Dakar, Senegal

We had a casual days drive to Dakar through lots of little villages, on nice smooth roads and some bumpy, dusty dirt tracks.  We stopped at Lake Rose which was pretty salty, similar to the Dead Sea.  The lake gets its name from the pink colour it is supposed to have but actually it's more of a brown colour.  We bush camped in an abandoned housing estate which was pretty houseless with only 2 or 3 which weren't complete.  This meant that we could be within an hours drive of Dakar the next day.

Dakar was far more civilised than I expected.  It was a busy city and we received a lot of hassal especially around the market areas.  As a result we didn't really get a look at anything.  Due to Ebola in neighbouring countries I think that a lot of tourists have been scared off as we didn't see any walking around all day.  We had a great drive along the coast out if the city centre and we stopped at a huge statue on a hill which apparently is bigger than the Statue of Liberty.  It was said to cost 30 million US Dollars to build and wasn't the most attractive.  We were due to be staying in a restaurant garden in Dakar but when we arrived they didn't want us to stay.  After an hour or so and some local help we ended in a carpark area outside another restaurant.  No campsite in Dakar.

The following day we packed up and Steve dropped us in the city for the day.  Not fancying any more city centre hassel me, Lucy and Saskia got the ferry to Goree island for the day.  The islands ownership has been passed between many countries and in the past it had been used as a holding point for slaves.  It was lovely to walk around as there were no cars and the island is full of reasonably well kept colourfully painted buildings. 

Our next stop is The Gambia.  This is a passenger led detour that we all decided would be worth while doing.  The Gambia is not on the Oasis itinerary due to time constraints and the fact that the truck would have a lot of difficulty crossing the river due to the small ferries.  As we are not going through Sierra Leone or Guinea we had a few spare days so we waved good bye to Steve at the border and set off on a 4 day holiday from a holiday!

Saint Louis, Senegal. December 2014

It only took us 1.5 hours to get out of Mauritania and into Senegal and only Steve had to actually get out of the truck.  We drove not too far to Saint Louis.  The older part of town is actually an island connected to the mainland by a pretty fancy 500m long bridge.  On the day we arrived it was a public holiday so not much was open but the next day it was a lot livelier and we did a spot of shopping.  I bought some of the traditional highly patterned material to take home to make trousers.  The island was nice to walk around as it was full of little streets with kids playing in them.  The buildings had definitely seen better days though with most of them falling down.  Most of the ones that had been restored to their colonial glory were hotels.

One if the best things about Saint Louis was our campsite.  We were there for 3 nights and located right on an empty beach.  The German owners were lovely and had sunbeds, hammocks and nice toilets and showers.   A great treat after some of the campsites we have had.

Next stop Dakar.

Nouakchott, Mauritania

We had about 8 hours drive through desert to Nouakchott.  We when arrived it wasn't quite what I was expecting from the capital of the country.  Despite being only 50 years old the city was very basic and looked unfinished.  Most of the buildings are built on the same level to each other with none really standing out more than another.

We stayed 3 nights in Nouakchott.  This enabled us to get our Senegal visas which was done in less than an hour and would also allow a bit of rest.

There's not much to see in the city but I really enjoyed walk down the streets just having a look whats around.  The temperature has heated up to the early 30's which was felt as we were wearing more conservative dress than would be worn at home in these temperatures!

One afternoon we headed to the beach to the fish market.  The whole experience was great and so much better than I thought as a non fish eater.  We spent a good hour watching men drag in the boats and race up the beach with buckets of fish on their heads to unload in the back of pick up trucks.  The beach was packed with action and fisherman lounging around after a days hard work. 

Sawa somehow managed to find a restaurant on the 10th floor of a nearby hotel which was easily one of the tallest buildings in the city.  It was a nice place for a coffee during the day and on our last night in the city we spent our remaining money on a meal out there.  We aimed to see the sunset but we couldn't see it due to all the dust in the air.

From Nouakchott we headed from desert to wetland on the way towards the Senegal border to camp on the border for the night.  The truck only gets a 3 day pass for Senegal upon entry.  This means that we would have 3 days to get to Dakar so by camping on the border and being 1st in the queue we maximise our time in the country.

