MAROCATLASGIB 4X4 SOLIDARITY RAID 2013 DIARY!

[Marocatlasgib4x4 Club]

LAST YEAR LOUIS STARTED A DIARY FOR ALL PARTICIPATING MEMBERS TO UPDATE AS THE RAID WENT ALONG,I THINK IT WENT REALLY WELL SO WE WILL START THIS ONE FOR THIS YEARS RAID AND HOPE IT GETS AS MUCH INTEREST AS THE LAST ONE,SO EVERY ONE MAKE USE OF THIS THREAD TO POST YOUR EXPERIENCES WITH PHOTOS,VIDEOS AND POSTS.

[Louis Balban]

great photo..with our friend Hassan

[Louis Balban]

26th of March.today we went to see our friend Mobarek and we had lunch which we really enjoyed it, like always on the way we did a bit Solidarity,few pics of today...

[Alfred Balban]

27th of March.
Second day in Merzouga,got up as usual at 7 am and had my breakfast,today we will be going out doing solidarity works in some parts of the area,had made a breifing to the group that they should have their breakfast at 8 am to start our day at 9:30 am,well its 9:00 am and still some have not got out of their rooms.We will start our day returning to the lake we saw during the night to see the flamingo's and start our next adventure.

We then hit the tracks to the mountains of Taouz,Louis realised that his camara was missing from his car,he last used it at the lake so somehow it dissapeared there,we will ask later the kids that were there selling us the fossils,we carried on the tracks were we saw a small school and went
in to talk to the teacher,there was only 5 kids in the school as there is only 5 houses in the nearest village,I told to the teacher that we would come another day to provide the kids with school materials and a blackboard for them and also some board games for them to share.

We then proceeded to the mountain were the rupestre paintings of the 1st shephards are vissable drawn on the stone plates were they would sit down to watch on their cattle's.

We then proceeded to visit the nomads to to some solidarity work on the black plains behind the erg chebbi.

After we had visited the nomads in the area we went to a site were there is an airplane which was built for a film and left behind.

We then carried on to Takojt to visit our friend Mobarek were he was waitng for us to have lunch in his Albergue.As usual we had a marvelous meal and everyone was really satisfied.

We chilled around and enjoyed the place sights of the dunes and their hospitality,later we headed back to our hotel to chill out and relax.

[Alfred Balban]

28th of March.

Today we are going to have some fun on speed tracks which will take us to an oasis 5 kms near Algerie were we will cook our lunch on a fire,doing some solidarity work on the way.Hasssan our friend had gone to the butchers and bought some chicken to cook with vegetables.Participants were able to pick up some fossils from a prehistoric river bed in the area.

We did a great run on the legendary tracks from the Dakar rally and did some solidarity work with the nomads of the area then reached the oasis were some had a great time bathing in its clear waters.

Daren gave away a bicycle he had brought from his daughter,he sure made this girl happy!

We then made our way back through the river of sand that surrounds nearly all the Erg Chebbi area to the hotel.

During the dinner we talked about staying for one more night in Merzouga as we were one day ahead of our schedule,we will get up and do some dunes in the morning and do some solidarity work in some areas we had not visited yet.

[Alfred Balban]

I got up as usual and had my breakfast,I had arranged with Justin and Kevin to go early to the dunes so he could practice driving on sand,I also wanted to test how my car would drive only on its rear transmission.We reached the foot of the dunes and we let air pressure out from our tire's to 1 bar for better grip,I was really amazed to at what limits I could go on the dunes such that I over did it resulting in getting stuck down to my rear axle.Justin did real great after I gave him a small briefing on the how's,he tried to pull me out by the rear & front with no avail,my car is too heavy,here was my chance of testing my front will drive,I had removed the front drive shaft cause it was not locking,with the great help of Kevin and Justin we managed to position the shaft to its place and I tried to move backyards with the surprise that it was working.

I had some fun and later we went to meet the others and do some solidarity work on the way we went to see our friend Brahim as always to help out in what we can for him and his family,I was surprised and content to see that with the help of others they are able to redo there house and do some building like a roof they were desperate to do in the main entrance,good to see there is still some solidarity in humanity.

Then we went to have lunch at our friend Mobarek's hotel in Takojt were he served us a traditional Berber tortilla which everyone enjoyed.Later I took every one to the dunes to have a test drive and their 1st lesson's.

We later made our way to Rissani as all needed to get some cash from the bank,I started to get a strange noise everytime I let loose the accelerating pedal,I had to stop on the sideway to check it out,one of the wheel bearings was a bit loose so I got my tools to fix the problem,I did the job but still had the same noise and it came from the rear,I told the group to carry on to Rissani while's I checked it out.I had got the front axle of again to see if that was the problem but it continued the same,in the end I had to let the transmission free so as to Justin with his car would tow me back to Merzouga to the Mechanic Brahim.

