WS & North Mauri

[florence of arabia]

wow ... can only imagine what that must've felt ... according to the memorial plaque at the crash site the 19 crew were saved by the Saharawi popular army

[Whiskey]

Hi, Florence. Amazing trip. I was close by crash site two months ago. Pass Fderik. If I knew for that place, for sure I would visit it. How do you avoid mine fields? Just follow Sahrawi tracks?

[florence of arabia]

As far as I know there aren't many
- immediate vicinity north of Bir Mogrein
- some zones NNW of Mijek
- south of Mijek none to my knowledge
- the famous iron ore railway has never been mined east of Inal says everybody I asked ... in any case there are several pistes crossing the railway ...

[priffe]

22.38N 13.14W
not visible on google earth

AvCom • View topic - More pics (17 July) of Shackleton 1716 in the Sahara Desert
From a crew member (Horace Blok, 2nd navigator): " The Griffon engines are liquid cooled. The number 4 vented the coolant and overheated & No 3 had a rack bolt failure. The rack bolt "harmonises" the pitch between the master and slave propeller bosses - one bolt brakes and you have a rogue blade - and that we just could not control. We could not feather either of the two engines and you obviously know what that does - it gets your attention! "
I liked this bit: "purpose of a prop is to keep the pilot cool - have you seen him sweat when it stops?"


It's a cool resting place

There's a DVD about it out there.

[Chris Scott]

Just had a chance to read this and work out what is where.
(Could not read wpts - made a rough map from place names).

Looks like a fantastic drive. Well done for having the nerve to do something original.

I've always thought the area south of the railway and between the 2 highways would be fun to explore, and without too much tension.

Ch

[Bertrand]

a clearer map from way points provided

[roro]

" My biggest worry were the many, not-exactly-by-the-book border crossings. All went well. Saharawi military appreciate an invitation, but it is doable without it. Mauri gendarmes are indeed very concerned. I avoided all checkpoints except for Douera (going out) and Tmeimichat (coming back in)"
Do you think that crossing this border anywhere you want is easy without any paperwork? Or you were lucky?
RR.

[florence of arabia]

Originally Posted by Bertrand

a clearer map from way points provided

the map is just dandy

thanks

[florence of arabia]

Originally Posted by Chris Scott

Just had a chance to read this and work out what is where.
(Could not read wpts - made a rough map from place names).

Looks like a fantastic drive. Well done for having the nerve to do something original.

I've always thought the area south of the railway and between the 2 highways would be fun to explore, and without too much tension.

Ch

I assume by two highways you mean the Azzefal & Akchar sand strips
if so, a beautiful area indeed - very biblical
however, right in the middle, there's a checkpoint with nervous gendarmes, (mentioned on this site before - forgot which post)
- very close to a well, a beautiful monolith mt. and a paleolithic graveyard
the whole area is scarcely populated
access is a little difficult though (the 35 km or so from Tmeimichatt, and roughly the same distance from NDB-NKC tarmac at the other end)
everything between those two belts is easy driving

I hear there's a truck piste going from Australian run goldmine all the way to NKC. If so, it must be an easy one

[florence of arabia]

Originally Posted by roro

Do you think that crossing this border anywhere you want is easy without any paperwork? Or you were lucky?
RR.

[roro]

Sorry but I dn't understand.
I ask my question again in another way: What kind of problem (if any) have you encountered crossing these borders at "unofficial" points.
RR

[florence of arabia]

Originally Posted by roro

Sorry but I dn't understand.
I ask my question again in another way: What kind of problem (if any) have you encountered crossing these borders at "unofficial" points.
RR

another way sounds nicer, thanks:
- I haven't encountered any problems really, but for the biggest problem we all share - fear of unknown
- I exited at Douera chkpt:
I asked the boss of gendarme post there for permission to visit a friend over in Zoug.
I told him I will return to NKC after the visit.
So he told me Oh, then you can return directly to Tmeimichatt.
So I did.
3 weeks later.
As there is no official point to cross the border between Mauri in SADR, the gendarmes have somehow to deal with unofficial attempts at crossing.
So it's all up to your skills and luck really.
Good to know that after Fderik chkpt there is only one at Bir Mogrein and one (possibly) at Ain ben Tilli.
As long as you avoid these places and don't have the bad luck to run into an odd patrol (very unlikely) you'll be fine.

By sticking close to pistes used by everybody your chances of getting spotted increase.

My insurance policy was/is a one year Mauri multiple entry visa the sejour.

B. Dylan: do your thing and you'll be king

[florence of arabia]

Just back from another 2 1/2 week trip up Mauri north. Apart from the weather slowly tipping into the windy & hot season, all went perfectly well. Explored the NW corner B Mogrein and the border area down to Choum and further to Yagref...
Two observations:
- travelling at night doesn't actually seem to be prohibited, in fact most of the checkpoints are off duty after 10 PM, so ...
- the north is not off limits to tourists according to douanes Chef at Zouerat (already quoted by some other bloke on this forum), the area east of 10deg and north of 22 deg is declared a military zone (similar to liberated territories in Western Sahara) meaning one needs to state his intended itinerary and obtain some kind of permit from the authorities
no restrictions apply for the rest of the north ...

[GavinF]

Great trip report Flo. How does one get an invitation from the Saharawi military, or is it just patience on the day?

[florence of arabia]

thnx
invitation ... contanct Poli representative in your country?
bring some humanitarian aid?
good luck