121119 Morocco Day 10 Monday, Dakhla - Laayoune

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121110-121124 South Morocco and WestSahara

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121119 Morocco Day 10 Monday, Dakhla - Laayoune

Woke up at 6.50. Packed most of my stuff and went to brekfast. The group was already there and breakfast was putting forward. I ate some and put some in my backpack for use during the day. This hotel seem to always serve a lot more then anyone can eat.

Today I lost my backpack. At least I thought so. I was about to put something in it and I could not find it. I thought I forgot it at the breakfast room. But no. I went back to the room and there it was. On the chair and I did not see it. I´m getting senile. :(  Maybe this is my last trip?? So many things I "lost" this time. So many times I looked for things that was not really lost. I just did not see it. Spent a lot of time searching for my glasses for one.

Well, we left to go 550-600 km back to Laayounne. The shot to the left was taken from inside the bus just before we  left the Dakhla peninsula.


We made the same two stops as we did on the way south. The little café and the desert stop where the crows was supposed to be. They were still not there.

Took these shots from the bus. Seems to be a settlement. As poor as the fishermens village I think. But maybe not, a lot of camels were there.

As we were going up north I was now sitting on the right side. Having a gorgeous Atlantic view half of the time. Now I did see all the ship vrecks I did not see when we were going south.







We made a stop at the wetland south of L.This days highlight.  Lots of ducks there and other birds. Stilts among them. Anders and 4 more went down to bird closer to the water. I did not dare walk down with my bad shoes and it was really steep to go down. And a lot of sand to go trough.



Anders, and all of us, was happy there was several new species for the trip on that location. The water surface dotted with birds. To bad it was quite a distance to them.



Going in to town to shop for tomorrow I found a place where they was selling shoes. I fond a pair I thought would be fine. 120 dirham. Sadly I think I will get blisters from them.


Then we headed for Sahara Line Hotel our stay for the night. We met again at 19.00 h in the lobby to go through the birdlist for today. And then dinner. I joined one of the coupels and we shared a bottle of wine for dinner as this hotel actually served wine. .
Back to the room for the usual writing. And I think we were watched. There was a policemen standing outside the hotel all night. Yes, I was up once and saw him there. He was the only person on the street when I went to bed and when i woke up in the night he was still there. Clearly bored to death.

Tomorrow we continue up north. Breakfast at 6 and departure at 7.

 

 

 

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More about South Morocco and Westsahara on NF Photo    Moroccan Bird species ** Labels: Resor, travel, trip, journey, Sverige, Sweden, airplane, flygplan, sky, photo, photography, Monica Johansson, NatureFootstep, nfphoto, NF_photo, nature, natur, fågelskådning, birding, fågelblog, birdblog, Marocko, Morocco, Västsahara, West Sahara, Sahara, desert, öken, Marrakech  Dakhla, Laayoune, Marocko, Morocco, foot, fot, oas, sanddyn, sand dune, Al-Ayun,


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** Links: Gueliz Hotel Tamri, Cap Rhir images Agadir Oasis Hotel Oued Massa (on Panorimo), Barrage Youssef-ben-Tachfine, (dammen foton) Guelmim Tan-Tan Plage  Hagounia Hotel Laayoune   Sahara Line Hotel Dakhla  Bab El Bahr Hotel   Dakhla Bay Oued Jenna   Dakhla on Panorimo Djemma El Fna 

day 10, 121119 Monday återväg t Laayoune, stop här o där

day 10, 121119 Monday night in Laayoune http://lexicorient.com/morocco/laayoune.htm

Sahara Line Hotel, Avenue Kairawane, Laayoune Tel 05 28 99 22 26

see day 5

121115 Morocco Day 6 Thursday, Laayoune - Dakhla

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121110-121124 South Morocco and WestSahara

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121115 Morocco Day 6 Thursday
 

I went up at 7 as we had a sleeping morning. I was a bit late for breakfast so I was almost alone. There was a buffé to choose from but half of it was gone. But I manage to get an egg, yougurt and some bread.  The people running the restaurant is not what I would call serviceminded. The lady in charge took an order and then she sat down reading a book. Leaving me waiting till I got tired and reminded her. L
 

Never mind, we left Sahara Line Hotel at 8.35. My lower lip is swollen and not fun at all. The cold seem a bit better today. We started our long journey south. Kind of nice at first as I spotted some dunes. But then it started to become a really dry land. I thought it would bee very warm today as we were going south into the desert, so I took my lighter clothes. Mistake! But I managed. So far temperature has not been higher then Swedish summer. .


