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Morocco: Zagora to Foum Zguid Morocco: Zagora to Foum Zguid
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North Africa Topics specific to North Africa and the Sahara down to the 17th parallel (excludes Morocco)
Photo by Alessio Corradini, on the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia, of two locals

I haven't been everywhere...
but it's on my list!


Photo by Alessio Corradini,
on the Salar de Uyuni, Bolivia,
of two locals



Trans Sahara Routes.

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  #1  
Old 10 Oct 2004
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Morocco: Zagora to Foum Zguid
Hi everybody,

does anyone has experience with the piste from Zagora to Foum Zguid? Is it a difficult piste? Is it easy to see the path or do i need some GPS coordinates? If so, is there anyone who has the coordinates for this trip?
Greetings,

Koen
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  #2  
Old 11 Oct 2004
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There are two routes: north of Jebel Bani - pretty stony at times but no need for GPS (we did it in March in a 2WD) and it will be in the new edition.
Or south of Jebel Bani - we did it from FZ to Mhamid (south of Zagora) in a 4x4 which gets a little sandy. For this piste GPS is useful (its in the current edition).
There is also a commonly used route direct SW from Zagora but I dont know which was it goes.

Chris S

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  #3  
Old 11 Oct 2004
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You only need to have a good map and a compass .
The piste is not difficult ( I think you mean the southern piste , the more beautiful ) .

RR .
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  #4  
Old 12 Oct 2004
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Go ahead. It is beatiful in sun set. Easy. Don´t even need a map, just ask in a village the way.

In 2WD you can always ride max. 50 km/h
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  #5  
Old 12 Oct 2004
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we did try south one from mhamid and had to turn back - but we had no really sand experience and big bikes ( DR Big / AT ) - with experience *may* no problem - we try again next time better try early in the morning start in mhamid - if, better use a campingplace outside mhamid, its one of the villages everybody is the best guide - brrr
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  #6  
Old 12 Oct 2004
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chris says: "There are two routes:...".

well, this guy is very right mostly all of the time - but this time he forgot a third track, which is rarely used by tourists and leads THROUGH jebel bani. it begins at tagounite and ends up joining the already mentioned northern route about 70km west of zagora.
very interesting, beautiful landscape and two sites of rock art along the way.

(a short stretch is maybe only possible for bikes, though there are 4wd-tracks)

good luck to everyone

ps: on the southern route (the most popular) you can avoid the worst stretch of sand immediately NW of mhamid by leaving the tarmac at tagounite (see above). the northern route is only worth doing for rapid transit to FZ - in my opinion.

[This message has been edited by desert soul (edited 12 October 2004).]
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  #7  
Old 16 Oct 2004
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From Mhammid to Foum Zguid, i dit a few years ago, and if you take the sandy route what we dit you should have experience in deep sand. There are only slightly dunes, you can get nice around and the closeder to Foum Zguid the more rocky it get's!

Have fun, it's a great way!
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  #8  
Old 16 Oct 2004
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I have a few pictures at the link below (about 3 pages worth, haven't added in the text yet).

If the lake bed is dry it's well worth doing the southern most route. Scenic, smoother and fun. Also arriving into Mhamid after slogging through the dunes gives you a better sense of having arrived somewhere...

http://www.roamingyak.org/morocco/di...id_mhamid.html
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  #9  
Old 21 Oct 2004
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Hi everybody,

thanks for the abundant info! I hope you won't think that i fooled you around, but in the end we decided to skip the Todra and Draa valleys. We've been there a couple of years ago, and as we now have only twenty months for the whole of Africa we decided to move on.
Anyhow, we're now in Nouadhibou trying to get our van on the ore train to Choum...

Hey Chris, we followed your GPS coordinates from fort Guergarat to the railway, but unfortunately these are no longer correct. The route has changed due to moving sand. The new piste goes more to the east. Anyway, this gave us our first desert experience in using the sandplates.
I guess it's impossible to keep updated on this piste as the wind changes things really quick (after getting stuck we returned on our own path, and by that time our traces had almost become invisible due to the wind).

Greetings,

Koen & Heidi
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  #10  
Old 21 Oct 2004
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About track between guerguerat and railway :
When have you take this track ?
There is a rectification on Chris atlantic route before the railway : I've followed this new indications in April and it was OK .
RR .
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  #11  
Old 23 Oct 2004
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Hi Roro,

we took the track earlier this week (19 october if i remember well), and altough we had the latest updated route from Chris' website it was no longer accurate). It was however very usefull for the info on petrol stations and for the first part to the old spanish road.

Maybe i can also give some recent info on the ore train from Nouadhibou to Choum, just in case someone needs it: if you want to put a vehicle on, this is only possible on saturdays and mondays and only if the flatbed wagon gets filled up completely. To transport our Mercedes 508 van it costs 28500 UM. If you want to rent the whole flatbed wagon it costs 120000 UM.

Greetings to all travellers out there,

Koen & Heidi
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  #12  
Old 16 Nov 2004
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Hello Desert Soul

WE are reading your message with interest.

Wondered whether you have the coordinates of the rock art you mentioned? It would make it much easier to find!

We are going to watch the Dakar in early January 2005 in that area.

Dave
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  #13  
Old 17 Nov 2004
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hello dave, here we go:

rock-art site 1 (ifran ntsika) 30°02,495’N - 06°20,609’W (includes 1 km walking around a hill and a 10 km detour in and out)

rock-art site 2 (lghola) 30°05,70’N - 06°14,23’W (coming from the south: immediately to the left of the road)

of course you are not going to get around searching the area for a while to find the best paintings/engravings, but that makes it even more fascinating! these places are in remote areas.

good luck
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