Deep South Unleaded
Tour 1 - OUARZAZATE - LAAYOUNE
Tour 2 - LAAYOUNE - OUARZAZATE
Day 1 - Ouarzazate-Tazenakht-Issil-Akka Ihren-Akka Iguiren-Tata : 250 km (70 km tarmac)
Our first morning, we begin with a mixture of both narrow and wide fast tracks from Ouarzazate to Taguenzalt, entering Tazenakht on tarmac.
Leaving Tazenakht on a short piece of tarmac, we join a beautiful small track which crosses a plain dotted with rural villages to Issil. We climb up into the Anti Atlas Mountains over a1800 mpass and experience a fantastic panoramic view. Our long decent includes riding through passes and gorges to Akka Ihren, through a very deserted area on the southern edge of the Anti Atlas Mountains; then on to Tata on tarmac.
Day 2 - Tata-Touzounine-Aït Ouabelli-Bordj Biramane : 180 km (15 km tarmac)
Today you will ride on actual Paris-Dakar rally tracks through stunning deserted landscapes, all the way to Touzounine. From Touzounine we will continue across the Jebel Bani mountains to Bordj Biramane. The trail will take us through beautiful palmeries, passing huge tombs thousands of years old and rock engravings.
Day 3 - Bordj Biramane-Assa-Lebouirat-Hassi Khangat : 300 km (35 km tarmac)
After an early start, today’s big ride day will be full of diverse riding and stunning landscapes. We follow the southern edge of Jebel Bani mountains along rivers lined with acacia trees and stunning gorges; then a short ride on tarmac leading to Assa. Having ridden the last ledges of Jebel Bani, we cross the Draa River through a deep gorge. We will pass spectacular landscapes across Jebel Ouarzik mountains as we continue on further South.
Entering the Moroccan Sahara through a huge deserted plain bordered by high garas (tabular mountains), spectacular sandstone ledges and some small dunes, continuing on until Lebouirat, a small village lost in the middle of the extensive desert.
We ride on tackling an old fast moving Paris-Dakar track along Jebel Tarf An Nous. Passing Gour Gnifida, a majestic tabular mountain sticking out of a huge flat plain before arriving at Hassi Khangat and our bivouac. We will spend a relaxing evening around a campfire at this wide river bed using the big acacia and tamarisk trees as shelter for our bivouac.
Day 4 - Hassi Khangat-Gaat Chabiyine-Smara : 250 km
This will be a great day of riding into the real deep Sahara landscape. No humans except for a couple of camel herders and maybe some military, as we discover all aspects of the great Sahara including rocky passes, deep gorges, long tree lined rivers and high cliffs offering spectacular views. We ride on through this scenic landscape passing small dunes pushed against steep rocky ledges, beautiful harsh and mineral landscape of granitic and basaltic rocks. We will be riding some small tracks on the varied surface of the riverbeds and a few sections of former Paris-Dakar route. We will enter the small town of Smara and stay for the night.
Day 5 - Smara-Seguiet El Hamra-Laayoune : 220 km (30 km tarmac)
After short stretch of tarmac out of Smara, we will turn off onto a track taking us across a sandy plain until Seguiet El Hamra, the biggest river in Southern Morocco, at Sidi Ahmed El Aroussi, a small village with well maintained saint’s tomb.
We follow the river course across a very varied landscape. The track sometimes follows the riverbed and sometimes climbs out onto the plain, thus offering great views over the river and the surroundings. Our adventure continues through thick acacia “forests”, extensive palm tree plantations, and beautiful cultivated fields until we join a tarred road just before Laayoune.
Your Deep South Unleaded Tour has just finished!