it was raining and it was cold when i left switzerland on the first of september 2000. going to africa, i was not really equipped for that kind of weather, which i cursed all the way to the border. but as soon as i was in france the sun broke through the clouds shining its yellow evening light on the beautiful landscape and i started to feel better. i was over the border, zurich and the swiss weather were behind me and exciting adventures lay ahead.

it was a day i will never forget! my bike was so overloaded that i could hardly get it off the stands. getting on and off the bike turned out to be a delicate balancing act as my feet got regularly caught in the luggage on the back.

the next day i arrived in southern france where i met thomas, a friend from zurich, who had arrived here with his africa-twin a couple of days ago. we were going to travel together in morocco for a month, after which he would return to his job in switzerland while i would continue my trip towards sub-saharan africa. we took a ferry to tangier, spending two days wondering about what might expect us in that infamous harbor town.

morocco was great!. the people were friendly and hospitable, often inviting us to their homes for a meal. the food itself was fantastic and sometimes we stopped during our rides in order to eat a spicy kebab and to drink a glass of fresh orange juice on the side of the road. i liked that morocco has a modern infrastructure while it maintains it's old traditions. judging from the style of the houses and the way the people were dressed, you could well imagine to be in a different century.

the regions i liked most were the high atlas mountains and the desert region south of it. from ouarzarzate we made excursions into stunning gorges which were dotted with cashbas (fortresses) and lead deep into the massive of the mountain range. later we drove south, following a lonely desert road which passes several oasis before ending in a small town called m'hamid.

we felt like 'steven and thomas of arabia' on motorized camels as we attempted to cross the desert from agdz to foum z'gouid, which is about 200 kilometers away. we soon found out that driving on sand was slightly different from driving on tarmac, and tomas realized that his tires were not exactly designed for sand. but while our driving skills improved we found that we had lost orientation. the piste indicated on the map was inexistent always lading us into wrong directions. in the end we had to give up and spent the night somewhere under the 'sheltering sky' of the desert.

after our first contact with the desert we were ready for the beach and went to essouira. here we met tim who, like myself, was on the way to mauritania. while the two of us were discussing the trip, inventing a colorful future full of adventures, thomas suddenly decided to let his employer wait for another month in order to join us to dakar.

on september 27. thomas and i arrived in dahkla, the last town in southern morocco. tim had already left for mauritania but we would not have to travel alone. twice a week there was a military convoy from dakhla to the border which all travelers had to join. there were about 80 vehicles in our convoy, most drivers being stolen-car dealers. there were only few tourist. we drove to 'fort guergarat' at the border where we had to spend the night on a dirty spot which the military calls a campsite, (and the travelers refer to as 'la poubelle' , the garbage dump). the area around this place is full of landmines and one was well advised not to stroll of too far when looking for a bush.

click here for the detailed diary and more photos

saying goodbye to my friends

ready to board the ship

thomas with his bike

kashba in southern morocco

in the high atlas

first experience in sand

that looks much better!