In the end we got a 5 days pass after Steve slipped the man with the stamp an extra 20 Euros making our journey to Dakar far more relaxed.  I've really enjoyed Mauritania but looking forward to Senegal.

Nouakchott photos

Nouadhibou, Mauritania. December 2014

Nouadhibou is not the most exciting place I have ever visited but I am glad that we have visited.  The population are a mix of Arab and black African and it feels that its a country that very much links Morocco to the north and Senegal to the south.  There are no tourist attractions as the there are no tourists!  A lot of the men are wearing what looks like a pale blue bed sheet and matching turban and the few woman that are around are draped in highly pattered fabric. 

We turned a lot of heads as we walked through town but everyone was very friendly and we are now well practised in our response "ca va bien, merci".  It is a good job that most of the conversation doesn't go much further as our French is improving but not to the conversational level! 

In the afternoon Steve drove us out to the peninsula, Cap Blanc which is a nature reserve.  It was nice to have a walk along the beach and we also saw a Monk seal.  1 of 150 who live on the coast there.  There are only 500 in the whole world so that was a pretty good spot.  We also saw the train run a few times.  Not just a regular passenger train this is an iron ore carrying train which can get to being 2.3km long.  One of the ones that we saw was over 160 carriages long.  There is just one very dusty passenger carriage at the back.  Next stop is the capital Nouakchott.

Nouakchott, Mauritania

We had about 8 hours drive through desert to Nouakchott.  We when arrived it wasn't quite what I was expecting from the capital of the country.  Despite being only 50 years old the city was very basic and looked unfinished.  Most of the buildings are built on the same level to each other with none really standing out more than another.

We stayed 3 nights in Nouakchott.  This enabled us to get our Senegal visas which was done in less than an hour and would also allow a bit of rest.

There's not much to see in the city but I really enjoyed walk down the streets just having a look whats around.  The temperature has heated up to the early 30's which was felt as we were wearing more conservative dress than would be worn at home in these temperatures!

One afternoon we headed to the beach to the fish market.  The whole experience was great and so much better than I thought as a non fish eater.  We spent a good hour watching men drag in the boats and race up the beach with buckets of fish on their heads to unload in the back of pick up trucks.  The beach was packed with action and fisherman lounging around after a days hard work. 

Sawa somehow managed to find a restaurant on the 10th floor of a nearby hotel which was easily one of the tallest buildings in the city.  It was a nice place for a coffee during the day and on our last night in the city we spent our remaining money on a meal out there.  We aimed to see the sunset but we couldn't see it due to all the dust in the air.

From Nouakchott we headed from desert to wetland on the way towards the Senegal border to camp on the border for the night.  The truck only gets a 3 day pass for Senegal upon entry.  This means that we would have 3 days to get to Dakar so by camping on the border and being 1st in the queue we maximise our time in the country.

In the end we got a 5 days pass after Steve slipped the man with the stamp an extra 20 Euros making our journey to Dakar far more relaxed.  I've really enjoyed Mauritania but looking forward to Senegal.

Western Sahara

It was 5 days drive from Essaouira through the Western Sahara to the border with Mauritania.  Our first night was spent at the roadside again after the road had shut due to a landslide.  It had already been closed for 5 days so we were thankful when it opened at 5 pm the next day.  It's been pretty relaxed as we have headed down the coast and have been making many stops in little towns to buy supplies, fuel, get coffee, WiFi and have a shower. 

Upon arrival at the border out of Morocco we found that we were at the back of a long line of trucks and the border hadn't even opened.  We spent 6 hours queueing to get into the compound to depart from Morocco.  The truck needed to be x-rayed.  This is something that the Moroccans do as they don't want any weapons to be transported into Mauritania which could then be used against them.  This was a long process.  Us as passengers were stamped out of Morocco before the truck had been x rayed so we just had to wait.  Getting into Mauritania was a little quicker, taking about 2 hours which was mainly paperwork for Steve. We had spent nearly 12 hours doing the border crossing and it was well into the evening when we would have to find somewhere to camp.  Northern Mauritania is classed as a red zone by the Foreign Commonwealth Office which is "do not travel" so it wouldn't have been safe to travel at night.  Kindly the border guards offered us a place to camp within the border boundaries.  We got instructions though not to venture too far to the toilet due to the amount of landmines in the area!  Next stop Nouadhibou.

