Hi Tony

You're a month away yet, keep an eye on the Zagora weather forecasts, if there's no rain in the meantime it will be bone dry. Peter will be back in Morocco by then, so you might see us together.

UPDATE ON GUELMIM AREA

The N12 to Sidi Ifni is apparently still closed. The main N1 from Tan Tan Plage (El Ouatia) to Guelmim and on to Tiznit is open. Many minor roads still closed.

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Hi Tony,

Lac Iriki drains pretty quickly and i've seen it passable 48hrs after fooding.

Worst case scenario take the piste along the Jebel Bani foothills.

Happy trails,

Peter

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We are in Tiznit but a friend we left in Sidi Ifni, tells us this morning that the water supply has still not been restablished. They have been promising a connection for the last 3 days........inch Allah. He says bikes have been along the Sidi to Guelmim road but not four wheels.

Well we are on Plan B, and back in Sidi Ifni! Town getting back to normal, water supplies etc all seem ok. New bridge to Tiznit road being reinforced gradually and the river, as it is now, being diverted off to the north a little. Road to Guelmim is STILL CLOSED, despite my previous post, sorry! Only foot traffic is able to scramble over the rocks, even an off road bike would not be able to get across the gap.
Road up to Tiznit fine, evidence of several places where the river broke through, but normal traffic running now. Road junction towards Aglou Plage on the R104 is open. We have not travelled the road ourselves but traffic was heading north along it. The N1 is open to traffic, as normal.
Tim, I thought you meant the beach bar by El Barco, at the start of the promenade.........maybe you mean the one by Sidi Ifni campsite? Ait Baamrane hotel has it's flags and tables out on terrace, so presume they are open again. As before El Barco and municipal campsites are open, the other three are closed and not seen any signs of any work being started on them.

Just returned from 3wks in Anti Atlas and South.

Generally,lots of roadworks going on on the main roads in Anti A that will slow your progress.Don't be to ambitious with kms for route planning.

A lot of the new sealed sections in the routes mentioned below are already blown away and the local people are re using rough pistes.

MA1
Closed at Tizerkine Gorge.Very large boulder oued so no chance to try along oued bottom.

Closed again at km52 Afella as oued Assif has been washed out. I did not check if going into this oued via the other end of the old haul road would yield a passable track but,the amount of washout in the oued would lead me to doubt it.

MA2

All OK

MA10

Closed at junction with MA2 so recommend going down MA2 through Igmir which is great.

MW3

Claypans at km 59 are now a stunning large lake with lots of flowers all around. Great care needed to skirt lake to avoid soft spots. I travelled the edge but if you are in doubt a new track has been graded to the North that hugs the base of a ridge. It starts at around km 59 and you will notice it going off to the left.

Oued is unpassable after km 203 but is very beautiful.We turned into the hills and just followed tracks,camped and hit the N1 the next morning.

Estuary Of Oued Draa.

Found ford that links North and South sides but overtopped by full and beautiful waterflows. Could not get further towards estuary than this. Again be very careful of soft ground.

N1

We camped inland of Tan Tan and Guelmim and it rained during the night. Next morning the run up to Guelmim was a white knuckle ride due to mud caused by regrading teams working on shoulder repairs and kami kazi drivers. Be careful and enjoy!

Happy travels.

Hi Tony,

Thanks for the updates. Keep 'em coming, folks.

Happy trails,

Peter

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Atlas Overland - Specialist adventure tour company providing off-road holidays for 4x4 enthusiasts in Europe and North Africa.
Tours to Morocco, Iceland, Arctic Circle, Portugal, Alps, Pyrenees, Eastern Europe, Corsica, and UK weekend tours.

Like Peter says.
Thanks Tony

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Just completed M6 & M7.

M6 dune filled oued rheris no surface water now but lots of mud hidden under sand thats been blown across.very sticky and a slow recovery.local farmer making a good living at moment towing tourists out with his tractor.

M7 most of the route still stoney & slow,lake iriqui still very wet best to drive around in anti clockwise direction( as per sahara handbook).

