WS & North Mauri
 

Hi, back from a 3 week trip to liberated WS and north Mauri.
I took roughly the following route: Bou Lanour - Inal - Douera - Zoug - Dougaj - Mijek - Tifariti (via north of Bir Mogrein) and back from Buer Tighisit (a border settlement 13 km from Tifariti) - Confluence Point 25N 10W - CP 24N 10W - CP 23N 13W - Dougaj - Zoug - Tmeimichat - Ahmeymim - Nkc. Route lenght 2.500 km - 200 km tarmac, the rest roughly 50/50 between pure off-road and piste driving. I travelled alone, except for the nervewrecking 45 km stretch from Zoug to Tmeimichat where I followed a Mauri nomad returning from cheap fuel shopping. Camped most of the time in the bush well away from any sight of human activity, twice with very forthcoming Mauri gendarmes and a few times with desert folks. Didn't experience any upsetting moments. I does get terribly lonely up in the northeast of Mauri though. Originally planned to follow Washingtons 9degW paralel proposal, but opted for a more leisurely approach (less driving, more lazing around). Luckily, as I returned with no clutch and brakes virtually gone. But all smiles. There were a few brief moments when I though of mr. Belaour et consortes but experiencing this immense expanse of arid land mostly reaffirmed the words of George Carlin: terorism is a minor risk, nothing more. (It is a fantastic bussiness to some of our noble compatriots though.) Didn't take any special precautions except for the usual secrecy about my real intentions, revealing just as much as I needed to reveal. 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), which I approached at the time of the evening prayer, when even the surliest guys mellow out a bit. Spent the night with them and took off in the morning. Driving at night in Mauri is formally forbidden but there are always exceptions. The three words to fear most are "pour votre securite". You don't want those as they inevitably mean no "securite" and a lot of complications. Mauri gendarmes tend to be trigger happy these days (I witnessed a rather silly incident at Douera, with shots fired and a lot of shouting). There are rumours of yet another coup in the making. Mauri gendarmes DO communicate between . Sneaking off might not be the best possible attitude ...
The landscape north of Dougaj in WS is stunning. Same goes for the area W of Fderik. I visited the site of a SA 1994 plane crash (Avro Shackleton 1716 forever missing-in-action). The Ahmeymim and areas south of it are splendid too (very biblical :) - a very easy ride except for some 20-30 km's at the beginning and at the end.

Hello, Florence.

Could you please tell me the directions you took to reach this crash site?
I just saw it should be very close to the Algerian border, close to the village of Aguenit.

Where were you coming from?

Is the road leading there easy for a newbie of dirt roads like me? (been riding Harleys for the last 12 years, now I bought a XT1200Z Super Téneré: I'm not experienced for example in riding on the sand and stuff like this, even though I rode my HD on the gravel roads of the Caucasus).

Inspiring stuff Florence, thank you for kindly sharing. Clearly there is no reason not to visit Pelican 16.
(Seems there may be occasion where my old green passport could be more useful than the red).

you mean mauri border
the crash site is some 70 north of Aghoueinit
I came from NNE
there is no road leading to the site
not even a piste worth mentioning
sounds like a heavy bike for this kind of terrain

Thanks for your reply, Florence!

I'll skip this, in this case, even though I'd have wished to visit it.
Next time!

WPs and some pics
 

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Amazing trip florence, you're far far braver than me.

Dear Florence, thanks for sharing info, photos and GDB :thumbup1:

Amazing trip, quite brave route IMHO

Thanks guys, there's nothing brave about this really, just pragmatic consideration: stay well off the beaten track and you'll stay out of trouble. It always worked fine for me.

Great Trip FoA, and a very useful report. Sounds like the perfect 2011/12 Sahara trip to me - novel, off the beaten track, solo, reported after rather than before and missing off the towns and hassle. You have it just right with your view of 'for your safety'!

Mixed feelings to see that Shackleton! I remember when it went down. Bad fuel in west Africa I read once. There were/are so few left.

