... Tan-Tan? That sounds quite aboriginal like! The word reminds me about 'tam-tam' or something. What is the town like?.
Oh, actually like most Moroccan towns, dirty, streat merchandisers displaying their stuff on the sidewalk many street stalls, horses / donkies, cars passing by , men spending the whole day in the cafe (like me :)) .... And women dressed in colorful robes! Very African, it looks very cool!. And of course a lot of land rovers, desert pickups and dudes with Tuareg turbans wrindled around their heads!.
Right!. Are you now in the desert, with all sand dunes and palm trees and camels and so around you or is that about to come?.
Well, here you are actually on the border of the desert. The area that I've crossed for the last three days is semi-arid i.e. desert, barren hills, but also green strips where people still crop some things such as corn, wheat, cactusses and offcourse the 'huile d'olive ", a special olive oil [expensive!] from Agadir.
I have seen small sand dunes and also camels (see pictures below). The vegetation in terms of trees is almost gone meaning: hiking the whole day [eight hours] without shade at temperatures exceeding 30 degrees Celsius.
... practicing with the الفروال الزرقاء (/'Farouel Azraq'/ blue turban!)
Did you manage to hike in such a rough environment?. What about the distances, reasonable or has it become extreme by now?.
If you look at the picture below it is obvious that a truely lunar landscape starts to appear. I managed to hike laps of fourty kilometres a day but I had to carry four kilograms of water for two days, six loaves of bread, three cans of fish and a jar of jam because there were no possibilities to `refuel`.
The funny thing is that water is not really a problem here: one day when I had my bivouac under an olive bush I discovered by coincidence that I was sitting right next to a water storage tank burried in the ground to collect the sparse rainwater!. I did not know if you could drink it, so I used it to wash myself. After a rough day when you're dirty, smelly it is great to have the opportunaty to wash yourself!.
... landscape, Guelmim- Tan-Tan, southern Morrocco
... A goatherder with his 'live stock', Al Arbial
... Bivouac under a 'huile d'olive' bush [olive bush] besides underground watertank.
... nomads with their tents
I also saw quite often those tents as above. Once I went to them to ask for water. There was a guy with a whole bunch of berber women dressed in beautiful colored robes . He was friendly and filled my water bottle nice right ? . In addition a car stopped twice to give me a 1.5 liter bottle filled with water or bottles filled with water were thrown into my direction by car drivers passing by, quite social right? ! .
... So you were hiking all the time on an asphalt road, did you manage to keep on hiking ? .
Well , it was pretty Anstrengend (strenious) because in general it was heavvy traffic passing by [touringcars, trucks]. Besides that the hike was also pretty tough mentally because the tarmac road I was hiking on was a straight road with occasionally a curve. Imagine a car overtaking you with great speed and just not disappearing out of side.
In addition there is no shade so I had to hike continuously throughout the day . I managed to find at around 13.00 [the middle of the day] a bush or a tree growing in such Oued or in the shade of ruined villages ( a wall provides shade ). Once there was a épicerie (small grocery store), once a village with a real café that was not on the map and loomed like a mirage . Those are the bonuses of a day!.
... Me as Toeareg
... Lunar landscape on the road to Tan-Tan
That looks pretty desolate! . Where did you actually sleep ? I assume not in cozy cottages where the owner had a cold beer for you waiting !.
Stop it! . Oh mi querida Espana ! , With the ' Clara con lemon '! ( = Beer mixed with lemon juice ) . No, it was suffering here and trying to find an Oued with a sufficiently large bush giving me adequate shelter, or a green strip of grass [I succeeded once in finding this]! . Unprecedented ! And I've camped twice next to such a burried watertank, so that was also nice . Unfortunately I was terribly stung by dozens of sand flies, so that sucked .
How did you find out that you could drink the water from such water depots? .
Well , about twenty kilometers from Tan- Tan I was having a break in the shade of a ruin wall when El Hamdaoui passed riding a donkey. Typically actually seeing someone passing by with a T-shirt saying `Dirk Scheringa Bank` and `AZ` [a dutch football club] in the desert.
He didn`t speak French but in a mixture of French and sjwia arabya (a little Arabic ) I managed to ask if there was a water storage somewhere close by and if it was potable. And yes- Al Hamdoelilah`i [Thank God] a few steps from where I was having a break was a water reservoir. Insane, but I was very happy because it was freaking hot and I was thirsty and I didn`t have much water left and I had still to go another twenty kilometres [ four hour hike]! .
... Are you going to continue torturing yourself like this until Laâyoune?. There will be ( So I heard from a reliable source) four cruel hike laps where you have to walk every day [without anything in between] 50/40 kilometres so you must really carry everything! [food and water] ...
It is indeed harder and harder to remain motivated. Besides the physical exertion, the heat and the heavvy traffic passing by there is the monotony. Plus the fact that it is getting more and more difficult to find an acceptable resting place for the night.
Good sleep is important because the next day another big hike lap is waiting. Actually this kind of distances / environment is more suitable for cycling. But there is another aspect, my Morocco visa is about to expire and such a heavy week with those big hike distances without rest between them is quite risky and not very pleasant to hike.
I wanted to go to the Canary Islands, a group of islands belonging to Spain and lying practically opposite Laâyoune in order to renew my visa but it is not even sure if there is a boat running ...
So I have some things to figure out , and there is simply too little time when I go to Laâyoune by foot .
So .... ?
My hike ends in Tan - Tan .
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