 

First stop, at 10.25,  we made was at a coffee shop to go to the loo and have a coffee break. Well needed for everyone I think. Then we continued. We still had 330 km to go. And the road is straight. No curves what so ever.





At 13.30 h we stopped at the shop/gas station where some black and white crows had nested 2 years ago. But we did not see any. What we DID seee was litter! So much litter all over the place. I can´t help but being amazed about how much litter they can dump in the middle of nowhere. :(   In this "dumpsite" were some gorgeous flowers growing and gulls searching for whatever leftovers they could find.
We are now in Western Sahara.



I am sneezing and feeling bad all over. And I start to feel dirty. This country don´t seem to be good to me at all. I am sneezing my way through it. Usually I start to feel great as soon as I leave Sweden. But not now.

 

Passing a desert area one of us suddenly shouted out. A falcon was in the air. The driver was able to stop the bus so we checked the bird and then went out to look at it. It was a pair of Lanner Falcon   (slagfalk). We were lucky. And Anders was overwhelmed. Such a beautiful bird. And it turned out to be 2 of them. Probably a couple. We were able to get a bit closer before they took off. That was a nice and needed break. Cheered everyone up.

 

Later we stoped at Dakhla Bay to watch for vaders. There were quite many of them so we stayed until 17.15 before we went to Dakhla and shopping and then the hotel. The room Is gorgeous but Internet connection is lousy. I took  a shower but it took 5 min before the water was warm. Lukewarm, not hot.

We met for the birdlist at 20,00 in the lobby. For dinner we had first a starter with some fish and vegetables. Then the main course was also fish. And for desert some kind of fromage. The dining room was outdoors and it was rather chilly so I had to go to my room for a jacket. My room is luxuary. Not used to such things. And we are going to stay here 4 nights. :) 

There is one thing strange with Morocco. At 23.00h the whole country seems to go dead. Everything outside our rooms goes blank. And the light in the corridors is not lit even for so long it takes to open the door. You really need a flashlight if you want to leave the room in the evening.
 

Tomorrow up at 6.10. Breakfast at 6.30 and off we go at 7 to watch for seabirds.

day 6, 121115 Thursday, Oas vid Laayoune, div stop

day 6, 121115 Thursday, night in Dakhla http://www.visitmorocco.com/index.php/eng/I-am-going-to/Other-cities/Dakhla/

           Bab El Bahr Hotel, Ave Al Moukaouama, Dakhla. Tel 05 28 93 14 40

           www.h-rez.com/a277132/index.htm

           wireless internet complimentary in public areas,

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Labels: Resor, travel, trip, journey, Sverige, Sweden, airplane, flygplan, sky, photo, photography, Monica Johansson, NatureFootstep, nfphoto, NF_photo, nature, natur, fågelskådning, birding, fågelblog, birdblog, Marocko, Morocco, Västsahara, West Sahara, Sahara, desert, öken, Marrakech

 Dakhla, Laayoune, Marocko, Morocco, Dakhla Bay, Bab El Bahr Hotel, Sahara Line Hotel, dune, dyn, sanddyn, öken, desert, Western Sahara

121114 Morocco Day 5 Wednesday, Tan Tan Plage to Laayoune

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121110-121124 South Morocco and WestSahara

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121114 Morocco Day 5 Wednesday, Tan Tan Plage to Laayoune

Woke up at 6 to pack and be ready for breakfast at 7.00h. Today we was sea birding at Several places along the coast south of  Tan-Tan Plage. We left Hagounia Hotel and headed out at 7.08 to a place 10km south of Tan-Tan Plage. It was quite nice to be there as the sun rised.



There was some rocky cliffs below us and also some kind of small settlement. The ocean was quite wild with huge waves roaring the beach. There was some seabirds and vaders and some Little Egrets (silkeshäger). I waved to the co-driver to come and take a look in the spotting scope. He seemed to like it. We also saw some Great Cormorant (storskarv) and  Thekla Lark (lagerlärka). The cormorant looked quite different from what I am used to. It had it´s winter plumage and I had never seen that before. We left this place at 8.40 when the sun was well up.

