Dakhla

26 October 2022

Today I travelled the 530km from Laayoune to Dakhla across the West Sahara desert, by CTM bus. An extraordinary journey on a very well maintained tarmacked road through kms of desert with little or no sighs of life.

Occasionally, we passed petrol stations and feeding places. As we approached Dakhla there were some homesteads close to the cliff side and more evidence of fishermen coming along on their motorbikes to fish along the coast.

We passed frequent trucks bringing provisions to the south and presumably returning north with similar exchanges. And we overtook a truck load of camels off to the local market.

I was surprised at the size of Dakhla after the sparseness of the desert area. We passed a thriving kite surfing area and then a sprawling city. At the entry checkpoint a sniffer dog was used to check the luggage in the hold - it found a suspect package which was then opened and checked by the police. My fellow passengers were bantering about this action... they seemed to find it all very amusing.

I ended up staying in the side of town with the seaside promenade, see fronted cafes and a small cluster of hotels. It seemed very strange to be sat by the sea enjoying a juice in a café named the Samarkand.