (have to stall her – not the worst problem to have, though) but this hasn’t fixed the problem. Do have a spare solenoid which I might try replacing later to see if that solves the problem but as it is an intermittent fault I a; sure it is wiring related, otherwise will have to look a bit deeper into it to see if we can get it fixed.
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