Our Land Rover was just not going to budge. We were up to our axles in soft sand and no amount of pushing, pulling, rocking, or revving was going to free us. It was noon, we were in the Sahara and we could see nothing but an intricately carved sea of dunes. Adding to our misery was the relentless sun and the wind that was quickly erasing our tracks.

The beauty of the desert had been too seductive. We’d set off enthusiastically at dawn, having never driven in sand before, without so much as glancing at our brand-new off-road instruction manual. Fortunately we did have the foresight to hire two guides in a second Land Rover to accompany us across the desert from Erfoud to Ouarzazate, a route that would take us close to the Algerian border and back up the stunning Drâa Valley. Thankfully, they eventually were able to tow us free.

It was a salutary lesson for us, just a few days into our first African adventure. We thought we were fully prepared – after all, we had sand ladders, gallons of water, maps, GPS and a satellite phone for emergencies. What we lacked however was experience, our tyres were over-inflated for sand and it had been inevitable that we’d get bogged down.

We spent the next few weeks in Morocco building our confidence off-road, learning to use our recovery equipment and GPS. In the process we discovered many rarely-visited corners of the country. GPS waypoints that we found on the internet led us to rock carvings of lions, giraffes and ostriches in the middle of the desert, remnants of an age when North Africa was as lush as parts of southern Africa are today. We also stumbled on rare tree-climbing goats close to Essaouira, inquisitive Barbary apes in ancient cedar forests above Azrou and tiny Berber settlements in a series of oases where we were offered fabulous freshly-churned milk and tajines of camel meat. But, as always when you take time to veer off the tourist trail, it was the people we met who left the most indelible memories. It’s difficult to choose just one encounter – perhaps I should tell you about a 15-year-old in Errachidia who had an extraordinary gift for languages, even knowing some Dutch and Welsh; or maybe it should be Idriss, our self-appointed guide to the medieval city of Fez, who said the city’s incredible but crumbling houses were “…beautiful on the inside. We choose them like we choose our women – it is their heart that matters not what they look like from the outside”. But no, my favourite encounter was actually in a rubbish tip.

We had stopped at a garage in the coastal town of Agadir as our 4WD was regularly overheating. After fitting a rather dubious-looking secondhand radiator the mechanic sent us to put the car through its paces on some nearby dunes. To get there we had to drive through the town’s dump, past its guardian. The guardian was a ragged young man who lived under some corrugated metal sheets at the entrance and whose face was black with dirt. He was fascinated by what we were doing and, on our way out, insisted on making us a celebratory cup of tea – ‘Berber Whisky’ as he called it in broken French. He brewed it up in true Moroccan style, heating the tea in an elderly kettle on a small fire in a rusted wheelbarrow. He ran to a nearby house to borrow a few sugar lumps and then poured the sweetened tea from a height into tiny glasses. To our initial confusion he then replaced the tea and re-poured it three times before we were allowed to toast our success with, as tradition has it, three successive glasses of the brew. We were incredibly touched by the gesture from someone who had so little and wanted nothing in return, save that we enjoyed ourselves in his country. And it wasn’t hard to do that – even after travelling through 22 African countries in the following year, we still ranked Morocco as one of our top three destinations. Its mix of intriguing ancient cities, spectacular mountain ranges, and challenging desert is hard to beat.

From the road
This edition’s featured self-drive website is www.sahara-overland.com. Chris Scott has travelled extensively throughout the Sahara in all manner of different vehicles. His books and website are the definitive source of up-to-date information if you want to head off-road in Morocco. This extract from his website is about a recent trip he made in an old £800 Mercedes taxi – it just goes to show you don’t have to have a 4WD and all the latest equipment.
“Near the Algerian border we headed out on a very stony piste to Beni Tajite. This one was a bit more challenging, with the odd clang from the bashplate or floor. There were many more wash-outs and oueds to cross too, but the raised angles got the car through with barely a scrape. Berbers were camped alongside the track, the young girls dressed in colourful tasselled outfits like gypsies.”

Plan for a short stay
Morocco is a great country for a trial-run before a big trip or for a one-off driving holiday. From the UK you can easily drive through Europe to the Algeciras–Ceuta ferry in three days. With just 10 days in Morocco you could get a real taste of the country, taking in Marrakech, the High Atlas, the Rif and even a short trip into the Sahara. You can also fly into Morocco and hire a 4WD.

Trip Tips - Sand driving
It’s difficult, if you live in the UK, to practice sand driving before you leave for Africa, so Jacques Delport, a guide and instructor on self-driving trips through the desert, has these tips for keeping you on the move.
 • Your vehicle’s tyres need to leave a large ‘footprint’ to be able to float on the sand, so reduce your tyre pressure to 0.8 – 1.0 bar
 • Never brake in sand as this will just dig your tyres in
 • If you get stuck, then first see if you can reverse in your tracks before trying to move forward again
 • Always follow in the tracks of the car in front of you to minimise the impact on the environment
 • Always approach and descend dunes at right angles to the crest. When driving down stay in low range and let your gears control your speed
 • Momentum is the key to getting over a dune. You need just enough speed to make it to the top and no more
 • If you feel the back of the vehicle coming round as you descend a dune, accelerate gently