Personal protection devices Morocco, Western Sahara, etc

[Tim Cullis]

Despite spending much of my time travelling solo I've never felt concerned for my personal safety in Morocco. It's always seemed a safe place compared to parts of the UK I could mention. It could also be because before I went on my megadiet this year I was built like a brick sh*t house and felt nobody would mess with me. But having lost 50kg in weight I now feel a bit more frail.

On the ferry back from Santander last October I met another HUBBer who recounted that he had been robbed whilst wild camping in Western Sahara. He was solo, there were two guys. He was concerned they were drugged up. He didn't know whether they were carrying knives but suspected this might be the case, so he let them go through his things and help themselves whilst he stood there watching.

Hearing this made me very angry, and since then I've given a great deal of thought as to how I would react in a similar situation, especially as I'm a bit headstrong.

Pulling a knife on them might just elicit a mad laugh and a taunt to use it, or worse, they could do a 'Crocodile Dundee' and pull out massive machetes. So I don't think that makes sense. A gun is a much better idea but even assuming you'd somehow managed to get it though police and customs checks, would you really use it against some poor drugged up guys.

What I've done for for the moment is to source some 40ml red pepper spray made by KKS in Germany. This is small enough to be carried in my jacket whenever I'm in a dubious area, has a range of six meters with accurate range of three metres. There's a safety mechanism on top to ensure you don't self-administer.

My feeling is that I would be far more prepared to use this (and without warning) knowing the risk of permanent damage to the muggers is small. But then what? You've got two guys rolling around on the floor who in a little while are going to recover and be really peed off, and in the meantime you have to pack up your tent and gear. So the second phase of my draft plan is to use cable ties to handcuff their wrists and possibly their legs. I have some extremely wide and long cable ties secured to the frame of my bike and can whip a couple of these out in just one or two seconds.

The likehood of customs finding the cannister is tiny. As the web site says, this is a personal defence mechanism against wild dogs and other wild animals so that would be my excuse if it was found. You could, of course, remove all the labels from it so there's no clue to the contents and stick it in the toilet bag like a deodorant stick.

I have to say I still don't know whether I would use the pepper spray in anger, but I think that when you have this level or preparedness you 'walk tall' compared to others and your consequential body vibes and confidence mean you are less likely to be targeted.

Does anyone have any alternative suggestions--other than standing back and letting them get on with it?

Tim