Moodybloo

We've been 2,5 weeks for the change of the year in Morocco. As we had not "the" book with us, I can't follow the numbers.
We went over Tichka/Telouet to Ouarzazate.

Msemrir/Tamtattouchte no problem for a push-bike but some pushing necessary on the western side, where only local motorbikes left traces and 4wd turned back in the oued with lot of blocks. Other side ok, ridiculous good road after some km.

Tinghir-Nekob no probs, very good and smooth ascent, downhill a bit rocky.

Taouz-Tagounite: Oued Rheris was no problem, we took the northern crossing at Rhemlia, locals wanted to send us further 10 km to the north, but our crossing was fine, after crossing you get near a mine. Rest was fine, although very rocky after Hassi Zguilma, 3 checkpoints (Zguilma, 5 km after Zguilma, 5 km before tarmac)

Mhamid- Foum Zguid: When we were on Ikiki, we had no water or mud on the main piste. Last 15 km rocky, but fun on the single tracks formed by lokal motor bikes

MA7: only piste we got infos out of "the" book by chance in Foum Zguid.
road to Amtazguine in very good condition (broad, almost two lane), then very rocky (btw, the "perfectly cleared area" besides the road turned out to be a football field), great camping place on a balconry at the 1635 pass. Description not clear afterwards, the tarmac doesn't start in Issil but later, there are two tarmac roads leading to N10.

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Hi,

Here are some updates on routes taken in december and january, slowly with à 7.5t unimog.

MS6 Bouarfa Figuig
With the new reservoir, much bigger than drawn on the page 104 map, the southern part of the track is not so fun and finding the way not so easy, especially going north-west South-east.

ME4, betweeen Mengoug and Beni Tagite
Slow track due to the numerous small oued crossing in bad condition. Very desolated and a wonderful atmosphere.

ME7,Beni Tagite to Tazouguerte
Also slow and rough from Beni Tagite to Col de Belkassem. Then,also rough and slow for a while but more interesting. The main reason to take this piste is to spend a night at the Col de Belkassem.

MS 11 Aoufous Merzouga
No problems, highly recommended. Always better to arrive in a touristic destination by the quiet back door and to sleep a night on the North East side of the dunes driving around the dunes and arriving in Merzouga by the South East.

MH11-MH13
The loop from Goulmina, Amellago, Ait Hani, Tinerhir is all Tarmac. An easy introduction toHigh Atlas driving. Tomuch snow on MH3.

MH4, Tinerhir - Nkob

A wonderful track. The first part to Iknioun has been renovated and is now very easy with more traffic. The second part is wonderfull, especially driving North-West Sout-East. Not so difficult with a small truck although some hairpins need some "back and forth" A few nice places to camp after the 2 auberges.

MS8, Mhammid to Mrimina
Lake Iriki seemed all dry in mid January. We have crossed it . May be stillwet in the north-west corner.

MA7 FoumZguid to Issil
Was very tight for a Unimog but doable, definitively not possible for anything bigger. Was slow and scary, but wonderful.

MH9 Nekob to km 59

not much tarmac but a nice track to see the people living in villages. Track to Zagmouzere narrow and slow but nice.

MH8 and MH6
Some snow and ice between Askaoun and Sour so took the improved MH7 track to join the MH6 which was all tarmac to Aguim. The small road from Sour to N9 near Amerzgane was a slow track. While the road from Ait Ben Haddou to Telouet is Tarmac and spectacular.

After Tizin Tichka, a small Tarmac road to Arba Talatast is a nice alternative to busy N9 to go to Marrakech.

We are slowly heading South for 2 more months.

Photos and comments in French and German on
Pierre, Ursul (Unimog) & Theresa - UrsulNatour

Pierre

Dear HUBBers,

Planning a trip to Morocco in March I would like to have you feedback/ pics/ recommendations on the following MS routes.
We’ll be riding an Africa Twin and a GSA 1200, I dare to say we have moderate off-road experience (MS6, MH1, MH2, MH10, etc).