I thought the fuselage had succumbed to some bedouin scrap dealer? But it seems mostly intact. In that case, gotta go!
I also remember reading that it went down in a valley, which doesn't seem to be the case.
Great trip, sir Florence, good to have you back.

any women travelling in Mauritania
 

:thumbup1::thumbdown::confused1:Hello I am travelling with 'Persistance'....and persistance...ha ha...but seriously am not sure whether I feel safe about going into Mauritania. Sure I love the travelling and love to experience the desert...but how bad are the police/border patrol officials? Is there a real threat of kidnappers or nasty bastards with guns.... Please? ...are there any other women who are going or have been through Mauritania that can give me their opinion. How does it feel out there? I would appreciate some feed back... Thanks
Rensina

- met recently two young Breton girls in NKC ... they seemed perfectly happy and at ease. I think women are safe in Mauri, like in most of W Africa. Mauri men have great respect of women (not so strange as Mauri women tend to be twice the size of Mauri men :).

- Shackleton: what amazed me was that all men onboard (19? guys) survived the crash. Also the site of the crash is odd, all around perfectly flat desert, but they nearly crashed into a small mountain chain: it seems as if they nearly hit the mountain, sverved in the last moment and crash landed. Is that possible?

From memory Florence, the aircraft suffered two right side engine failures, I think due to problems with the ignition systems, making a crash landing inevitable. Their problem was that the crash landing happened at night so they'd no idea what the terrain was like. At the time it was regarded as a text-book example of an emergency landing as they'd prepared the aircraft and crew, radioed their exact position-well before GPS-and made an excellent landing.

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

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?

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 ...

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?"

http://www.avcom.co.za/phpBB3/downlo...8cfc67761eb590
It's a cool resting place
http://www.avcom.co.za/phpBB3/downlo...p?id=38764&t=1
There's a DVD about it out there.

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

" 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.

the map is just dandy

thanks

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

:innocent:

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

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 ...

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

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

Liberated WestSahara
 

Hi Florence,

many thanks for inspiring me. I'm a german guy travelling for more than 10 years in Mauretania. This time (last 3 weeks) I also travelled in Western Sahara (Sahara libre) following your tracks. I only can admit what you wrote: friendly Polisario guys, amazing landscape and the feeling to go in an area in which for decades no tourists travelled...

I travelled lonely like you. Visited Pelican 16, too. I've been written a small story of the "Raid", but it's in german, some pics...

Wüstenschiff • Thema anzeigen - Zurück aus der Westsahara / Sahara libre - befreites Gebiet

or on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/notes/sahar...94803133895456

Greetings from Germany
Günther

Wow, Günther, very nice, congratulations for this! :thumbup1:

When Florence reads this he will surely be delighted to see that his researches bear some fruits!
The fact that he didn't respond yet is probably that he is again somewhere out of reach, exploring pristine desert.

It's been a while since anyone mentioned Pelican 16...... I and my good mate mossproof recently spent some time in Mauri exploring. One of the points of interest involved a slight detour into Polisario held Western Sahara......

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h8...pstrg8fqsd.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h8...psos1wi5fj.jpg

http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h8...psr1hwofyd.jpg
http://i62.photobucket.com/albums/h8...pscildkc2t.jpg

I'd have loved to have spent a night there but it very difficult to evaluate the risk, so we spent about an hour crawling all over it taking pics and then retreated back across the border. One of the military check point commanders near Ben Amiera was very positive, apart from him everyone else including the guide at Bab Sahara thought it was madness. In the end we found the area very quiet and the border is best described as porous....

I'd like to thank Florence for the inspiration for this part of the trip!

Nick

Good job
I'll tell mr FLorence when I see him

When and if you see him, extend my greetings too :)
He kind of disappeared from SOF?

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Florence is blocked...
 

I got information from Florence that he's blocked from the forum since he renamed to "Shalom Alejkum" :ban:

:oops2:

Anyway: This was one of the most amazing trips I ever did!!! Many thanks again to Florene for inspiring me to do this trip and for getting the waypoints!!!

After crossing Africa in 2014, I'm now travelling for more than 3 years in South-America (stage by stage). Actually the car is parked in Cayenne (French-Guyana). In December I'm suppost going to Panama and probably Mexico. The goal is to reach Alaska in 2021. And then....

... back to Mauretania and SAHARA LIBRE!!!!!!!