Determined to get a full day in, we dragged ourselves out of bed as early as possible (by our standards!) and headed up Todra Gorge. The gorge soon narrowed and before long we were in a section that felt totally enclosed – just the thin strip of road going through it alongside a river. Very atmospheric, especially with the morning sun. After this section, the road climbs up the winding gorge but the scenery wasn’t anything to shout about ; nice enough, but hardly spectacular. We had debated trying the off-road route between Todra and Dades gorges, which according to our guidebooks (including Morocco Overland by Chris Scott) was pretty tricky in places and not something to tackle in winter when there was snow around. Looking at the distant mountains, there was some snow to be seen but nothing significant so Cris persuaded me that we ought to give it a go.
Heading north we drove straight past the cluster of ‘guides’ in Tamtattouchte, which apparently is the normal starting point, and headed to Ait Hani. A few miles short of there a track heads off the road towards Dades (or at least, W/NW). We were following Scott’s route notes in reverse, and his final GPS position matched our current location, so off we went. Almost immediately we were switching to low range to tackle the fairly bumpy and rutted track and for crossing the oueds. Discovered the vehicle’s ‘departure angle’ the hard way by twanging the tow bar several times. Didn’t want that on there anyway 😉
After about 20mins we encountered the first obstacle – 2 kids running alongside the car trying to sell us some rocks, and their dog running backwards and forwards in front of the car stopping us from leaving them behind. After waving them away with a smile for 5-10mins it started getting a bit annoying, mainly because we were worried about hitting the dog! Eventually they relented and wandered back to where their mother (presumably) was waiting for them.
The rougher bit of trail eventually merged with a much smoother, more obvious but still unpaved track, which I believe comes in from Tamtattouchte. I think if we’d started there and taken a guide, I’d be feeling a bit cheated by now! Route finding from here on in was mostly a doddle – the path was obvious and when you had to drop into the oueds, you just had to follow the tyre tracks. Of course, had it been snowing, things would no doubt be different. I think however the route has been ‘cleaned’ a lot as it bears little resemblance to Scott’s description, which reads like it should be a bit of an ‘epic’.
Eventually we reached the watershed between the 2 valleys, which was not, as Cris was expecting, a shed with water in it. Bless 🙂 Stunning views in all directions, and some rather worrying drops on one side of the track at times, normally accompanied by the remains of a small landslip across the track. Nothing major to deal with though, and only 1 medium sized rock that needed relocating to allow passage….
Stopped for lunch, which was the remains of last nights mammoth dinner which we’d squirrelled away as we didn’t stand any chance of eating it all in one go, then started the descent towards Dades Gorge.
After a long stretch of relatively easy, but bumpy track, we had to drop down into the river bed again for a few long slow sections. Again, nothing that couldn’t be handled with the odd dip into low range and a bit of careful steering.
Before too long, and much to our surprise as we were expecting (based on the guide) to have some difficult sections involving squeezing between canyon walls etc, we found ourselves driving through some fields and back on the main road leading down into Dades. Pretty sure we followed the right path as (a) there weren’t any others and (b) the GPS marks matched.
Driving down into Dades gorge was spectacular – like a mini Grand Canyon, although I’ve never been there so probably can’t compare the two.
After several stops for photos we found ourselves driving through another enclosed section of gorge and out to a much photographed section of road:
Decided to call it a day when we got to Boumalne Dades as we had the details for a campsite there :
Riad Soleil Bleu Bed & Breakfast
Boumalne Dades 45150, Morocco
024 83 01 63
GPS: 31.377751, -5.981337 or +31° 22′ 39.90″, -5° 58′ 52.81″
Cost 40dh for 2 adults + 1 car/motorhome.
An interesting day’s driving – nice to finally get some ‘off road action’ and we had the whole route to ourselves. We’d definitely recommend driving up through Dades Gorge if you’re in Morocco ; Todra is ok, but Dades is much better. Would I do the crossing in a 2WD ? Not sure, its probably doable if you’re careful. We twanged the towbar several times and ultimately bent it a little, but I guess if you’re a bit more careful with the angles as you leave river beds, and maybe use some of the many stones/rocks to help with the angles, you might be ok. Unless its raining or snowing.
Around the World in a Campervan 