An hour’s drive from Fort Bou was a nature reserve at La Plage Blanche, 40 km of sandy beach where the Sahara Desert met the Atlantic Ocean. We loved the place for its quietness and solitude, flamingoes gathered in the lagoon and after dark the only lights you could see were the stars and the only sound was the roar of the surf.
A few Moroccan families used the beach during the day and there were half a dozen camper vans wild camping along the shore but the area was so huge you still got a wonderful feeling of peace and solitude.
On this visit we missed one of our favourite events – in the late afternoon a herd of camels would slowly amble along the beach. They followed the same route and stayed for an hour or so before disappearing inland over the hill. Sadly, this time there was no sign of any camels.
At the top of the beach were bins overflowing with rubbish, regularly raided by the local dogs. There was also a pile of empty beer bottles right where we had parked, litter discarded by the very people who had been enjoying that lovely beach. I found it hard to believe that it was the visiting Europeans that would so blatantly leave their litter strewn about the sand, more likely the fault lay with the Moroccan visitors who seemed to have a different view about environmental matters. In some parts of Morocco it was obvious they were making a real an effort to clean up but, on the outskirts of most towns, open rubbish dumping areas were still the norm.
We had topped up our 450 lt fresh water tank at Fort Bou only to discover that the water had a slight mineral taste which was OK for general use but not pleasant as drinking water. We had to revert to our emergency supply of bottled water.
Many households in the south of Morocco did not have running water and people filled their plastic water carriers from communal taps. Some would collect water on foot, some came by car and some would come with a donkey with water carriers strapped to its back. We located a communal tap just outside town and filled our tank with delicious fresh water, making our morning cuppa drinkable again.
