Danger on the Cirque du Jaffar
 

My wife and i returned from an overland expedition in Morocco on sunday ,we had a fantastic time travelling in our landrover 110 ,we did some of chris scotts routes .The one which is very Dangerous is MH1 we travelled some 26k in to it from midelt on reaching a peak just before the large boulder he describes in his book ,we were confronted by a young man urging me not to go further ,I got out and walked along to where the boulder sits the track on the lower side is badly eroded and on looking down i could see that a 110 had tried to pass the boulder and ended up going over the side,it was wrecked at the bottom ,I dont know if the driver survived but if they did it would have been a miracle ,needless to say i slowly reversed until i found a space to turn and return to Midelt .Later in the day we spoke to some german bikers who said it was just passable on bike but No Chance in a 4x4 Bob:nono:

Better to retreat and fight another day.....thanks for the heads up.

Hope the occupant/s of the defender was ok.

There's no question that at one stage the two massive rocks were effectively blocking the piste and there was no way past, however I passed the spot last week and the side of the piste have been built outwards and properly reinforced by supporting stones in the normal professional manner you see all over Morocco.

I took a series of photographs and mentally worked through approach angles and in my opinion it is now passable (slowly) by any normal sized 4x4. Additionally, there were vehicle tracks on both sides of the obstruction.

It's not at all narrow for bikes--you could easily get two bikes through side by side.

Tim did you see the 110 down in the bottom of the ravine ? Im still not so sure that i would risk trying to go through in a loaded 110 landy , but i guess thats prob just me being cautious .Thanks for the reply Bob

See also this thread:

http://www.horizonsunlimited.com/hub...e-jaffer-16316


The big boulder wasn't the problem for me, it was a bit further we did have some trouble, our right rear-wheel no longer touched the ground and hung over the edge. (We were lucky and managed to continue.)

I understand what you mean Patrick, I agree the state of the track further down the cirque is worse than the bit with the two rocks. This is what I wrote on another thread,

Glad you got through ok Patrik ,when did you do it Did you see the landy over the side Bob

Yep that is exactly the spot I was thinking about, we had no problems there in April 2010, although a few minutes later it got hectic (because I never spotted a detour...) you do need to be very careful on that route for sure, but for anyone who can get through, some of the most amazing scenery in the world awaits you..

To see us going by these rocks look at 5:47 in this video

YouTube - Leroy The Land Rover - Goes to Morocco - Part 1

Alternatively if you are bored you can watch all 7 parts of the vid..

and when I say hectic...

http://i546.photobucket.com/albums/h...144_resize.jpg


http://i546.photobucket.com/albums/h...147_resize.jpg

Hi Booger I sure you and tim are both right i is possible to get past the rocks but as a solo traveller the risk outweighs the benefits .im sure the driver of the 110 didnt think it was worth it after he went over the edge !!! Nobody seems to mention ths am i the only one to have spotted it !! Tim has shown some good shots of the rocks but none of the stricken 110 , I have one but my son is telling me the file is to big even in zip to post !! any ideas ?? Bobdoh

Not sure about the large file.

I would not have tried that 'alone' in a 'fully laden' LR....even if the Mrs would let me. After all, 'she's on holiday.....right ? :Beach:

My point exactly !! If you are in a group and want to risk it then fine ,But as a trans atlas route it should be listed as Dangerous and not one that should be used unless you are aware of the dangers Hence my post in the first place !! I would think that most overlanders with there loved ones on board would think twice before trying it after all isnt overlanding for the fantastic vistas and experiences along with all those great memories you have ? And just for the record im not some old fuddy duddy that doesnt do danger ,having driven rally cars at int level in some of the fastests stages in the world ,and ridden race bikes ducatis at assen plus a lifetime offroading i still would not risk it :thumbdown:

Maybe it should be listed as a route that should not be attempted with the wife :biggrin3: I did get the impression from Chris Scotts book that that route would be interessting, I believe it said road building might be involved, and I would definately have chosen the easier route if I had had loved ones in the vehicle, but of course I was with the lads looking for an adventure.

Any picture can be shrunk to any size, maybe google how to reduce picture file sizes, because I'd really like to see that pic.

Loads of people have seen that 110 (although bizarrely there are no pics), read the thread referred to in Patrik's earlier post...

