SAHARA

A Desert Travelogue
by Richard Murrin

This collection of photographs was taken along a route at the edge of the Sahara Desert along the border with Morocco & Algeria, we have visited Morocco many times since the days of the Marrakech Express back in the ‘70s, so most of it was very familiar. We also drove south into the Western Sahara. While we were in Morocco, it snowed & settled on the desert for the first time in years.

We had a Fiat 500, a completely unsuitable car for anything, especially rough roads or no road at all. Travelling from Agadir to M'Hamid El Ghizlane south of Zagora, Icht, Tan Tan in Morocco, Laayoune & Samara in the Western Sahara, where we were stopped & were searched every ten minutes & constantly asked whether we were with the UN. The only other vehicles around had UN in big letters on the side. This was the occupying UN peace keeping force, which prevented us from going any further.

It was only once we were back, we noticed this warning from the British Government. "British nationals should not visit the Western Sahara, Terrorists are likely to try to carry out attacks in Western Sahara. Attacks could be indiscriminate, including in places visited by foreign nationals. There is a high threat of terrorist attack globally affecting UK interests and British nationals, including from groups and individuals who view the UK and British nationals as targets". — Richard Murrin