Essaouira, Morocco

We arrived in the coastal city of Essaouira to torrential rain and a campsite that was full.  This means that we spent 2 nights camped in a car park which has been very interesting in gale force winds.  I thought that the fly sheet was going to blow away the first night as we just hooked it on to rocks.  We even had a dog hiding under it for the night, great for her but not for me and Lucy. We were already struggling to sleep and it wasn't helped by the dog lying on our heads!  The second night we slept in the truck which was much better.

The city has been a great place to have a wander around.  Its a nice mix of tourists and locals with shops and cafes for both next to each other.  There has been no hassle to buy stuff either which is nice and again we have enjoyed great pizzas, crêpes and brownies.  The car park is close enough to the town along the sea front which I'm sure is completely different in the summer!  The fishing harbour has made great viewing as the huge waves crashed against the walls.  They must have been big as even the locals were taking photos.

We are staying another night in Essaouira, moving to the campsite for tonights stay as the road south is shut due to flooding.  The winds are easing off but the rains not stopping.  Not really what I was expecting from Morocco.

We are slowly heading towards Mauritania and we have been told by Oasis that we need to make sure that we are fully insured for Mauritania and Mali for which visiting is against FCO advice.  Fully aware months ago that my insurance didn't include these countries I checked in with the Oasis office who said that they were OK with this and they would still take me on the truck.  Now to be told that I can not travel on the truck as I would not be covered under Oasis' insurance because my insurance isn't valid for going against FCO advice is more than a bit annoying especially when the office told me differently earlier in the year!  This is going to result in me having to pay out more that what I originally paid for my insurance to be able to to continue the trip.  Better stop all my shopping now!

Next stop Mauritania after a few nights bush camping down the coast providing the road lets us.

Marrakech, Morocco

We arrived at our campsite about half an hours drive from Marrakech in the morning.  The weather had completely changed and we had 2 nice sunny days in the city.  We spent lots of time eating very tasty food and having drinks on the roof top terraces around the main square, Jeema el Fna. 

The square is another world heritage site and is a complete spectacle.  During the day it is filled with dancers and snake charmers.  There is even a dentist but I'm not sure that I would visit!  In the evening half the square is turned into an open air restaurant with tasty but completely overpriced street type food and the other half is filledwith locals playing music.  It was a great place to visit and I really enjoyed the city.

Todra Gorge, Morocco

So from Rabat we drove for a full day towards Todra Gorge bush camping along the way.  The weather has been awful.  Cold and constant rain.  We got to the Todra turnoff, 10km away from the gorge and found out that the road to the gorge was shut.  This was a major disappointment for all as it was such a long drive to get there.  We waited for about 3 hours to see if the road would open and the rain would lift.  It didn't though so we decided to head to Marrakech.  On the way we had another very wet bush camp which meant that we had a muddy and wet truck dig out the next morning. 

We stopped at Ait Benhaddou which is UNESCO site Kasbah, a fortified village.  Only a few people live there now and there has been lots of restoration due to its use as a film location.  Due to the rain there were no other tourists visiting when we went for a look around which was great.  Sadly for the people who live there the buildings were crumbling right in front of us as they are just made of clay from the river mixed with straw. The river was very fast flowing.  The locals are saying that this is the worst flooding in over 5o years and usually you can access the kasbah through the main gates by using stepping stones through the river!

We didn't get very far before our next stop, just a few kilometres from Ait Benhaddou.  The rain had washed away bridges on the road to Marrakech and the other road to Agadir was also shut due to surface water flowing over.  We were completely stuck in a little village.  After waiting the whole day on the side of the road we camped overnight and joined the queue the following morning waiting for the road to open.  Steve still wanted us to get to Marrakech and Essaouira so we headed towards Agadir when the road opened at 11am the next morning and had a long drive.  With a quick stop to cook our tea at the roadside we drove until gone 11pm to get to 60km from Marrakech.