To go to Foum Zguid à Icht
My truck is stuck
The week of November 24th started
under happy auspices. I crossed the
Zguid wadi still in believed while
following two 4x4 from the Emirates.
The driver of the one of them told me
that the following wadi was passable
without difficulty. Entrusting I took
the road. Indeed I passed the
Timelloukka wadi, nicely and slowly.
But alas when I approached other bank
I stuck the truck to the axles. The
village of Tissint is to approximately
25 km. A 4x4 driver led me to it by
explaining me that during the crossing
of a wadi it is necessary to leave by
the right side, he wanted to say that
it is necessary to leave by the
upstream bank of the wadi, the
experiment proceeds of the failure. He
deposited to me in front of the royal
gendarmerie to which I made a
statement on my situation. The chief
of post office took it into account
and told me that a tractor would leave
me from there. He was 9:30. Another
car brought back to me to my truck
elected by the gendarme to make safe
it. While waiting with the royal
gendarmerie I saw to pass a succession
of vehicles in which one says me was
the governor of the province going to
Foum Zguid to see the damage caused by
the risings. I waited until 12:00 to
see arriving a machine of building
sent and dealt with by the commune.
The machine approached the truck by
the back by removing mud. I leave my
elastic strap to raise then to draw
the truck by the back avoid-shock
which suffers damage. Indeed there is
no hook of towing. Moreover the strap
broke. The truck was given on the
track around 13:30. It cost of it me a
tip to the workers of 200 MAD. I
arrived at Tata around 15:00 to
install me at the municipal camp-site
without hot shower. Michele & Henri
with whom I made the organized raid of
Ténéré-Dakar remember that I stuck my
Man truck on banks of Niger in Mali in
February 2005,
here. Ten years
later I stuck my Mercedes truck in
Morocco for other reasons.
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| Crossing of the Zguid wadi |
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| Stuck truck, wadi Timelloukka |
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| Machine of building |
Prolonged stay at Icht
I left the municipal camp-site of Tata
without displeasure, of the concrete
without tree, without hot shower,
without services. There were four
French motor homes of which one of the
team came there for more than 20 years
during several months, I dream! After
having made food shopping at the souk
then have made wash my truck to remove
the traces of its planting in a mud
ocean, I took the road to Icht to have
rest in a true camp-site before
surfing again on the Gandini's
tracksi. Of course I was alone in the
camp-site where I would like to stay two nights.
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| Foum d'Icht |
Bivouac, Borj Biramane |
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| Borj Biramane, haven of peace |
Rupestral engravings, Icht Kasbah
On midday Wednesday I lunched at the
restaurant of the camp-site of a
marvelous tajine. In the afternoon
with Abdellah I visited rupestral
engravings in the neighborhoods then
on foot we went in the old city of
Icht, the Kasbah, which would be +500
years old. It is entirely built in
adobe, its access is protected by a
weephole. It was a fortified town with
four watching towers of which only one
remains. The bird's eyes view shows
the damage caused by the pouring rain;
it is probable that it will disappear
gradually not to be more that one
immense ground heap like the old
cities in Mesopotamia. Then the
archeologists in a few millennia will
come to make excavations… Abdellah
made me visit his grandfather's house
made up of a ground floor and a stage
for each one of his wives with her
children. The parts are organized
around a central well of light. There
are two or three years the palm
plantation was equipped with
irrigation canals. In his father's
house Abdellah offered to me the
Berber tea, I showed surreptitiously
to pass his wife and his four
children. Then we walked in the modern
city where they were days of souk with
travelling merchants. The buckled
women discussed the prices bitterly.
The population of Icht is
approximately 1500 inhabitants.
Throughout my trip I was greeted
cordially by the population I returned
to the 500m-distant camp-site by the
bed of the wadi which was invaded by
rainwater like in Foum Zguid. The
comments by Abdellah were very
enriching.
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| Rupestral
engravings |
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| Panorama |
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| Icht kasbah entrance |
Grandfather's house |
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| Mosque |
Bird's eyes view |
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| Watching tower |
Palm platation |
Bad weather, storm, wind, rain & wadis in rising
Weather forecasting for the area was
very bad. The consulate-general of
France launched to the subscribers of
the Fil d'Ariane a warning of
vigilance. Moreover the direction of
the camp-site Borj Biramane advised
not to take the track to Tafraout
whereas the royal gendarmerie of Foum-el-Hassane
prohibited to drive in mountain.
Consequently I adopted the
precautionary principle I remained at
the camp-site until the end of warning
on Sunday, November 30.
