Morocco- Abeino, Tan Tan Plage and Khenifiss NP

Our next stop was Abaynou/Abeino where there are thermal pools located next to a hotel and campsite in the town.  The campsite looks like the hotel car park and there was only one other Swiss van there the night we stayed. There are seperate mens and womens pools located in different buildings and after 7pm each night it is mixed bathing in the mens pool.  Unfortunately the night we went I was the only woman and over the course of the night 12 other men.  Being thermal pools we envisioned a relaxing atmosphere but the Moroccans were doing belly flops into the water and trying to hold their friends under the water!  After a few left it did quieten down and we were able to enjoy it more.  The way dress standards are I was still very self conscious in my togs even though all the men were in western style togs too.  I'm glad we tried it and there is always the option of the womens thermal pool or a traditional hamman (steam bath or turkish bath) next time.

The campsite and mens pool (the building on the right)

The next morning we headed off to Tan Tan Plage/El Ouatia.  We drove through Guelmim.  There appears to be a lot of money going into the main roads here with new, wide footpaths and some impressive buildings (including a conference centre).  But if you look into the housing areas the development doesn't stretch that far.  We then went through Tan Tan.  There are stories here about the Police extracting bribes/fines in this town.  We were stopped at the checkpoint into town and asked for our passport and where we were going and thankfully no funny business.  I have a feeling I would not take kindly to being asked for a bribe.  At Legzira beach we met a lovely French couple in a hire car.  They had been fined on this trip allegedly doing over 60km/hr and had been caught at a checkpoint.  In the end they handed over 200 dirhams after being asked for 300.  The Policeman claimed to have 10 children and said he would pray to Allah for them- what crap.  The Police and Army are well paid compared to other professions here and there is no justification for it.  We have only come across courteous and friendly officers so far and perhaps the word from the top seems to be 'be polite to the tourists'.

The camels on approach to Tan Tan

The driving that day was through barren landscape and the hills in the distance looked very pretty.  There were several buses and trucks on the roads and a few cars.  The roads weren't busy and it was single, narrow carriageway all the way there.  Our guidebook had described Guelmim as a frontier town, but I thought that Tan Tan fitted the profile more, as it was a city in the middle of this desert landscape.
There were 3 campsites in Tan Tan Plage (plage means beach in French), with little in our book distinguishing between them we opted for the one that listed wifi!  The Maroc Telecom coverage south of Agadir seems bad, and we were desperately wanting to Skype our families for Christmas.  We passed another of the campsites on the way into town and didn't like the location and the other two were on the beach.  We went to Camping Atlantique for two nights, 70 dirhams/night with electric.  It had a new shower and toilet block and was an easy distance to town as well.  Even with new facilities the finish in them is poor.  The doors are poorly hung, either big gaps or they stick, and the tiling is woeful. However at least toilets and showers were both usable and adequate.

The town has 2 very nice mosques, restaurants and several shops selling the usual fruit, vegetables, bread, dry goods and drinks.  On Christmas day we bought a spit roasted chicken (70 dirhams) for lunch and we found some nice bread at one of the shops.  When we bought the chicken there were two racks, one had cooked chickens and it, and the other had chickens which were half cooked.  The cooked rack was on top, so I thought that is a good sign.  However once we had bought ours he replaced the rack and moved the half cooked ones up the top, above the cooked, oh no, cross contamination anyone?  We made note of where the shop selling bread was and its displays as we wanted to return the next day.  Well the next day we ended up guessing which one it was.  Like most Moroccan towns there are several shops selling the same products (fruit, vegetables, bread, gas).  It felt as though these shops had changed their displays overnight (and their attendants).  It wasn't a big deal as the bread is pretty similar whatever shop you go to.

