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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Jos Stratford" data-source="post: 3242621" data-attributes="member: 12449">Tempted by the possibilities of Sand Cats and other exotic mammals of the night, this nine-day trip had two main goals: (i) mammals across the region, and (ii) a sampling on the seawatching possibilities off Cap Rhir, north of Agadir. Mid-summer in the Sahara might seem a mad idea, but in reality temperatures in the Western Sahara are rather milder than might be expected at this season (a pleasant 20-25 C on the coast, 25-30 C inland). That said, temperatures in central Morocco were higher than expected, hitting highs on 42 C in the areas around Tizi n'Test pass, Cascades d'Ouzard and Marrakesh! The temperatures were not really a hinderance however and, as it turned out, the trip was a remarkable success with 17 species of mammal recorded and seawatching that far exceeded my expectations.  Having visited Morocco twice before and the coastal stretch of the Western Sahara once, my itinerary on this trip was dedicated almost solely to localities for mammals, but in the Western Sahara in particular these largely overlap with the main birding sites anyway. In central Morocco, the only birding sites I visited were Oued Massa, Cap Rhir and Essaouira (for Eleonora's Falcons). Madcap team for the trip consisted of myself and, now a hardcore traveller voyaging onto her fourth continent, a six-year old on her maiden trip to Sahara. More than eager to endure sleeping out in the desert night after night and to scramble up umpteen dunes, it should be noted that as a concession to my companion, several hours each day were spent on beaches, etc, but with species such as Royal Terns and Audouin's Gulls in abundance, this was hardly a hardship!</blockquote>

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