Mirleft Bushcamp
We arrived at our campsite at around 6pm, following a long day on the road. That sounds a bit pretentious, doesn’t it? A long day on the road! As if I did anything. I just sat on my arse, snoozed, nibbled, snoozed, nibbled some more, snoozed, sipped and supped and snoozed again. Jordan, our fearless charioteer, did all the hard work. He is an excellent driver and I have full confidence in him.
The campsite is just by the ocean, just a few metres away. We are camping in about half a hectare of hard compacted sand. Mercifully, there were few rocks and it was flat. The ocean is pretty wild around here and I can hear the breakers crash onto the shore. It’s a pleasant and comforting sound. There are no clouds and the stars are very bright due to a lack of light pollution. I was going to leave the flysheet off so I could gaze at the stars whilst in bed, through the mesh of the inner frame. However, it started to get cold so I didn’t.
As soon as we arrived, the first thing we did, as we always do, we set up the field kitchen and the cook group started preparing dinner. The rest of us went off to pitch our tents. I try to erect my tent away from the others, not because I’m an antisocial bastard, but because of the snoring., for which I have an unfortunately low level of tolerance.
I bought my tent last year for my Arabia trip. I must have used it about 40 nights on that trip and a half dozen times in this one. I’m still finding ways to make it quicker to erect and take down. I saw a YouTube video on tent pegging and have improved how I tie it down to the deck. I brought 2 different types of pegs – one for earth and sand and one sort for harder ground. I probably need another very strong pegs for very hard ground. First world problems really.
Just as I was nodding off, I saw blue flashing lights outside my tent. Oh oh, the cops. But they just toured around the area and then left again. Sometimes, we are moved on by police or local authorities, but not this time.
I slept like a log until 6am when I arose to take my tent down and stow it away on the truck. We had breakfast at 7am and hit the road at 8am. We have a 500km journey ahead of us until our next bushcamp. We stop every few hours for a pee stop and once for a longer lunchbreak at a service station or small town.
One of the group have come down with the dreaded Tangier trots. Aka Delhi belly. Let’s hope it doesn’t spread.
Mirleft (Arabic: مير اللفت; Central Atlas Tamazight: ⵎⵉⵔⵍⴼⵜ) is a small town and rural commune in Sidi Ifni Province of the Guelmim-Oued Noun region of Morocco. At the time of the 2004 census, the commune had a total population of 7026 people living in 1303 households. It is perched on top of the gigantic ocher-colored cliffs bordering the ocean. The view of the Atlantic coast is magnificent, especially from Fort Tidli. Built in 1935, this now abandoned military fort dominates the ocean as well as the traditional town where you can find various and varied local products: argan oil, Moroccan pottery, slippers, etc.
But Mirleft is above all renowned for being an excellent spot for water sports – surf, bodyboard – thanks to its wind and regular rolls offering the ideal conditions for surfing, windsurfing and kitesurfing. The waters of Mirleft are also known to be rich in variety and quantity of fish. Fishing enthusiasts will undoubtedly find their happiness here. Among the species present in Mirleft.
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