On the way home

We were collected at 5.00am and taken the short drive to the airport saying goodbye to Mohammed who had looked after us extremely well over the week. Flights from Dakhla are limited so we were flying to Agadir via Casablanca in a turbo prop and then a wait of several hours before our Ryanair flight back to Stansted.

As we had our luggage to look after we took it in turns to go out of the airport and do some birding around the grounds with African Blue Tit seen by Gerald and Mahgreb Magpie, Corn Bunting and Greenfinch in the bushes and Swallows flying over. There were several butterflies and some interesting flowers to look at before returning, checking in and going through to departures where we had pizzas and chips and a decent sized beer for the boys before our uneventful flight back home after another really good trip to Morocco and Western Sahara.

Friday 17th - Last Day

We had an early start with the usual breakfast of Semolina, jam and tea before setting off back along the Assouerd Road. We took a shortcut across what looked like a sand quarry, probably to avoid police checkpoints. A short way along the road we had brilliant views of the desert species of Little Owl, which we spent a little time watching and photographing. 

Back on the main road we drove up to Km 56 where we went offroad to a small oasis by a dripping pump which creates a pool and a stream which meandered into the desert. 

We stopped by the pool and got to scan round. There were several flocks of sandgrouse flying around and dropping into the stream a little way away. We studies them on the ground and found quite a few Crowned Sandgrouse among the Spotted Sandgrouse. Unfortunately a flock of goats came across the desert to drink and spooked the birds, which got up and flew round before flying away. Around the oasis we found Thekla larks, a Peregrine flew over and a Long-legged Buzzard was sitting up on a cliff. 

We walked out to a wadi finding a Wolf Spider under a stone on the way. The area was under some sort of cultivation with alfalfa, sunflowers and remains of maize in small, rough fields. Around the bushes were Tawny Pipits, Thekla Larks, Red-rumped Swallows and a very smart Desert Wheatear. In the grassy areas there was a good colony of Ornithigallum and several butterflies, including African Grass Blue, Long-tailed Blue and Lang's Short-tailed Blue in the alfalfa.

We started off towards Bir Anzerine but Mohammed decided to divert to a disused farm area which wasn't so far away. There were some buildings and it had once had a very sophisticated water system as there was water gushing out of a pipe and the area was surrounded by a concrete aqueduct system although it wasn't in use. There was a geometric field system with several areas planted up with alfalfa.

The cars parked under some eucalyptus and we explored the bushes and scrub. There was a sizeable pool and some very damp areas where the water ran and this attracted a lovely, red dragonfly and among the trees we found lots of Chiffchaffs and 2 Bluethroats, which proved very tricky to photograph. A Kestrel hunted from a tree in the middle of the 'farm' and some interesting spiders hung in webs among the plants.

After about an hour we were called over for lunch under the eucalyptus trees which kept us cool and shaded. It included some really delicious oranges. After this we worked our way back to Dakhla, stopping at a municipal garden area which had trees planted in a grid forming a series of rectangular plots which did look a little neglected. They had picnic areas which were obvious very popular judging by the huge piles of empty plastic bottles. There were Little Swifts flying overhead, House Sparrows and several warblers in the bushes.We also found a lizard trying to keep cool by lifting its body and individual legs off the ground.

We drove along the coast stopping for a sea-watch, with sandwich terns feeding off-shore, and as we got closer to Dakhla we found a couple of Little Ringed Plovers poking about in a wet area created by a leaking pipe.

We arrived back at our apartments, sorted out our bags and went for a final tea and coffee at the corner cafe. The tea ceremony here is taken very seriously and takes about ten minutes to perform. We were collected at 7.00pm, spent a little time exploring some of the markets, the food one was very interesting, and then went to an Italian restaurant for a celebratory beer, as most places are teetotal. Unfortunately, they weren't very friendly, the beers were small and expensive and the food was nothing to shout about. There was a large group getting together, most likely from the Forum, so it's possible that they were very busy. We then returned to the apartments for an early night before our early morning flight back to Agadir.

