Dakhla – It’s bigger than you think!

We arrived in Dakhla on the 13th December 2010, after a very quick journey down through Morocco. Dakhla is a peninsular in the south, about 200 kms from the board of Mauritania.

When we arrived we were amazed at the size of the place! We were expecting something along the lines of Tarifa, maybe a bit bigger, but not this big! Politically the Western Sahara is still a very vulnerable place, as far as I am aware a referendum has not be signed; the Sahrawi’s want their independence and everyone else wants it for themselves. Morocco has held claim to the land for over 30 years now and the Moroccan government are pouring money into Dakhla, mainly for political reasons, and are therefore turning it in to a busy thriving (dirty) town. The Sahrawi’s are proud and well educated people who keep their identity by proudly wearing their tribal gowns (this is not actually a Sahrawi, this is Karim in a local friends gown) on a daily basis.

We stayed in a local cheap hotel for the first 3 or 4 nights, costing €8 per room with communal showers and toilets – for the first time I struggled with this a bit as the water was not hot (as advertised in the Lonely Planet) and the toilets, well I will say no more...

Through meeting people and our contacts back in Essaouira, we quickly found an apartment to rent for €300 a month, which between three was more than acceptable. It was basic but had everything we needed to settle in for two months; very Moroccan in style and with hot (proper hot) water and a normal toilet! Renting an apartment here is not easy as they are few and far between.

Amazingly Dakhla is not full of young people kiting and windsurfing at this time of year, on the contrary, it is full of retired couples living in rather large Camper Vans (aka Tupperware) in communes in the dunes. They set up their little communities with their friends or with those they have met in previous years and live a very nice hot sunny life for a few months. At Kilometre 25 there must have been around 60 to 70 Tupperware’s by the time we left and we stumbled across another ‘village’ whilst exploring the wave spots, set up in the dunes. The vast majority are French, for obvious reasons; however there are Germans, Dutch and the odd few English as well.



Dakhla itself is a fairly dirty town with two Souks and a very long street where you can buy just about every form of plastic object imaginable! If you don’t know where your food is from (ie, you’re used to buying it wrapped in plastic from the supermarket) you might have a bit of a shock if you want to buy meat. As with a lot of Moroccan towns there is a lot of poverty, the slums are conveniently walled off from the sight of the average visitor who would not know any better at a quick glance. Dakhla does however have some very nice hotels, The Best Western and Calipo being two with more on the way.

Christmas Eve brought us wind and we happily kited for an hour or so. In the evening we stayed in and drank mulled wine made from a bottle of red I had bought with me from Spain and some Schwartz Mulled Wine sachets! We watched a movie and slept rather well. Christmas day was another light wind day and the evening was spent with more mulled wind and friends.

New Years Eve was possibly the quietest I have ever had but thoroughly enjoyable and relaxing. Eight of us got together for an ‘American Supper’ where each couple brings a course. Malta and Julie brought a huge Salad to start, both Anouk and Karim and Alain and Genevieve made Tagines and we bought a kilo of yummy Moroccan sweets for desert. A few rum and coke’s were had and by mid-night Malta and Julie were asleep so the rest of us cracked open the bottle of Jacobs Creek Cava I had also bought with me to celebrate the start of 2010. As it was about to reach full moon, Karim decided he would kite into the New Year as the lagoon was wonderfully lit – the rest of us decided to stay warm!

The remainder of our time in Dakhla was spent waiting for the wind. Unfortunately due to heavy rain in the north of the country our kiting days were few and far between (although it did give us time to get our summer project off the ground!). In the end we left Dakhla after just over a month as the forecast was not looking good and with only 40% of the month so far, having been kitable, we were feeling a little deflated.

If there is no wind, there is nothing to do! We drove around all the other spots to have a look but sadly never got to kite them all due to the lack of wind. This is the problem with Dakhla, you are 530kms from the nearest big town (Laayoune) and no one really venture’s into Mauritania for the fear of been kidnapped.

