Laayoune

Laayoune \| Dakhla \| Gulf of Cintra \| Western Sahara Gallery
Laayoune, capital of Western Sahara and as a consequence, the first place on the drive southwards that sells tax-free diesel. On the downside, Western Sahara is even more paranoid about "security" than Western Europe and there are police road blocks everywhere with the stereotypical, unimaginative police who insist on asking the same pointless questions even when you have given them the almost mandatory "fiche" containing all the personal information they could possibly want to know including the chassis number of your vehicle (yes really!). It is rather like the inane US immigration form which asks whether the purpose of your visit is to overthrow the democratically elected government. When they ask my profession for the thousandth time, do they really expect me to fess up and say, "OK you've got me. I really am an international terrorist whose sole purpose of entering Western Sahara is to establish the Islamic caliphate"?* In the town itself there is little of interest apart from the domed houses and the bizarre assortment of older buildings (and a nice hotel). The Moroccans are in the process of civilising and extending the city to the South, so there are some relatively tidy parts between the city and the port. Perhaps its greatest claim to fame is the conveyor, just South of the port which brings phosphate from the mine a hundred kilometres or so inland to be loaded onto the waiting ships; utterly filthy, you can see the plumes of smoke and pollution from miles away. The photograph is from 2005, before they became so paranoid that they will not let you take photographs anymore, and have a police point at the conveyor to make sure. Haven't they heard of Google earth?! I am sure the terrorists have. Return to Sahara Itinerary 2005► Return to Sahara Itinerary 2008► *Just for the benefit of police and others with absolutely no sense of humour, please let me clarify: I am not an international terrorist and, however intellectually challenged you might be, it should be clear from the amount of alcohol I consume (if nothing else) that I am not of the Islamic persuasion. OK? So I really am a tourist and the reason I take photographs is because I am a tourist, that is what tourists do...