Ile work on getting the pic loaded for you Booger and yes Patriks link would have been usefull to see before we tried it .The track was good fun until that point rough but ok Bob

Picture from the Landy

Thanks for posting that, pity about the tuft of grass in the way :biggrin:

That land rover looks like it was really nice, before it rolled down the mountain doh

Bet it wasn't too long before it was stripped to it's bones.

Cropped the picture (but with grass sorry)


http://s3.postimage.org/fbHyi.jpg

The Boulder
 

This footage may be of interest to those contemplating The Boulder: YouTube - Morocco 4x4 Adventure
The film was made for promotional purposes and shows our web address - if you disapprove, don't watch

That clip demonstates the obstacle well. Love the way the guy puts his arms up as though he's gonna prevent the toyota going over.

Can see why a solo vehicle would think twice about the manouver.

Now you can see why i didnt attempt it solo and well loaded , the pic i have has the 110 on its side i guess to make it easier for the buzzards to strip the carcase Bob:thumbup1:

Cirque OK Aug 2011
 

I took a medium load LWB Wrangler Sahara round the Cirque in Aug 2011 (Ramadan, very peaceful) OK, offloading the wife and kids for a couple of narrow sections. Due to heavy rains many of the Oueds were washed out, with one Oued 'arrival' as a rocky 40 degree slope changing to flat horizontal in less than a meter, decent ground clearance and angle of attack is thus helpful, alteranatively count on a few hours of road building. Lockable diff is also a good idea for safety in 2 places due to the narrowness of the track and the angle of the piste, inclined around 15 degrees to the drop on the side, with a loose gravel surface. There's zero margin for error so if you begin to slide, that's it. Taking it slowly with 4 pairs of eyes outside watching and guiding, it was fine. Things have changed a bit since Chris Scotts' Morocco Overland guide, which is still THE Morocco road book, but just like the Dakar, conditions change surprisingly quickly. I can't see a Merc 190 or any other regular "voiture de tourisme" managing it, simply due to the ground clearance. There again, chances are the locals have repaired it for their own vehicles already. The broken 110 has gone I think, although we weren't really concentrating anywhere outside the piste. Still, we did stop for tea with a lone Berber woman and her goats at the bottom of the Cirque, and would normally have spotted it then. With the re-work on the road (the boulder and other spots), and the condition it was in when I did it, I would say the Cirque is a little challenging, but with the right vehicle, I wouldn't call it 'dangerous' for overlanders any more.

Thank you for the feedback! :thumbup1:

Do you have any pictures on a webpage so that I can check the conditions?

Been planning riding this piste with the Africa Twin and friends for some time.

Hi, spent a lot of the time driving round the pistes in Morocco wishing I had been on my 660Z Tenere, this wouldn't have been the case in winter. The cirque as we experienced it would present no probs at all for an AT, although due to the weight and high COG you will occasionally need to take it slow, otherwise the loose surface braking will defnitely have you on the deck at some point. Not many useful pics of the cirque itself due to the concentration on staying horizontal, but I will have a look and post a link. Cheers !

Moroccan trip Video
 

Here's a vid of our Morocco trip. Piste sections followed Scott, often quite loosely due to the mainy new tracks laid down by road building teams.

Nice circuit of around 2 weeks from Agadir heading South via Fez, over the High Atlas pistes to Erg Chebbi, then back up the Casbahs via Telouet to Marrakech, back to Agadir. If anyone wants the GPS tracks, send me a PM.

Cheers !

https://vimeo.com/41666092

video removed
 

just tried to watched boogers linked video and it's been removed, whats that about,oh well never mind, the picture of the trashed landie is well scary though, certainly makes you think !

Return Trip
 

I am hoping to return to the cirque and complete it this time on my GS ADV with a couple of mates prob october so will be interesting to see what condition the track is in should be fine on the bikes unless you know different ?:thumbup1:

Going south west (starting from the Midelt end) is easier than the other direction.

Thanks Tim thats the way we went last time :thumbup1:

Sorry about that, after the vids had 9000 views my youtube account was "moneytised", and I started getting paid for the ads, but I had to remove all the copyright music and reupload the vids. They when I realised how little I was getting paid, I said stuff that, and put the music back.

Anyway vid is here Morocco Overland by Land Rover - Part One - YouTube the rock section comes up at 5:30

broken link
 

cheers for the reply, I watched the video and the part with the "rock" looked a bit tricky, but you tackled it without too much trouble, thanks for sharing.