I forgot my tracker today so I have a slightly different track from the phone which may share in a different way. Click here

Thursday 16th March – return to Dakhla

We were up and dressed by 7.00 am with a brief visit to the ‘shower,’ a large, plastic bottle filled with water from the well.  Breakfast was fried eggs which we put into a pocket in a half circle of bread with tea or coffee. We sorted out our luggage and left our bags outside our tents while our guide and driver struck camp. David got caught out by a sudden gust of wind which upturned his tent on top of him.

We spread out a bit but mostly explored along the wadi to a water seep attracting quite a few birds. A pair of Golden Eagles flew leisurely along the top of the rock wall and the acacias at the edge of the wadi had Willow Warbler, Bonelli’s Warbler, Whitethroat and Chiffchaff feeding up in the branches. There were at least 5 Trumpeter Finches, 2 Rock Martin and a Blackcap along the seep.

On the walk back we took a side canyon which led up to pool. Half way up was a large, recent looking grave that had to be protected from the flooding water with a large, wired wall. Also, there was a much older grave which looked as if it had been robbed at some time in the past.

On the way back we stopped to photograph a very confiding Cricket Longtail and when we got back to camp it had all been packed away and loaded into the cars, ready for the return journey. On the drive back to main road we came across a pair of Cream Coloured Coursers and a Black Kite flew over.

We made some stops on along the road for Bonelli’s Eagle, Brown-necked Raven, Bar-Tailed Desert Lark and a quick look at a dead Polecat on the side of the road. A sighting of a Lanner had the cars driving across the desert. It settled briefly on a low pile of rocks and then moved from pile to pile before flying off into the distance and we returned to the road. We drove to the first area for Desert warbler where we walked in a semi-circle round a small acacia thicket but no joy. We did see a Desert Hare and more Desert Sparrows.

A little further on we stopped at a second, more likely area and again spread out across the landscape. There were several sand lizards and I was lucky enough to flush a Fennec. Unfortunately it ran through the bushes and I lost it before I could call anyone else. After some time a call from the distance had us hurrying to where Brendan had found a Desert Warbler. It was feeding as it flitted through the bushes giving good views through the binoculars. Mohammed must have wondered where we’d got to as we were shortly fetched by the cars.

Continuing on our way we drove out to Tuesday’s lunch stop and there was my radio that must have fallen out of my pocket as I climbed into the car, none the worst for its time in the desert, one of the advantages of no rain. The Assouerd Road goes more or less straight across the desert but there are a few places where it crosses escarpments and the rock formations can be intrresting. This one is known as the Spinx but has to be seen from the right angle. The road is also prone to sand being blown onto it.

We were going to stop at Gleb Jdiane again for lunch but there was a lot of police activity along the road due to a couple of accidents as a result of drugs busts – one car had a large stash of marijuana in a pile beside the road and another one had been shot off the road by the police, according to our driver so we made a brief stop at a ‘shop’ at the side of the road just after Gleb Jediane for stuff for lunch and drove on to the Bin Anzerane road where we stopped in a compound for a very tasty  lunch of bean stew. As we waited for the boys to get lunch ready we walked around the area seeing Temink’s Larks, Thekla Larks and Red-rumped Wheatears. As we were finishing our lovely bean stew Macky, the second driver, pointed out a small skink that was trying to bury itself under a back tyre. On examination it was seen to have very small, vestigial forelimbs and to have lost the end of it’s tail. We released it into a mudbank near an irrigation ditch and it rapidly dug itself underground. Further research found it to be a Senegal Sand Skink (Dumeril’s Wedge-snouted Skink) A walk along the irrigation ditch eventually found a green/pink toad which turned out to be an African Green Toad.

We drove back to our accommodation in Dakhla to have a shower and freshen up and then we went out to the friendly café on the edge of the square where we had coffee and Moroccan tea – with the required ceremonial of tipping glass into glass until there was a good head of froth on the glass. Some work had been done on the apartments while we were away and we now had a TV and wifi! but the plumbing hadn't improved much.

Around 7.30 we were collected and taken to the Sammarkand where we had a lovely Tagine before returning for bed.
Click here for our route