Although
the golden sand dunes of the Erg Chebbi are beautiful it was difficult
for most travelers to go there. In the best position were drivers with
their own 4x4 and GPS. If they have hopefully my or another travel guide
with a route description they just have to be strong in Erfoud and refuse any company. They will easily and peacefully find the dunes.
But all the others
have it now much easier with the new asphalt road from
Rissani to Merzouga. Either
with their own car or with the official taxi one can be
there in 30 minutes from Rissani. But now they found a new trick: on the way to
Merzouga you might find a car, apparently broken down or out of gas,
but don't believe him, he will only bring you in his own Auberge. They all want to make their business, will bring you to
Auberges and carpet shops they are working with.
Auberges in the Erg
Chebbi area
For
budget travelers the best way is to go to Rissani and take the local taxi
to Merzouga. There is one and it is cheap, but often people during the
trip try to tell you that the taxi is not going to Merzouga and bring you
to an Auberge far from it. Here is a story of a Morocco traveler (from the
old times without asphalt):
I
just returned from a trip to Morocco. I have two areas that I'd like to
comment on, but before I start let me state this caveat. The vast majority
of Moroccans are lovely and friendly people. Also apart from the
relatively minor incident described below I had a superb time during my
stay and I would visit again and recommend the country as a great travel
destination!
Firstly,
visiting Merzouga and the Dunes. When you
arrive in Rissani you will be ambushed by relentless touts hoping to
escort you across to Merzouga. These guys all hangout at the 'Cafe Salama'
which is the first place you see after the gas station as you come in to
town. Unless you are special forces or something and can call in an
airstrike on this place (how I wish), you will get hassled. These guys
scramble to their mopeds as soon as a foreigner is spotted. Many of the
Moroccans in the faux guide/carpet selling business seem to have adopted a
WW2 approach to helpful tourist signs and the like. If you find a sign it
will often be obscured and sometimes new signs disappear overnight! Simply
finding the road to Merzouga out of Rissani is a major challenge as there
is simply no one that you can ask who won't also try to scam you!
My
story is that I did find the road, but that once I was out in the desert
(and it was towards the end of the day) there were no other cars. Fortunately (or so I thought) I spotted an English
couple driving in the same direction. They had conceded to pay one of the
faux guides and I tagged behind. Soon they, and then I, got stuck in the
sand. Fortunately with some backwork and determination we got out and
eventually reached the dunes. However we did not reach Merzouga, but like
many people were presented with a fait accompli by the guide, who had
actually taken us to his own family/friends place, which in this instance
was the "Auberge Lahmada" . Not only that, but the tracks to
these types of outfits are far worse than the well worn track to Merzouga.
As a consequence the front of my hire car got totaled. I was just lucky
that it could still be driven. It could have been a very expensive
nightmare. Once at one of these establishments (some 20 km north of
Merzouga) you will be subjected to relentless pressure for treks etc etc.
I walked south to a few other Auberges and heard similar tales.
My
second point is car hire. If you hire a car from the cheapest place and
then ask what if I have an accident or the car breaks down, what do you
expect people to say who are trying to flog you their service??? If the
car breaks down you are totally F####d! If you have an accident you will
have to pay for the car to be repaired or possibly worse, face a law suit
from someone you have injured. Strangely enough they never say this but
always reassure you that there will be no problem. My advice here is if
you do want to shop around for car hire, do so via one of the better known
larger western companies. "Bon Chance"
Another
report:
Some
fellow travelers and I took a CTM bus from Fes to Rissani a few days ago.
At the CTM station, our bags were offloaded and we were greeted by what
seemed like an official of the CTM station there. We asked about taxis to
Merzouga and he introduced us to a driver and they showed us his van and
we discussed the price (20 dh, which was legit). After a coffee, my two
friends and I and three Japanese girls hopped into the van. Instead of
taking us to the town or the hotel we requested, they took us far out of
the way to a hotel that they or a friend owned called Auberga Hamada. We
did not leave the vehicle. We told them to take us directly to our Hotel
that we had specifically asked for. They said we would have to pay more
money since they had already driven us this far. They did take us to our
hotel, and we did NOT pay them more money (luckily their car got stuck so
we had to walk a bit to the hotel).
At
the hotel, the taxi drivers tried to convince the hotel owner that he
should charge us 300 Dirham extra for them bringing us here. He scoffed at
them and told them to leave immediately. We were told later that another
hotel might have taken them up on the offer. The point of this rambling
story is that there is a new taxi scam racket going on in Merzouga that
travelers need to be aware of. We were told that those drivers would drop
you off at that hotel and to leave to actually go anywhere or get back ot
Rissani they would charge exorbitant prices. The honest hotel owner that
we ran into and that saved us from these extortionists was Hassan of the
Kasbah le Toureg, which did not receive much of a write up in your latest
LP-Morocco edition but certainly deserves to be acclaimed for us
generosity and honesty in this matter. He treated my friends and I very
well and makes a simple living on his sheer kindness.
Morocco