Stop 2 Oued Chebika at 8.55.  This was a, now almost dry wetland as it was low tide, with the road going over it. We birded both sides and I also took a lot of sand dunes shots. There was a couple of Black Wheater (svart stenskvätta) who was very nice. And some large gulls. Not much vaders though. A grey heron and some Little Egrets (silkeshägrar).



And... I almost forgot, Flamingoes! After that we ended up in our first police control. But they was satiesfied with the paperwork done by Anders so we were fast continuing.

Stop 3  Oued Fatma Is an inlet that was flodded now. There was a lot of Audouin´s Gull (rödnäbbad trut), Blackstart (svartstjärt) and Black Wheater (svart stenskvätta). We went up on the hill overlooking the inlet. Wild water here as well.








Stop 4  Oued El Waaer or Ouaar. Pick one. It was not that much here. Then we made a short stop at a gasoline station. And went to the loo. We did not see many of these but a  few in the south region. At least, this one was clean.  :)

Stop 5  Oued Khnifiss was an old camping ground and maybe also military or fishermen. There was some activity going on there. It was a lagoon with a sand dune at the farther side. A few people seemed to live there and they had a lot of cats. A lovely black kitten among them. This one liked to eat my yoghurt. It was lunch time now.  :)  There were quite a lot of birds in this area. Probably because of the lagoon. There were ibises, storks, vaders and birds of prey. And I got a shot of their local wagtail. :)

Glossy Ibis

Stop 6 Layounne, almost at the end of todays trip. A nice desert river with a lot of reed. This was a birders wonderland I guess. The river never reached the ocean. I got myself some new species here like Glossy Ibis (bronsibis), MarbledDuck (marmorand), Black-Necked Grebe (svarthalsad dopping) and so on.  Loved it.
 Laayoune Flamingo Lake

The shot shows Glossy Ibis flying over an area of Urban Saharan Architecture that we passed by later on as we neared our hotel. To bad we could not stop. It seemed quite interesting.

Then we headed into town to find a supermarket. After some search we found one rather close to the hotel we should stay in. Sahara Line Hotel, I took a shower and it worked well as soon as I figured out how it works.
 
We met down stairs at 19..00 for the birding list of today and then dinner. This hotel had a menue to choose from so I ordered chicken and it was good. Lol, and on this hotel we could get a bear to the meal. :)

I have got a coold and my lower lip is swollen. My nose running. Not fun! Some bug is running loose in the room attracted to some gum bears I have so I had to "hide" it.

Tomorrow will be a transport day down to Dakhla. About 600 km shall be covered. We will be stoping here and there of course but no long birding session.  Breakfast is served from 6.30 and we shall leave at 8.00h The surrounding area is rather boring now so maybe I´ll put my birdbook in my backpack.


Time to go to sleep. It is now 23.30.   
The bug is no more!
 

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Laayoune Flamingo lake on the opposite side.

 
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day 5, 121114 Wednesday, Tan Tan Plage, Oued Chebika, Oued Fatma, Oued Ouaar, Khnifiss Lagoon
day 5, 121114 Wednesday, night in Laayoune http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/El_Aai%C3%BAn
Sahara Line Hotel, Avenue Kairawane, Laayoune Tel 05 28 99 22 26
http://laayoune-ma.three-star-hotels.com/hotel/sahara-line-hotel.html
http://lexicorient.com/morocco/laayoune07.htm
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Labels: Resor, travel, trip, journey, Sverige, Sweden, airplane, flygplan, sky, photo, photography, Monica Johansson, NatureFootstep, nfphoto, NF_photo, nature, natur, fågelskådning, birding, fågelblog, birdblog, Marocko, Morocco, Västsahara, West Sahara, Sahara, desert, öken, Marrakech
 flamingo, Hagounia Hotel, Laayoune, Marocko, Morocco, Oued Chebika, Oued Fatma, Oued Ouaar, Tan-Tan Plage, Flamingo lake, sanddyn, sand, dune, orange, Sahara Line Hotel, cat, glossy, ibis, svart, stenskvätta,