 One of the Mosques in town

Spit roasted chickens for sale

Christmas lunch

And a chocolate Santa bought from Spain

On Boxing day we headed south along the N1 road to the Khenifiss National park, an area of desert, coastal dunes and wetland.  There is a lagoon side spot for motorhomes to use and when we arrived we saw another GB van!  We are getting very close to the border of the Western Sahara, an area where tourists are faced with more frequent Army and Police checks.  It is recommended for travelers to the Western Sahara to have copies of a fische on hand to give Police and Army officers at check points.  A fisch is needed for each person and is a piece of paper listing information such as name, marital status, nationality, occupation, passport number and expiry etc, port entry stamp, travelling to/from.  Our guidebook mentions this is the case for Western Sahara and as we aren't going there I hadn't written us up a fische.  Unfortunately for us it turns out they start asking for the fische just north of where we are.

Wilding camping spot 30 kms south of Tan Tan Plage

A camel on the back of a ute

A Police checkpoint

We had a great chat to the English couple Ray and Joan exchanging stories and hearing about their year long trip in Australia and 3 month trip to New Zealand.  They have been in Morocco since the 18th of December.  They had been further south in Morocco and were telling us of the Police checks they encountered.  It was early evening when the Police visited the our spot and asked for a fische!  We quickly jotted down one but will have to write a couple just in case we get asked again, even though this is as far south as we are going.  The officers were very friendly even asking if they were invited back tomorrow for a party as it was my birthday the following day!

Fishermen at the lagoon

The bird hide

The wild camping spot

One of the reasons to visit the lagoon was to see the sand dunes so we set off the next afternoon to walk around the lagoon and up to the dunes.  The overnight spot is brilliant- there were about 6 other vans present, it is free to stop and the location fantastic.  We tried our best to get close to some flamingos (and hopefully have some good photos) and climbed up into the dunes which appeared to go far into the distance.  They were actually firmer under foot than I was expecting as long as you stuck to the ridge line.  Needless to say we returned to the van with a pile of sand in our shoes each, not helped by the holes I have in mine.
That night we were invited to Ray and Joan's again and we spent a good 5 hours chatting.  It has been great to chat to another couple and they head north tomorrow probably back to Tan Tan Plage.  We have their contact details and hope to run into them again.

Snake tracks!!

Morocco- Sidi Ifni and Leghzira beach

The next morning we headed down the road to Sidi Ifni.  It was built in the 1930s and under Spanish control until 1969 when the Moroccan Government blocked landward access and it was then returned to Morocco.  We had planned to stop at Leghzira beach on the way, which has some fantastic arches in the rocky cliffs.  We only found one turn off which lead to an abandoned resort complex.  When we reached Sidi Ifni I did some more research and found that we were indeed in the right place and needed to find a rough dirt track that would lead us down to the waters edge.  Sidi Ifni is only 10km south so we decided we would revisit now we knew more information.

There are 5 campsites in Sidi Ifni including one that had been open only a week when we got there, and they were still painting and putting up their main entrance sign.  We stayed next door to this new one, on a site called Camping Solymar, right on the beach.  It was Friday and Raja Casablanca were due to play Bayern Munich in the final the following night.  We checked in at the reception desk with Abdellah, who spoke good English and we asked him where we could find the match being played.  He told us the cafe and said he wanted to go too and would kindly take us with him.

The campsite facilities

The fort is on the top of the hill, the cemetery below it.  In the foreground Camping Sidi Ifni, Camping El Barco and Camping Solymar

We went for a run along the beach the next morning and up onto the hill where there is an old Spanish fort.  We assumed it was deserted and from the coastal side appears to be.  As we rounded the front an army official pointed us in the direction of the exit.  It seemed a bit odd that they didn't block off access to this point from the beach, but who knows what the story is.  There is also a graveyard on the hill below it.

Sidi Ifni is known for its Art Deco buildings, which it seems they have put some effort into preserving.  There is a main square with trees and park benches, and around that the law courts (used to be a church in the Spanish era), a hotel, another guarded building we didn't know the purpose of and the closed Spanish consulate building (which we had seen in a video in bad repair, but when we visited it had received a coat of paint and was looking much better).

The terminally closed Spanish consulate

The law courts

The lighthouse

There is a big souk each Sunday located in the old airfield.  On Saturday afternoon vendors were arriving and setting up, so we bought some vegetables and bread.

