From 7th - 24th April of this year I travelled around Morocco and Western Sahara, my first ever visit to north Africa. It was really good. I'll write up a fairly prosaic trip list style report together with a few photos.
The itinerary was as follows:
7/4 Arrival in Casablanca from Aberdeen (flight with Air France). Overnight in Oualidia.
8/4 Travel to Essaouira and overnight nearby.
9/4 Travel to Oued Massa via Tamri. Overnight at Oued Massa.
10/4 Oued Massa and then travel to Agadir. Flight with Royal Air Maroc to Dakhla. Overnight in Dakhla.
11/4 Travel to Aousserd Road. Overnight camping at Oued Jenna.
12/4 Oued Jenna with overnight camping.
13/4 Travel to Dakhla with overnight stay there.
14/4 Gleb Jdiane and Dakhla then flight with Royal Air Maroc to Agadir. Overnight in Agadir.
15/4 Travel to Ouirgane with overnight stay.
16/4 Travel to Ourika and Oukaimden with overnight stay in Ourika.
17/4 Travel to Boumalne de Dades with overnight stay.
18/4 Travel to Merzouga with overnight stay at Hotel Yasmina.
19/4 Overnight stay at Hotel Yasmina.
20/4 Guided birding at Hotel Yasmina then travel to Zeida for overnight stay.
21/4 Travel to Azrou for overnight stay.
22/4 Travel to Larache and Merja Zerga then overnight stay at Kenitra.
23/4 Travel to Sidi Yahya and then overnight in Casablanca.
24/4 Morning flight to Aberdeen with Air France.
Accommodation: I mostly booked places in advance via Booking.com. This was pretty easy and the places were generally good. I expect you could probably do things cheaper just by staying in cheap hotels and camping a lot but the prices for accommodation and food were generally still quite low by European standards.
Car Hire: I hired a Dacia Logan from Europcar at Casablanca Airport for the duration of the trip. This cost £265. The car was fine. You'll spot from the itinerary that I took the (slightly unusual) step of flying to Dakhla rather than driving down, which meant that I had to hire a car in Dakhla for the time I was there. This is a bit harder to do online, as most websites don't seem to cover Dakhla. However, it is possible via Click Car Hire. The car was with HAG/ Dollar who have an office at the airport. It was again a Dacia Logan and was in good condition. The price was £94 for five days. I left the other car in the long-stay car park in Agadir, which was quite cheap to do and there were no problems.
It's no doubt cheaper to drive down to Dakhla from Morocco and there are potentially a few birds to look for (e.g. Kelp Gull) but I was keen to have as much time as possible in southern Western Sahara so flying was better and more convenient for that. The return flight was £123.
Guided birding: I booked a morning of guided birding at Hotel Yasmina. This cost 1000 dirhams (around £80-90). This was a bit pricy but I did get to see all of the birds I was hoping to see, despite fairly bad weather. The guide was good for finding specialities, though I don't think his knowledge of things like passage birds was that great. That wasn't a problem for me though.
Weather: As might be expected, it was generally pleasant and sunny. It was mostly warm, although could be cooler along the coast e.g. at Dakhla. Wind was sometimes a problem, particularly in the afternoons. There were some dust storms in the Merzouga area, which made life a bit harder. There were a few spots of rain at Oued Jenna and one or two downpours in the Zeida area. These weren't particularly disruptive thoug.
Overall I saw 230 species and came close to seeing all of the birds I looked for. Systematic account to follow.
The itinerary was as follows:
7/4 Arrival in Casablanca from Aberdeen (flight with Air France). Overnight in Oualidia.
8/4 Travel to Essaouira and overnight nearby.
9/4 Travel to Oued Massa via Tamri. Overnight at Oued Massa.
10/4 Oued Massa and then travel to Agadir. Flight with Royal Air Maroc to Dakhla. Overnight in Dakhla.
11/4 Travel to Aousserd Road. Overnight camping at Oued Jenna.
12/4 Oued Jenna with overnight camping.
13/4 Travel to Dakhla with overnight stay there.
14/4 Gleb Jdiane and Dakhla then flight with Royal Air Maroc to Agadir. Overnight in Agadir.
15/4 Travel to Ouirgane with overnight stay.
16/4 Travel to Ourika and Oukaimden with overnight stay in Ourika.
17/4 Travel to Boumalne de Dades with overnight stay.
18/4 Travel to Merzouga with overnight stay at Hotel Yasmina.
19/4 Overnight stay at Hotel Yasmina.
20/4 Guided birding at Hotel Yasmina then travel to Zeida for overnight stay.
21/4 Travel to Azrou for overnight stay.
22/4 Travel to Larache and Merja Zerga then overnight stay at Kenitra.
23/4 Travel to Sidi Yahya and then overnight in Casablanca.
24/4 Morning flight to Aberdeen with Air France.
Accommodation: I mostly booked places in advance via Booking.com. This was pretty easy and the places were generally good. I expect you could probably do things cheaper just by staying in cheap hotels and camping a lot but the prices for accommodation and food were generally still quite low by European standards.
Car Hire: I hired a Dacia Logan from Europcar at Casablanca Airport for the duration of the trip. This cost £265. The car was fine. You'll spot from the itinerary that I took the (slightly unusual) step of flying to Dakhla rather than driving down, which meant that I had to hire a car in Dakhla for the time I was there. This is a bit harder to do online, as most websites don't seem to cover Dakhla. However, it is possible via Click Car Hire. The car was with HAG/ Dollar who have an office at the airport. It was again a Dacia Logan and was in good condition. The price was £94 for five days. I left the other car in the long-stay car park in Agadir, which was quite cheap to do and there were no problems.
It's no doubt cheaper to drive down to Dakhla from Morocco and there are potentially a few birds to look for (e.g. Kelp Gull) but I was keen to have as much time as possible in southern Western Sahara so flying was better and more convenient for that. The return flight was £123.
Guided birding: I booked a morning of guided birding at Hotel Yasmina. This cost 1000 dirhams (around £80-90). This was a bit pricy but I did get to see all of the birds I was hoping to see, despite fairly bad weather. The guide was good for finding specialities, though I don't think his knowledge of things like passage birds was that great. That wasn't a problem for me though.
Weather: As might be expected, it was generally pleasant and sunny. It was mostly warm, although could be cooler along the coast e.g. at Dakhla. Wind was sometimes a problem, particularly in the afternoons. There were some dust storms in the Merzouga area, which made life a bit harder. There were a few spots of rain at Oued Jenna and one or two downpours in the Zeida area. These weren't particularly disruptive thoug.
Overall I saw 230 species and came close to seeing all of the birds I looked for. Systematic account to follow.