MS2 – I assume this route to be easily doable with the above bikes
MS5 – is this route all sealed?
MS7 – is this route doable with the above (loaded) bikes? Any recommendation?
MS9 – same as MS2, I assume this route to be easily doable

Thanks!

Luis

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Luis Cabrita, Honda XRV 750 Africa Twin '97 & Honda CBR 600 F4 '99
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MS2 - I hear is sealed - or at least the 1st part out of Zagora up to Km41. Look at Google maps.
MS5 - I also heard the FZ end had short unfinished patches (maybe completed?) but I'm sure you'll get through.
MS7 - Riders often get in trouble on this route, I suppose because they veer south from the rough track (by the book) in search of smoother or more open riding but get stuck in sand or lost. Stick it out on the track and the only hard bit is the dunelettes at the Mhamid end. Or - if heading east - split northeast at KM111 for the gap in Jebel Bani to avoid dunes. Never done it but looks fun.
MS9 - Some moments on my Tenere I recall, but north half may be sealed - part of the 'P1507' backroad from Ozt to Tazenakht which may all be sealed. Another one to try for next time.

bonne route

Hi Luis,

MS7 is a slow rocky track. You'd be better further south crossing Lac Iriki itself. Begin by heading south out of Foum Zguid and taking the second of the two tracks on the left signposted to Lac Iriki. There's a small military checkpoint about half a km down the track. If you've not already checked in town, you can ask the guys here if the lake is dry. If it is, carry on SSW following the oued and the track will begin to swing E around 29.52.500N 6.44.578W. Continue heading E from here and you should pick up the major piste across the lake. Continue for a few km and it becomes smooth and heads ENE across the lake - you'll be able to pick up a lot of speed here.
At around 29.57.030N 6.21.500W the stack swings right towards towards Erg Chegaga and there's a very well defined track through the small dunes. In March, the sand should be firm. If you leave FZ about 9am, you'll be here by 1130, before the midday heat - if there is any. The track will lead you towards the big dunes but then swings left to rejoin MS7 at the Oasis Sacree auberge.
If you think it's going to be too heavy going for the GSA, forget this bit and continue heading ENE and you'll pick up the rocky MS7. Here you can continue to Mhamid - bear in mind the small dune field near the end. There are thousands of tracks here but they all lead to Mhamid.
As Chris says, you can turn off at Km111 for Tagounite. we did this in 2011 when the outskirts of Mhamid are flooded. It's a nice easy and well defined track and will bring you out halfway down the main drag in the middle of town.
As ever in this area, keep an eye on the weather. thunderstorms in the mountains can bring flash floods near the lake later.


Crossing Lac Iriki at speed.

MS5 was sealed all the way from Zag to FZ last November but we left just before the major floods. It should be repaired by now and even if it hasn't you'll easily pick your way through. On a good day you can do it in about 2 1/2 hours.

Happy trails,

Peter

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Tours to Morocco, Iceland, Arctic Circle, Portugal, Alps, Pyrenees, Eastern Europe, Corsica, and UK weekend tours.

Chris,
Peter,

Thanks for the advices.
Planning this trip made me go through the pics and videos of MS6, again!

Two small videos, first is the crucial Oued Rheris crossing:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEI5A-Y9mzk

Second one filmed somewhere on the Kem Kem Beds:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iq8JooaM-0A

And pictures, going and coming:
https://www.flickr.com/photos/148874...57675142849550

Regards,
Luis

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Luis Cabrita, Honda XRV 750 Africa Twin '97 & Honda CBR 600 F4 '99
https://www.flickr.com/photos/148874658@N08/albums

Completed the MS6 last week from Touz to Tagounite. The desert was amazing, incredible green, full of violet flowers. A lot of water in oued Gheris after Ramlia, so we had to follow the north route option. It's not so easy to found the way before and after the oued. The ford wasn't a problem. I share the map with gpx data. I'm sure it will be usefull to all will have to take the north ford.

Pista Ramlia - Tagoumit | Galileo Offline Maps