That night was the football and we left the campsite about 6.30pm to go to the cafe and the game started an hour later.  There were plenty of people there watching (about 1 in 5 were female), but it was a rather subdued affair as Raja Casablanca lost 2-0 and Bayern Munich showed what a great side they are.  We even had a chance to get to know Abdellah at half time.  He had studied to be an automotive mechanic but didn't like it as he had originally been wanting to do accountancy.  However he had very good grades and was persuaded/forced into the automotive field as you need higher grades to do that than accountancy.  Interesting as it is the other way round in New Zealand.  Of course there was no alcohol being served either and the customers drank mainly coffees but some soft drinks as well.

The next day was Sunday and we explored the souk.  There was minimal hassle and lots of other European tourists there.  We saw pens of live chickens and rabbits and also a turkey tied up.  It was the first weekly souk we had been to as we had missed the Tiznit one as we had the problem with our computer charger.

On approach to the Sunday souk

A fruit and vegetable stall.  Notice the green bowl- you collect up what you want in the bowl and take it to the counter to be weighed

Dale at the every day souk (across the road from the Sunday souk)

We left the campsite after 3 nights.  As we went to check out at 11am, Dale was told that checkout is 10am and that we would have to pay for another night.  Nowhere does it say what time check out is and we were dubious that it was just another way of extracting some extra money off people.  My reaction was that we would just stay another night as it was a nice spot and very reasonable at 45 dirhams a night.  Eventually it was agreed that we would pay a late fee of 10 dirhams, which wasn't much and meant we could get on our way.  It was a bit of a bad ending to our stay as the staff there had been fantastic.  We had struck up a good repor with Abdellah and another staff member had helped us grease our side entry door and it now opened and closed much easier.  Abdellah gave Dale his phone number and said he considered him a friend, it was just a shame that we parted on those terms.  We know he was probably just doing his job, and it is a fair rule but they need to notify people of it.

We headed north again back to Leghzira beach and found the arches this time.  It was low tide so we were able to walk under them and get some nice photos.  We decided to park near the resort to avoid driving the steep track down to the town.  There was no point risking the van on it and that way we also avoided the parking charges.  It was a nice spot with several auberges (inns) and restaurants overlooking the water.
We continued back to Sidi Ifni and to our next stop near Guelmim.

Hotels, cafes and houses at Leghzira beach

Morocco- Sidi Rbat, Tiznit and Mirhleft

We stayed at the small coastal fishing village of Tifnit for 2 nights mainly relaxing.  We had a short walk along the beach to town, but didn't venture in as it didn't look inviting.  We were approached by a man who invited us to his restaurant and were also offered camel rides back to the van (a distance of about 200m) for 10 dirhams each.

We drove south to Sidi Rbat hoping to visit the National park there.  It is by guide only (according to the guides) so we declined and continued to the other side of the rivermouth.  We got to the campsite there and reassesed.  Being our first rainy day we didn't feel up to a walk, so continued on to a dammed lake called Youssef Ben.    The most interesting thing of note that day was our drive to the lake.  In hindsight we should have returned to the main road the way we had come in, but we turned right (as directed to by the sat nav) and passed through several villages.  Then came the problem of turning left to get back to the main road.  The sat navs suggestion didn't match the roads and our map wasn't detailed enough so after trying three different roads, we continued on one that turned into a rocky off road track.  We bumped and jolted along for what felt like about 10 kms and eventually made it to the N1 again.  We were bumped around again when getting on the N1 as there was a big lip to get over due to the height of the N1 road compared to the dirt track.  The lake was nice and somewhat a rarity in this part of Morocco (it's very dry).

On the way to the National park

A kingfisher

Off roading- not by choice!

