We left Fort Bou Jerif and took the more direct route back to the tarmac road without getting lost – 9 Km over rough tracks. It took us a good 45 minutes. We suspected that Eberhart’s claim that it was a ten minute journey was grossly exaggerated – or Tony was the more considerate driver!
Next stop was La Plage Blanche – 40 km of sandy beach lying in a nature reserve between the Sahara and the Atlantic. You could stay overnight in a wild camping area at the top of the beach – 800 metres from the water’s edge. It was a vast area of sand and was a favourite with off-road motor bikers and 4×4 vehicles. When we were there it was peaceful enough.
There were piles of plastic bags dotted along the beach containing picked-up rubbish. The bags had remained uncollected for so long many of them were broken open (seagulls?) and the rubbish strewn across the sand.
There were a couple of French families enjoying a day at the beach. They had driven their cars on to the sand closer to the water’s edge. One of the cars had strayed from the hard sand and was bogged down in soft ground. It took them several hours to dig themselves out. When they left I noticed there was a scattering of rubbish where they had parked.
Towards the end of the afternoon a herd of ten or so dromedary camels wandered along the shoreline and up the beach past our truck. They were unfazed by humans and came really close, inspecting us with their mobile furry lips. We gave one camel a carrot and we thought it would never go away. The camels had tags in their ears and foraged along the same route each day.
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