rollingthunder
Well-known member
Thanks for posting the mico-itinerary:t:
I did the 1200k journey, avec le Bride, about 5 years ago by coach and it’s a 30 hour job! Straught down to Dakhla with ‘comfort’ stops every 3 hours or so. I can sleep anywhere and it also gave daylight time for birding at the stops and from the coach which allowed views of numerous Passerines including Desert Finch plenty of Shrikes quite a few raptors inc Black-winged Kite and a smart Double-spurred Francolin calling from a raised mound:eek!:
For those travelling i would reccomend photocopying your travel visa type form to hand out to the military checkpoints that are regular South of Laayounne. If you want a beer or wine at the end of a hard days birding then i would suggest, like we did, take it with you if you are heading South or East into the boonies. The main Supermarket chain does not sell Alcohol in Maroc now and there is only a handful of Bonmarche. They tried to confiscate half of our hooch at a checkpoint for no other reason than they didn’t have any and couldn’t get the stuff. They made a big miatake trying to swag the Bride’s Lager n Wine allowance:-O There is a Hotel in Dakhla that sells grog and the toilets are good. It is, as usual, terminally booked by that most useful of organisations the UN:-O and the car park was rammed with bright shiny White vehicles. It is categorised as a ‘5-star’ but one of them was lying in the garden shrubbery.....
We only mooched around Dakhla for 3 days and i don’t envy you the daily and nightly sojourns to Assouerd but that is where the Desert specialities are particularly if it has rained since Xmas and there are breeders around. I saw quite a bit of stuff around Dakhla including tons of waders, 2 races of Peregrine, loads of the scarcer (in a UK context) Terns and Gulls inc thousands of Caspian and double figures of Royal Terns up from West Africa for the Winter. Odd things like Common Scoter, Grebes and several Bonxies livened up the seawatching.
We then returned stopping at Laayounne, Tarfaya (excellent museum to the French postal service) and the must-visit seaside town of Sidi Ifni where there is a couple of good bars in a locale that is a shrine to Art Deco with virtually the whole town including a Church (now a mosque) a prison and a lighthouse all in Art-deco constructed when the place was a Spanish enclave like Melilla and Ceurta still is.
I liked Dakhla it has a buzz about it and does not feel like the Maroc that i have visited on numerous times elsewhere. I even managed to join a march with the local Saharawi (much to the Bride’s annoyance). For those interested in the geopolitics then read further on the Maroc conflict with their neighbours, the Spanish involvement and the famous ‘Green March’. I would love to retcurn in a hire car with a coupla birding mates whilst i still have a few marbles rolling about but it’s nice to bird vicariously thru reports like yours - thanks again:t:
Good Birding -
Laurie:t:
I did the 1200k journey, avec le Bride, about 5 years ago by coach and it’s a 30 hour job! Straught down to Dakhla with ‘comfort’ stops every 3 hours or so. I can sleep anywhere and it also gave daylight time for birding at the stops and from the coach which allowed views of numerous Passerines including Desert Finch plenty of Shrikes quite a few raptors inc Black-winged Kite and a smart Double-spurred Francolin calling from a raised mound:eek!:
For those travelling i would reccomend photocopying your travel visa type form to hand out to the military checkpoints that are regular South of Laayounne. If you want a beer or wine at the end of a hard days birding then i would suggest, like we did, take it with you if you are heading South or East into the boonies. The main Supermarket chain does not sell Alcohol in Maroc now and there is only a handful of Bonmarche. They tried to confiscate half of our hooch at a checkpoint for no other reason than they didn’t have any and couldn’t get the stuff. They made a big miatake trying to swag the Bride’s Lager n Wine allowance:-O There is a Hotel in Dakhla that sells grog and the toilets are good. It is, as usual, terminally booked by that most useful of organisations the UN:-O and the car park was rammed with bright shiny White vehicles. It is categorised as a ‘5-star’ but one of them was lying in the garden shrubbery.....
We only mooched around Dakhla for 3 days and i don’t envy you the daily and nightly sojourns to Assouerd but that is where the Desert specialities are particularly if it has rained since Xmas and there are breeders around. I saw quite a bit of stuff around Dakhla including tons of waders, 2 races of Peregrine, loads of the scarcer (in a UK context) Terns and Gulls inc thousands of Caspian and double figures of Royal Terns up from West Africa for the Winter. Odd things like Common Scoter, Grebes and several Bonxies livened up the seawatching.
We then returned stopping at Laayounne, Tarfaya (excellent museum to the French postal service) and the must-visit seaside town of Sidi Ifni where there is a couple of good bars in a locale that is a shrine to Art Deco with virtually the whole town including a Church (now a mosque) a prison and a lighthouse all in Art-deco constructed when the place was a Spanish enclave like Melilla and Ceurta still is.
I liked Dakhla it has a buzz about it and does not feel like the Maroc that i have visited on numerous times elsewhere. I even managed to join a march with the local Saharawi (much to the Bride’s annoyance). For those interested in the geopolitics then read further on the Maroc conflict with their neighbours, the Spanish involvement and the famous ‘Green March’. I would love to retcurn in a hire car with a coupla birding mates whilst i still have a few marbles rolling about but it’s nice to bird vicariously thru reports like yours - thanks again:t:
Good Birding -
Laurie:t:
