Mhamid to Tata Part 2 - Salter's travels

We never made it to Tata. After several days of travelling quite close to the Algerian border and numerous checkpoints we were stopped by two soldiers. They drove a 4×4 pickup with no roof, windscreen, door tops or seatbelts. The perfect desert vehicle.

Up to that point, we had been in the desert several days. We’d found some more sand to play on and managed to get Baloo stuck on a small dune for about 20 minutes. In Lars’ version of this story, he heroically pulls the 20t truck out with his 3t Land Rover. Possibly, it was also a bit of digging that helped.

There were camels. Many camels. Often wandering around in scattered herds. Some were hobbled but many just seemed free to roam. A small herd appeared by our campsite one morning. There was a man looking after them but he stayed well away from us. The herd included several calves so perhaps he was being a bit protective of them. Still happy to give us a big wave when we left. Most of the people we have passed on the road all through Morocco smile and wave at us. It is very endearing.

We also crossed several lakebeds. Dried up lakebeds that were flat and smooth and fast to drive on. Great fun but also kicked up an awful lot of dust. The dust gets everywhere. There is a constant little crunch in your mouth from the dust between your teeth. Every surface has a fine coating and even the bed got a layer of dust on the sheets.

Half a day short of Tata we were escorted north onto the track to Taimzour. There was a military exercise going on. This was explained to us in mime – which I really enjoyed but needed to concentrate to keep a straight face. After a very graphic depiction of guns and shooting, we were pointed at a tall angular peak in the far distance. More happy waving and the soldiers left us to find our own way. We drove north along an interesting track, over some small hills and eventually, the next day, to the road right next to the angular peak.