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North Africa Topics specific to North Africa and the Sahara down to the 17th parallel (excludes Morocco)
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Trans Sahara Routes.

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  #1  
Old 10 Dec 2004
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Oued Draa
As the Moroccan/Algerian is not clearly marked on most maps, does anyone know just how far south it is wise and safe to go following the oued Draa. It looks to me as though all the pistes along the oued are in Algeria. Anyone done this recently...?

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  #2  
Old 10 Dec 2004
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Upstream Oued Draa is the Alg border (more or less) from SW of Mhamid, then from south of Foum El Hassan it's all in Mk to Tan Tan and the sea (Route M12 in the book - pretty stony).

Chris S
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Old 10 Dec 2004
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Thanks Chris. I've been looking in the latest shock edition - good fyi - but just wondered whether I could go south of the dried lake whose name escapes me right now as I'm away from my map. From what I can see your route is some way from the border all the way along.

Interested by the way that you think little of snorkels. We did our best some time ago to test whether they made any difference to 3 cars in convoy in heavy dust in east africa. Not the most scientific of tests but we simply checked the air filters on three old TLCs, 1 with high breather 2 standard. We all thought that the filter on the car with the snorkel lasted longer between cleans. Sounds like a soap ad...



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  #4  
Old 11 Dec 2004
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hello out there,

i heard of somebody who entered the oued draa immediately west of mhamid and drove inside the river bed until the mentioned dried lake. i'm planning to try that on my next journey to morocco.
after that - who knows? some poeple say that there is a danger of mines in the following section.
me myself rode through the oued draa west of assa, which is very interesting and not to be confused with routes given in some books.

good luck
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  #5  
Old 11 Dec 2004
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The lakes name is Iriki or something (salt lake - dry usually of course) directly west of Mhamid - an alt cross country way of getting west to F'Zgd, etc. though i never tried it.

Glad to hear the east Draa is doable without blowing yourself up. IMO, the Sahara is big enough not to need to risk possible mine areas, though I've never been positive they are there.
But i also think the MKs might be a bit more thorough on patrolling this border, what with all the 'traffic' and EU demands to reduce it.

Snorks: well i'm sure they must do some good, esp in convoys, but other things are more genuinely useful IMO.

Chris S
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Old 12 Dec 2004
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hello chris and everybody else,

of course i agree that the sahara is quiet a big place! but as most countries are off-limits for the majority of desert lovers nowadays, there is virtually a rather small area accessible...
after five morocco journeys i'm already getting problems in finding new places and routes. this leads me and some other poeple straight to the southern border area. it's true that no one should ever mess around with mines, but when the explorer inside of you is calling, sometimes it's like heart over mind...i guess you know what i'm talking about ;-)

good luck, again

oh, one more thing: the draa valley west of assa is not a border area and has never been, so there is surely no danger at all to expect.

[This message has been edited by desert soul (edited 11 December 2004).]
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Old 12 Dec 2004
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You can follow the oued Draa Areas east from Mhrimina and West from Assa :
The actual border is about 20 kilometers south of the main part of the Draa.

All the area south of the tarmac road from Mhrimina to Assa : this area is prohibited. If you encounter the army there they will ask you to go back north to the road. They say they are mines, but mainly this is where the algerian border is not clearly defined and some illegal trafic is crossing the border here.

Some roadbooks at http://www.voyages4x4.com
(in French) but with GPS waypoints and tracks.

Yours
Pascal Poublan


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Old 12 Dec 2004
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Merci Pascal

Seen your website before.

Jeremy

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