He took look and saw the rear diff casing had the bolts loose and all the oil had got out,he did the job and went back to the hotel,Hassan had arranged a bivouc night for us.We then made our way to the other side of the dunes were we will spend the night in the Bivouc of Hassan,the place is majestically place at the foot of the dunes and huts build to their traditional ways provide a bedding with all included,great experience for the new comers.There they served us a chicken tagine with vegetables which was really tasty and then we chilled out on the cushings.Others went outside to enjoy the sight with the brightness of the full moon.The noise on my transmission was back again!

[Alfred Balban]

30th March.
We got up really early with the sunrise,it was a breath taking sight as we had arrived duringthe night and we were at the foot of the great Erg Chebbi,I had made all my way through the sand again on my rear drive,now I had to make it back to the road,the noise was not as bad as during the last day but just when I let loose of the peddle.We had breakfast and made our way to Brahims house again to check it out.

We got there and it looked like the transmission box was making the noise,Brahim could not do the job so I called my friend Aziz from Zagora,we will be staying there for a night over 300 kms.He told me that the best would be to put the car on a tow track to his garage in Zagora,there was no other option,the tow track will arrive tonight and take the car.

We could not stay at Hassan's cause he was fully booked for the night.So we went to the Hotel Takojt from our friend Mobarek and chilled out in his marvellous place,in the village of Takojt.

[Alfred Balban]

31 of March.

We got up early and had our breakfast with Mobarek,my car was loaded on the truck last night
and by now should be in Zagora.We got ourselves ready and went to the school we promised the teacher we would return,we provided the kids with school utensils plus a blackboard and loads of A4 paper for them to use to write or draw,we also did some solidarity work in the small village of only 5 houses made of mud and straw.

We then headed to the petrol station 5 kms on the road from Merzouga to Rissani but
there was a big group of 4x4's there so I decided to proceed to Rissani and refuel there.
The group also needed to get money's from the bank and so did I as the truck to Zagora
will cost me 2500 Dhs,thats with an offer as the tarif cost is 10 dhs per km and from
Merzouga to Zagora there is over 300 kms.
We then took the Alnif road to M'cesi were we got the tracks to Fezzou,there we visited
an association who have been in contact with me and we have got an interest in their
project,Fezzou is a town with many problems but their mayor one is the water,if they
cannot get the water to the town people will have to leave.They have a school with 300 kids,
their concern is that there is no primary schools available and the kids start school with the
age of 6 or 7,they have already built a small classroom to start the project and we will be helping in what we can all the way.

After we had our meeting with the president of the association and its members we left
them loads of stuff to help them out on their project,we had lunch which they invited the
group and then proceeded to the tracks to Zagora taking the fastest tracks used by the
legendary Dakar Rally.

On our way on the tracks we met with Hassan the Guide from Merzouga who was with a group of french people on buggys really having some fun,they were going to merzouga. 

We arrived at Zagora and got to the hotel Chez Ali were we had our booking.I went to see our friend Aziz the mechanic who is just across the road.The car was stripped on the rear and I was informed it was not the transmission box but the bearings on the rear diff were worn out,better off,as the transmission box would have been really expensive to get.

They were waitng for the parts to arrive from Marrakesh so we will have to stay one more day in Zagora,all took the opportunity to do a highlift job on their cars.

 I was approached by the craftsman who did the dishes with our logos on last year,he had done one with this years date,we all got him to do one and he will send it to Tangier to our Hotel as he did last year.

 

We stayed in the hotel some chilling in the gardens others on the pool area,me in my room that luckly I had wifi connection as I was on the floor above the reception,past my time updating the diary which I was way behind.

[Alfred Balban]

1st of April.

All cars were ready for the next stage that will take us from M'hamid to Foum Zguid,this
are tracks that leads through stone mountains at first but then we enter the dunes were you really have some fun at a good speed through the river of sand,again my toyoya did great only on its rear drive,they had put back my front drive shaft but I did not like the handling on it so I took it off and carried on as I started,after all the car was doing great without its continous 4 wheel drive.

We found some people on the way and did solidarity work,then we reached the Sacred Oasis were we stopped and had a snack at lunch time.Roy opened a can of corned beef which he shared with everyone with a piece of bread.
We then carried on and entered the second stage of dunes were again we had some fun exit-
ing into the Iriki Lake and speed up to the mirage of the lake were all thought they would
reach the water that just kept on getting more far away as we went,great experience for the first comers who had never seen nothing like it.We hen came back to the main tracks of stoney mountains,we stopped at a spot were we take a photo of the group with the table mountain on the background,then we made our way to the exit of the tracks were a military control is which we have to pass,I had the lists ready for them with the participants and vehicles documents info to make things quicker but when we reached the control there was nobody there so we carried on to the road.

