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part 3: ERFOUD to MERZOUGA |
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During our evening in Erfoud - before our encounter of the third kind - we'd contacted Mohammed Lhou, a friend of a friend who runs a family auberge in Merzouga. He knew we were coming, so we were expected and that felt really nice. |
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3 August 2004 - We left Erfoud after a dull breakfast, impatient to reach Merzouga, at last. Our promised land, country of the dunes, the end of the road, our holy Grail. Well, there was just one slight obstacle: as far as we knew then, the end of the road was here in Erfoud. Everything further on the map was a dotted line (meaning no signposted road, but a rough-surfaced piste). You can see Erfoud on the map, and there's a real road leading to Rissani, but when we asked the locals, they told us that the piste from Rissani was rather complicated to follow (windy, lots of obstacles), whereas from Erfoud, it would take longer, but the piste was more direct and straightforward. I must precise here: it may look straightforward on the map but in reality it's just stretches of stony desert - black hammada - after stretches of desert with often no track to follow - nor telegraph lines contrary to what some guidebooks make you believe. |
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Anyhow, we really wanted to do it, and as the folks had told us even inexperienced people like us would make it, we took our chance, I sat behind the wheel, and we looked for the beginning of the dust road... Besides, we couldn't really go wrong, the direction was due south, heading for the dunes. |
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where are the telegraph poles gone?? thanks mum for the compass!! |
Once you've spotted the dunes, at least you knwow you're in the right direction | |||
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and once you're that close, you don't care anymore whether you're in the right direction... |
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