Thanks for the update. MS7 westside is a shocker, even with modern suspension.
Last March we combined MS77 with MS8 using the white link tracks on the p142 map. Much nicer way of doing that crossing.

Very diplomatically put. Saw the same happen in an Mk vid the other day. Maybe the same garage.

At the same time,for less experienced people,it can be quite fun to be buzzed into Zagora by a young lunatic on a scooter trying to sell you something you don't need.And if you do decide to visit one of the two garages suspected,you can enjoy a cup of tea in his brothers tourist shop next door whilst also being relieved of some Dirhams to buy Babouche,turbans and hippy pants that will endear you to your friends and rellies when you get home.
It's all part of the Maroc experience so my advice to others is to relax and enjoy it.
On a more serious note,both establishments do turn out some perfectly acceptable work if you have been over enthusiastic off-road or,have choked all the greasy bits with dust.bier

You’d be shocked at some of the stories from the last 18months about the Zagora mechanics. With at least 1 instance the police ended up getting involved….

Very heavy thunderstorms in the south this last week, from Foum el Hassan (over a dozen missing up the Ait Herbil valley) to Boumalne Dades and even Figuig.

Half a year's rain in 2 days they say... this, after a record hot summer.

https://www.moroccoworldnews.com/202...issing-persons

Lac Iriki is underwater and will likely remain a swamp for a few weeks, Foum Mharech was a flowing river yesterday. Multiple road closures across the south from Tata to Figuig.

I've never seen such a prolonged period of heavy rain and flooding across such a wide area in Morocco. Flooding around Laayoune and Smara was reported 3 weeks ago!!

Also very wet further south in the desert and Sahel, I read.
The ITC has shifted.
https://www.thetimes.com/article/432...d0995a29e36ffa

Draa river in full flow under the new bridge at Zagora. The plain to the W of Erg Chebbi is now a lake. Oued Rheris will be a very difficult crossing. Many pisé mud houses in rural areas are collapsing due to the amount of rainfall.
Water’s desperately needed but Moroccan folks a facing tough times again due to the elements.

The intense storms continue. List of damaged main roads spreading right across the south, but especially bad in Tata:
N7 Taroudant – Tata.
N9 Ouarzazate – Zagora
N10 Ouarzazate – Tinghir and Errachidia – Bouananeon
N14 Smara – Jdiriya
N15 Guercif, Outat El Haj – Midelt
N17 Tata – Zagora
RN103 Assa-Zag – Al Mahbès.
RN111 Tata – Ouarzazate
RN307 Skoura – Ghassate
RN708 Gourrama – Beni Tajjite.

Source

The reported flow rates in Oued Tata and Zguid is astonishingly. It’s certainly going to take a while to dry out.

I’m currently in the North and have never seen so much water and it’s so green it’s more like spring than last spring was.

Not many adventurous travellers here but give it a week and they autumn crowd will start to arrive and more route reports with it.

'Dramatic images show the first floods in the Sahara in half a century
More than year’s worth of rain fell in two days in south-east Morocco, filling up lake that had been dry for decades'

https://www.theguardian.com/environm...half-a-century

Some sloppy reporting in these articles. We had flooding between Merzouga and Zagora September ‘23 and in Erg Chegaga in October.

Talking to some locals at Iriki last week they said the last time it was full of water was 2004

I am currently in southern Marocco travelling around with a Defender:
(the routes I am referring to are from Morocco Overland version 1)

-Tizi-n-Test Marrakech-Taliouine:
Still a lot of work on the road, totally maybe 1 hr delay. A lot of people still living in tents a year after the earthquake.

-From Taliouine to the south via Assarakh and Aguinan:
Beautiful route. Camped at auberge Le Paradis. Continued southwest the next day via the MA6 (paved) and MA9. MA9 is paved till Targuante. From Targuante till the RN17 at Akka Iguirene the piste is washed away at several places and even became single track (made by motorbikes). So impossible for anything bigger than a Defender. 7 km before Akka Iguirene they were working on the track. They had started from the southwest so from there a good piste again.

-Icht-MA2-Tafraoute:
Lot of damage to the road but all passable. In Igmir a lot of damage from the river which runs through it.

-From Tafraoute to Tata:
Tizerkine gorge impassable due to a washed away bridge they are rapairing
Gorge Ait Mansour no problems. After Ait Mansour we turned northeast for 2 km and picked up the road via the Akka mine and Bouzarif to the northeast towards the RN7 just west of Imtek. Big gravelroad used by trucks to the goldmine.

-Foum-Zguid -MS7-Mhamid:
No problems, ok for any vehicle, some mud in places due to some rain the night before. You can drive straight to the shore of Lac Iriki. There's already some fish living in the lake according locals!
The northeastern part of Erg Chegaga is full of luxury camps. The dunes at the northwestern side (east of Lac Iriki) are much quieter. From the Auberges/cafes south of Zaouia Sidi Abde Enabi you can drie straight south to find a nice spot in the dunes for camping away from the big camps.

Thanks for the update Jurgen.
Igmir is certainly a tight bottleneck in the Smouguene canyon which got it the worst.
Image below from a news video.

We re-did both gorges last year and Ait Mansour is actually the prettier one.
The Akka piste is a great blast. I presume they fixed the big oued crossing just before your reach the road. In much less rain early 2023 the track across was obliterated, though a Defender might have managed.

Sounds like Iriki is drying out already. Got a picture?

hi Chriss,
I don't remember a big oued crossing on the Akka mine piste, so I think this has been fixed. Lac Iriki has not dried out yet and is still quite big: (trying to post a picture...)

https://transmoroccotrail.org/wp-con...4/10/iriki.jpg

Thanks, I managed to open your huge pdf which had my computer smoking from the vents - and converted it. Nice shot.