We had a long way to Tafraoute,we reached Tata and I thought best not to get the tracks
but to use the road,we went through some small villages and night caught us on the road,we
reached Tafraoute late in the night and we headed to the valley of the painted rocks,it will
be impossible to reach our usual camping space cause of the darkness and I did not have the
coodinates in my gps,so I made my way to the painted rocks and we made our camp there.It
was a lovely night and we had a great time talking about the raids progress and experiences.

[Alfred Balban]

3rd of April.
We got up with the first sign of the day light,for the new comers it was a great sight as we had arrived in the dark of the night and the visability was null.We prepared our breakfast and started collecting the camp.I gave them a tour through the valley into the village of Tafraoute were every one was looking forward to go to the market to buy their artesan well known slippers,I went to my usual small shop to buy the local Argan Oil for cosmetics for my wife.We arranged and we all met in the cafe were we had parked our cars,we had some coffee and Danny had a brilliant idea,the day before we had bought 2 chickens to cook for supper in the camp but in the end we just had a snack cause we were tired so the chickens were in a cool bag,in the cafe there were roasting chickens and Danny said that we could buy them already cooked and we could give the other chickens for someone in need,this was thought by a young 17 year old,great thinking Danny Walker.

We bought half a chicken and chips for each and we started heading west to the coast to
reach Mirleft and then Igzera were we visited the Arches but with a disapointment as we
could not enter the beach to do the photo with the cars,they have put a no entry sign for
traffic.

On the beach we had our lunch of chicken and chips,we chilled for a while and then
started our way up north to head to Agadir to enter the highway which will take us to
Marakesh and then to Ouzoud,a very long run that got us there at 2am in the morning.

[Alfred Balban]

4th of April.
Everyone got up at about 11am,it had been a very long drive the day before,as usual we stayed at the Hotel Le France,we all had breakfast and they all went down trekking to the waterfalls,I stayed behind and updated our diary as I was behind a few days.

The morning was really great but after a while they had left it started to rain heavily.By midday they came back and we had arranged to have lunch in one of the traditional restaurants in the area,they had brochetttes and tagines,I had been invited at the hotel to eat with them and I had a really lovely rabbit tagine.

They finished their lunch and we started to head to the small village they call the Mexican village,this is cause of the similar big hats they wear in the village,on the way we visited the local school but found out that they were on holiday that day,we talked with some young men who were playing football and they told us we could go to the association in the village and they will give the things to the school the next day.I remembered I had a bag full of sports gear in the car so I got it and we gave Tshirts and socks to all the players,real happy they wore the tshirts for the photo.

We then carried on to the village were we met the members of the association,I talked with them how we would like to do our solidarity work directly with the people and they kindly organised everything for us to proceed.

We then went to a store they have and left all the school materials we had for the kids,they will provide it all to them the next day.

We started to head up North using the main road to CasaBlanca and then the highway to
Tangier,we had started late in the afternoon so we reached hotel Ahlen late at night,we
drove over 400kms in a heavy rain into Tangier.

[Alfred Balban]

5th of April.
As we arrived well into morning we slept till midday,I had confused the date thinking it was
Saturday the 6th,it was Friday and we were a day before the date of arrival,well this will
give us a chance to chill out for 2 days and relax of the long run.

Some decided to stay in the hotel while others went for a spin into Tangier,I took them to Almilat were we had a great meal and then some mint tea.Later we came back to the hotel Ahlen and chilled out in the lounge with my laptop.

[Alfred Balban]

6th of April.

Today we are going out on a trip around Tangier by the west coast,just three cars left the
hotel the fourth Justin will meet us at the Grotte Of Hercules in Cap Spartel.We passed by
the kings palace and down the west coast to reach Chakar beach.We then reached the
Grotte and we went in to make time to Justin to arrive.

We left the area and went through Sidi Kacem road by the beach reaching the main road at
the junction to Asilah were we stopped and waited for Justin,he had got himself into the
highway by mistake and now was doing a long way back to the junction,took him over half an hour to arrive and we proceeded to go for lunch at the restaurant Chez Abdou in the
American Deplomatic Forrest outside Tangier,specialized in fish food.
We had a great bancqued which even Roy who said he does never eat fish had his bite,they also loved the place which also is a camping site were you can drive in with your caravan or mount your tent for the summer season being just meter's from the vast beach on the west coast.

We later drove back to town and went into the soc to buy some souvenirs to take home,all
got themsevles into shopping and then we drove back to the Hotel to get things ready for
the next day to get the ferry home.