I rode 600 km (400 miles) through the Sahara desert, from the border of Mauritania up to the town of Laâyoune, which is the capital city of Western Sahara.
Kind of a boring ride, all desert. Reminded me a bit of riding the Dalton highway in Canada... once every 10 minutes or so, I would see a truck coming in the other direction. Other than that, no people, no traffic. I think I passed 3 cars going the same way and another 3 cars passed me. Got stopped 15 times by police for 'security checks' (passport check) - one thing about Morocco, they take security seriously. The police have little huts about every 40 km along the road, and at the entrance to the few small communities that exist on this road. Each time you see a hut, you stop, they look at your passport and enter your visa number in their computer to make sure you are not wanted for anything.
The police are extraordinarily courteous, always shaking hands, smiling, and frequently offering a cup of mint tea while the passport check is done. I think this is the safest country in the world in that respect. It certainly has the friendliest police in the world.
I came across an unsupervised herd of camels by the side of the road. This surprised me, I thought these were valuable animals but I guess this bunch were feral ones. They are quite big, about the size of a moose - I would not want to hit one, I am pretty sure the outcome would be fatal.
Camels at Side of Road
About an hour later, I had stopped for a coffee at a roadside gas station, and the truck below pulled up and parked beside me. I wonder if the camel in the back was one of the ones that was wandering in the desert an hour earlier?
Camel in Truck