Things to know about Dahkla for the kitesurfer:

- In the winter the wind is not as reliable as the summer. We had 40% wind between mid-December and mid-January.

- Don’t dream of flat water kiting (a la Coche, in Venezuela) as the conditions are choppy and the ‘flat water’ days are few and far between, when the lagoon is full, the shallow water is flatter but then you run the risk of injury if you want to practice freestyle moves. There are flat spots such as the speed strip but that will take you 20 minutes to get there (from Rio Aguilla/Nomad) and 30 minutes to get back, all depending on the tide and the wind not failing.

- There is a lot to take into account when looking at the forecast, as many elements here affect the daily wind. The tide is a big factor as to where you can ride and the thermals create strange pockets of wind leaving you unsure as to whether a trip of exploration will get you back home. The weather conditions further north (Agadir) affect the wind and the extremely heavy rain in the north of Morocco this year had a big effect during the time we were in Dakhla.

- It is 25km from town to the lagoon; if you do not have a car you are stuck! The Petit Taxi will only go as far as the Police stop, after that you will have to hitch a lift, which is not difficult, however getting back to town at the end of the day will be. There are no buses running this route.

- There are three camps at the lagoon and a forth is being built. They are, Rio Aguilla, Nomad and Dakhla Attitude, Mistral is under construction. Rio Aguilla and Nomad are basic, beautifully Moroccan in style with solar showers, they can be a little disorganised but very friendly and accessible by any vehicle. Dahkla Attitude is not so accessible (but we did make it a few times in The Bullet!) and is very European in its design and organisation.

- If you come in a van you can camp freely, or at one of the camps. Kilometer 25, aptly named due to its location, is very popular but can get very snug!

- Bring spare parts! The shops here struggle to get kit let alone any spares! If you rip your kite it cannot be repaired in Dakhla, it has to be sent to Agadir.



If you are staying at one of the camps, you might be lucky enough to catch a lift into Dakhla with one of the workers going to collect supplies, other than that you are stuck and if you are staying at Dakhla Attitude you will be paying a hefty premium for doing so! Two Spanish clients of BFs happened to be there at the same time as we arrived and went to explore. They were paying €56 a night for a shared room with communal bathroom, three meals a day are within this price but drinks are not. They were also paying approx €37 a day for kit hire, if they lifted the kite just an inch of the sand and the wind then failed, they paid. If they wanted internet, that’s another €30 a week! Dakhla Attitude aspires to be European, which it essentially is due to its ownership. Everything about its design is European and you could be sat staring at the water off an island anywhere in the world. The only thing that will remind you of where you are, are the staff and the repetitive food cycle. All that said, if I was still working in London and had two weeks escapism a year and the money to pay for it, Dakhla Attitude would probably suit me fine but if you like a little adventure and want to ‘live’ in a place rather than being waited on then I would suggest one of the other camps or a camper van.

When the wind blows Dakhla has all the potential to be an amazing spot (the summer is said to be much better) however talking to locals and those who have visited in past years, it is changing. The development of the harbour, some 25kms+ south of the lagoon (the other side of the main town) has bought with it a sea wall which is having a detrimental effect on the lagoon. In the past 4 years frequent visitors have seen the lagoon filling with sand, and a local friend who has sonar on his boat has measured the changing depth. The introduction of the new seawall about 4 years ago is hindering the natural out flow of sand with the high and low tides. Whereas previously you could sail (in a yacht) around Dragon Island on a low tide, there is now only one route in and out and Dragon Island is more or less accessible by foot when the tide is low.

The Western Sahara and Dakhla have been an amazing experience to travel through and I would definitely do it again with a camper van and probably in February/March when the winds, we are told, are better.

Click here to see all photos.

Now we are back in Essaouira after a lovely slow journey of exploration north, but that will have to wait for the next blog...