Morocco

17May/10

So I finally set foot on African soil. I took the ferry from Spain and went through the chaos of Moroccan customs I had heard so much about. There were guys running around with official looking cards around their necks and when one of them shouted at me I did what he said. I had read all about the touts and only following orders of people in uniform but it had been a while and in the confusion and excitement of actually being there I forgot all about it. I quickly realized that "my guy" was a tout but since he seemed to speed things up quite a bit I thought "what the heck, pay him 5 Euros and have it the easy way". It was quite comical actually, he ran with me in tow, told me to go through metal detectors which beeped but nobody cared, to go by queues and around gates, who to give my passport to and who to tip. They're all in on it except, of course, and all get a piece of the cake (i.e. my Euros).

I made it down to Rabat, the capital, and asked a taxi driver to guide me to the next cheap hotel. I was in Rabat for the Mauritanian and Mali Visas, which I obtained over the following two days.

Morocco was a bit of a culture shock, which I had expected, but actually experiencing it is another, more exciting thing. I had once briefly been to a Muslim country, Jordan, and never been to North Africa. Although only a short ferry ride from Spain the culture is quite different, streets are buzzing, people look very different. It took me a few days to get into it, but I eventually grew to like Morocco.

I went south into the Atlas Mountains, where the scenery is simply amazing. As somebody who grew up in the flats of Northern Germany, the panorama left me in awe. In Morocco there are many off-road tourists, and for a while I would be one of them. Going to touristy areas always has its ups and downs: On the one hand there are hotels and internet cafes, but then you also get hassled a lot more and it can feel as if all everybody wants is only your money. I met fellow travelers and crossed the Atlas on small unpaved paths, then went towards the Sahara, where I explored a few pistes and had my bike fixed in Zagora.

The High Atlas

After two weeks I had the urge to continue and cover some distance so I took a route over the Anti Atlas, a mountain range less dramatic in terms of scenery and height, but apparently much colder. I had sent home and left behind most of my warm clothes and was glad when I reached the warmer coast line.

I then went down through Western Sahara, annexed by Morocco and internationally not recognized. There isn't much there, apart every few hundred kilometers and lots of checkpoints in between. The road is essentially one straight line for a thousand kilometers through a flat, boring Sahara landscape, left and right sand and rocks. My MP3 player really saved me here.

After days of sand, the sea

At the entry checkpoint to Tan Tan I accidentally dropped the documents for my bike, including import form and insurance. The wind was really strong and I spent three hours looking for them in the construction site next by. The guys who worked there were really nice and helped in the search. I had already planned how to have new documents issued and sent to me, but in the end I found them. Boy, was I glad when I saw them in the sand.

I spent my first night bush camping, or rather desert camping, before reaching the Mauritanian border. I was a little nervous about being seen, but in the end it all worked out fine. I had to look for a while to find a spot where I could be hidden from the road, which took me a while since the landscape is so flat without even a bush in sight. I finally found what looked like a suitable spot, rode the bike over a little quickly put up the tent before it got dark.