Fun things to do in Western Sahara

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Walking along the "boulevard" of Tarfaya is a real treat for your imagination. Just like the boulevards in touristic places there is a blue sky above you, a blue sea in front of you and a beach between the sea and the boulevard. But in Tarfaya it still is slightly different.

The first difference: here in Tarfaya the boulevard is almost completely covered by the sand that is moved by the wind every day. The pavement is only visible in a few places, and the benches are half-covered by the sanddunes that show up around them. There are no charming lampposts, nor any shops or terraces. You only see a bit of old rusty iron and that is it.

What you do see is the old Spanish fortress just off shore. They built it during their period of colonialism here in Tarfaya to protect the bay of the town. Today the fort looks like a square-shaped rock in the waves: very rough and not a lot of details. As far as I know it is not possible to visit it, but it's definitely an interesting sight: a proof of the historical value of Tarfaya.

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Tarfaya is a strange town. Strange for its surroundings, for its seaside, for its atmosphere, but also for simple things like the things you see in the town centre. In Tarfaya there are probably about 4 roads that are paved, right in the centre there still are some roads that are only sand, but the worst parts are the roads that used to be paved: potholes everywhere and almost impossible to drive on.

Along these roads there are some nice, old buildings that are -like all other buildings in town- plastered with a light yellow, light blue or light pink colour. Some other buildings however are completely abandoned, and can be found right in the middle of Tarfaya as well. At the same time there are other, used buildings, in the middle of the desert outside of town.

And another thing that makes Tarfaya so strange is the fact that you hardly see any life on the streets. You hardly see any shops, no restaurants, and when you see a person they will look at you like they see the reincarnation of Saint-Exupéry or Le Petit Prince himself, but they won't say anything. When you're in Tarfaya you're just as big an attraction for the locals, as they are for you.

Again: it is very hard to explain what makes this place so bizarre. Go there and say (or better: feel) it for yourself!

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In the first decades of the 20th century, France had a lot of colonies in especially West-Africa. Since good connections and good communication became more important by the day, the French decided to establish a mail-service by airmail in 1927. An important hub on this line was positioned in Tarfaya. The service was called the "Aéropostale" and the young Antoine de Saint-Exupéry was made leader of the base in Tarfaya. He stayed in the desert for 18 months.

He was only a beginning writer when he came to the Tarfaya-base, but here in the desert he wrote his first big success: Southern Mail, in 1929. Lots of his books afterwards were influenced by this tough period, and his most famous book, Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince) is clearly influenced by the mysterious atmosphere of this area.

In 1944 St-Exupéry disappeared after a planecrash, serving the French Army. Sixty years later, in 2004 a museum was opened in Tarfaya to honour the writer, the most famous inhabitant of the town ever. A monument, a small airmail-plane is put on the boulevard right in front of the museum.

Officially the small town of Tarfaya is not in Western Sahara, but in Morocco. Officially Western Sahara doesn't even exist actually, but Tarfaya is just north of the inofficial border. From historical point of view the town belongs to the Sahara however (it used to be a Spanish base), so I will count it in as well.

Tarfaya is without a doubt one of the most bizarre places I've ever been. The French writer Antoine de Saint-Exupéry lived here for a few years, and used this as inspiration for his famous book Le Petit Prince. The surrealistic world that he discribes in his book is exactly what you see here. It is hard to explain what makes it so bizarre, but the sand that covers everything, the pastel colours and the fact that all people look at you like you're some kind of alien, surely are part of this effect.

I'll try explain a little bit about the mystery of Tarfaya in the following tips, but there really is only one way to experience this place: go there!

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The mainattraction of Dchira is the Spanish Fort, or actually the ruins of the Spanish Fort. This was the base that was attacked by the Liberation Army of Sahrawi in 1958. The Spanish were beaten here by the Army that was a collection of different tribes who were fighting to end the colonialism in their country. 17 years later the Spanish were finally defeated, but this was also the start of a new period of imperialism: this time by the Moroccans.

The remains of the fort of Dchira are impressive when you imagine what took place here. The views from here are great, with the dry canyon right below you. The fort consists of some severely damaged walls, guardtowers on the corners, and some old abandoned buildings inside the walls.

When you have a good look at the walls you can find some political carvings, most of the in Arabic, but a drawing of the national flag of Western Sahara is a clear sign: it's forbidden by the Moroccan government.

The town of Dchira, right next to the fort is a very strange sight: a lot of abandoned buildings and no living soul. This is really a goast-town!

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When you are on your way to Dchira, you will get a good view of what the real Sahara looks like. It is not all the big pile of sand that most people think of, and not only dunes of a few dozen metres high. In reality the Sahara can be a very rough landscape with mountains, valleys, rocks and dust. And yes: there is some sand as well.

One stereotype is absolutely true: camels are everywhere. Some are guided by a shephard, some walk around freely enjoying the small camelgrass bushes that you find everywhere. When you want to stop to take pictures: watch out that there are no very young ones in the group, because their parents can get agressive out of protectionism.

And then the landscape: Dchira is built right next to a (mostly dry) riverbed. The river that floats here from time to time created a true canyon in the desert, offering great views from both sides of the valley. On the canyons you will find several very small oasises: a collection of palmtrees where most of the times houses are built as well.

Around sunset it's a great time to be in this area: the colours of the rocks turn from almost white to yellow and even orange. Too bad the pictures you find here were taken 5 minutes too late... :(

When you drive into the desert straight towards the east Laayoune you'll end up in the tiny goast-town Dchira. There is a small road leading there along a dry riverbed that is just good enough for a normal car. The scenery along the way is fantastic and the place where you're ending up is just as bizarre as breathtaking.

Dchira is a famous town in the history of Western Sahara. In 1958 a liberation army, that existed of soldiers of all different tribes of the Sahara, fought in a heavy battle against the Spanish that were positioned here in Dchira. The Sahrawi won, although many of them were killed. This was the beginning of the end for the Spanish in their Sahara-province. 17 years later the Green Marsh was organised by the Moroccans, finishing the work that was started in Dchira.

What remains in this town are the ruins of the Spanish fort that was attacked here, and just a few houses that are still used. Silent, impressive remains of what used to be a bloodshed. For the Sahrawi who were killed here there is still a monument that you can visit.

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Western Sahara is a mainly islamic country, especially since the Spanish left. This results in a situation where tea is basically the strongest drink you can get when you go somewhere in the evening. Laayoune-Plage is slightly different from this: here there are more foreigners and quite some Spanish people who stayed here. The result: alcohol!

Don't think I'm such an alcoholic that I would drive 15 kilometres to get a beer; Laayoune-Plage basically has a very nice place to hang out and meet friendly people. This place is called "Josephina's", a restaurant/bar that is owned by an old Spanish man. English, French and Spanish are all spoken here and the public is international. The local people that come here are progressive people that often have an interesting opinion about the status of Western Sahara.

You can have great seafood meals here as well as beers and red wine. And because there are hardly any other places in the area where you can get alcohol it happens a lot that people buy 10 cans of beer and take them out in a plastic bag.