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