Merzouga to Tagounite – on the piste!

March 15, 2019 | Dave | Morocco

Merzouga to Tagounite – on the piste!

Our Moroccan trip was always intended to be our shakedown trip and this included assessing Big Bertha’s off road credentials. With that in mind we set of on one of Morocco’s classic off road overland routes: Merzouga to – Tagounite – a 244km 4 day/3 night adventure.

Almost immediately we had our doubts – guys on motorcycles kept stopping us and advising that we would not make it across the Oued Rheris river bed in our big heavy ‘camion’ (because of the so called super-soft ‘feche feche’ sand). Of course the corollary being that they could guide us on an alternative and easier track for a small fee. We elected to ignore these offers and pushed on.

Needless to say we completed the track without difficulty and we were both impressed with BB’s abilities; especially in the sand. We don’t expect to have troubles with the terrain in Africa or the Americas.

Our mini-adventure was not without some interesting moments! We came across a Berber lady kneeling on the track in front of us. We weren’t sure what we should do, so we just drove around her and then she commenced to run after us yelling. In retrospect, we should have perhaps offered her some food.

We bumped into a French group coming the other way on the first day and they assured us we could cross the feche feche. More interestingly they told us of a group of trucks like ours were camped up 10km down the track. We set off to say “hello”, only to be told on arrival that it was an organised driving skills tour (www.expeditionfortrucks.com) and could we “move along please?”. Such an unfriendly bunch and completely out of kilter with the overlanding ethos. They obviously neglect to teach that aspect.

We spent two nights wild camping miles from anywhere. The light pollution was minimal (almost none) and the stars were just awesome.

One night was spent at an Auberg in the middle of nowhere. We only intended stopping for a tea, but Mohamid was so welcoming, we elected to stay the night and ordered a tagjine for dinner. Before dinner, we climbed to a peak behind the Auberg and watched the sun go down across the empty and vast plains with a beer in our hands. The next morning the truck convoy thundered by, ignoring two young German hitchhikers looking for a lift to the next village. Never mind, they jumped in our cab!

Francine drove Big Bertha and enjoyed doing so. She can now ‘get out of Dodge’ in an emergency (provided it only involves driving forward in a straight line!).

We inflated the Moroccan army’s quad bike’s tyres with BB’s compressed air system.

We helped some Berbers we met at a well repair parts of their motorcycles / bicycles (with glue!).

We were both happy and, on the other hand, sorry to re-join the tarmac again in Tagonite and end our first mini off road adventure.