Youssef Ben lake

We made it to Tiznit that night and checked into the municipal campsite which is located just outside the city walls and is a short walk to town.  This was the busiest campsite we have been in so far and there was probably about 150 motorhomes there.  Unfortunately we stuck out as we were a good 20-30 years younger than the other campers.  One afternoon we were sitting in the wifi room and a man who worked at the campsite spoke to us in French.  Luckily our neighbour was sitting next to us and translated that the man was asking if we were staying at the campsite!  Conveniently our neighbour was able to explain that he was camping next to us.

The campsite entrance

We also met an English couple Diane and Colin who are spending a few weeks on the site.  We had a pleasant afternoon exchanging stories over a cup of tea and beer.  I think they were happy to talk to some native English speakers as the site had predominantly French registered vans.

As for Tiznit itself, it is a bit of a mixed bag.  I think the souks (markets) are great.  There is everything from shoes, clothing, jewellery, meat, fruit, vegetables and the like for sale.  We tried our hand at some vegetable and fruit buying, which was a success and we looked at the butchers displaying camel hooves, goat heads and even a boy plucking turkey feathers (who we exchanged big smiles with).  We were also 'invited' by a man to his jewellery shop.  At this stage I was interested in looking in the jewellery souk, but I definitely was going to find my own way there.  We did and about half way through, guess who appears!  our friend from before and oh surprise his shop is nearby, and did we want to have a look?  Considering I wasn't wanting to buy anything I thought going inside might delay us a good while, so declined.

 Tiznit is enclosed by 19th century walls, which are a distance of 5kms in total and there are 8 gates into the town.  The Grand Mosque is somewhat disappointing as it is under refurbishment which means that it is very hard to see anything behind the 8 foot high walls.  From reading another online blog we have realised this has been going on for over 4 years now, not sure when it will be completed.  There is  a very nice Mosque just outside the walls, and is worth a visit more than the other one.  There is also a water feature dedicated to the towns patroness Lalla Tiznit, which is underwhelming due to its unkempt state.  So far in Morocco we have not been wowed by the 'tourist attractions' we have seen, but have found the daily life, scenery and people the most interesting aspect of our visit.

The disappointing Source Bleue water feature to Lalla Tiznit

Town walls on the right, houses on the left

The Bab Oulad Jarrar gate into Tiznit

So we had been getting on pretty well in Morocco, so we were probably due for some bad luck.  I had read that you can strike back electric connections in Morocco and one morning at the campsite two workers came past our van to look at the box.  Next thing our working connection starts to make a bit of a noise and then a loud pop noise.  We didn't realise until late afternoon when we went to charge the computer that it had fried the charger.  One of the camp staff walked us to a computer and gadgets type shop and we were able to get a replacement for 200 dirhams (18 euros).  By this stage this is our 4th charger (2 have been stolen and 1 broken).  We return to the van and the charger works that night.  In the morning, you guessed it, it won't work.  Dale came to the conclusion that it had probably sat there awhile at the shop unused and had just given up.  Back to the store we go again, and eventually we came away with another charger (5th for the trip), which a few days later still works (touch wood).

The campsite is on a busy road and on our last night in Tiznit we heard cheers growing in volume about 9pm.  We realised it was the football and we looked up on the internet to see that Raja Casablanca had won and made it through to Saturday nights final.  We quickly grabbed the flag and made our way to the nearby roundabout where lots of fans had congregated and were celebrating the win.  We again had lots of photos taken and held up our flag for passing motorists to toot.  Again it was fantastic to meet some friendly young Moroccans and have some fun with them.

After three nights in Tiznit I was ready to have a look at somewhere new and we headed out to the coast to the town of Mirhleft.  It has a couple of nice beaches (though the current looks a bit dangerous) with massive rocks by the shore.  Above the town is an abandoned Spanish fort ruin dating from 1935.  The views from the top are spectatular and I enjoyed taking panorama shots on the camera and having a good wander through the ruins.  From the site we could see a nice beach carpark and we set off in the van to find it.  That accomplished we paid the attendant 20 dirhams (1.90 euros) to stay the night and spent the afternoon sitting in the sun and walking along the beach.  In the morning we went south along the coast to Sidi Ifni.

The beach at Mirhleft

The fort ruins, Mirhleft