The route begins in Taliouine, where you can pop into the crumbling kasbah at the eastern end of town, its ruins still occupied by a few families and farm animals.
A few minutes out of Taliouine, turn south across the high grasslands, passing small villages to either side. Things begin to get interesting as you drop off the plateau through the twisted strata of the narrow Tizi-n-Ounzour gorge (KM51) and enter a new, noticibly warmer world of scrubby desert vegetation. You'll pass small Berber villages along the way, all featuring ageing brick-red kasbahs and nearby, small palmeraies--each village's main source of income.

Once you reach the junction at KM80.6, you're among the barren Nevada-like ridges north of the Jebel Bani. Turning east, you pass the lone town of Akka Irhen, and then head northeast along the broad, stony valley tracing the southern rim of the Anti Atlas before joining the tarmac just north of Foum Zguid. Clustered around a narrow gap cut through the ranges, Foum Zguid is a town on the edge of Morocco. South of here, the desert rolls unbroken for 1500 miles to the Niger River in Mali with a road leading west to Tata, and a rough track rolling east to the Drâa Valley. You can also join the second half of this route by coming up from Akka Iguren on the Tata-Foum Zguid road along the track ('6837'; possibly now paved) via Targannt.

Note: the IGN 'country' map incorrectly labels Akka Iguren on the Tata road as 'Akka Irhen' that is the town at KM115.

Route-finding and markers

Across the grasslands, the village turn-offs can get a little confusing, but once past Tizi-n-Ounzour, it's a clear run to the junction at KM80.6. There's a lot more going on along the eastern leg of this piste than the maps would have you believe. Plenty of unmarked villages and associated turn-offs vie for your attention, even though the general orientation is clearly northeastwards between the ranges. Markers are few, but the tracks are always well defined.

ROUTE DETAILS
Use the kilometer numbers as guides along the route.

0 kilometers
N30° 31.5' W07° 53.2'
The route begins at the Ziz fuel station just past the west gate of Taliouine. The road winds east into the hills.

11.5
Turn right onto a piste signed Agadir Melloul 36km. Drive directly south past fields along a hard bumpy track.

14
Track goes left to a village. Keep straight on. In 600m, pass a cluster of houses then rise up a low cliff. From here, another track is visible to the SSW.

16
A village with mosque is visible to the left behind some trees. Soon you find yourself heading SE.

22
Cross a small oued (river or stream bed). In 800m, another track leads left to a village. Continue straight on.

24.3
Cross another small oued and stay on the main right-hand piste, not the minor one to the left.

27.8
Another fork. Go right (straight on). Over the next two kilometers, the track gets bumpier and at KM32, you cross a low pass and descend toward a small village visible in the distance.

34
Fork. Keep right again, passing a small enclosed field on your left. Small tracks come and go from the left, but the main track is clear.

38.6
The peaks of the High Atlas are visible on the western horizon. From here, the track heads directly towards the mountains ahead.

41
Significant fork down to a village. Keep left. This village, with its brown and white striped mosque, becomes visible to the right in a kilometer.

43
Track forks on purplish rock. Stay right, following the course of a small oued.

46.4
Colonnaded main street of Agadir Melloul with a radio mast. Drive though the center, past the mosque, heading south. In two kilometers, you pass some official-looking pink buildings on the right.

49.3
Another radio mast is visible on a hill immediately to the east, with rubble hills all around.

51
Tizi-n-Ounzour Pass, 1950m (GPS). Keep right and descend a series of steep stony bends through the narrow gorge. From here, the scenery becomes more
interesting.

54
Track climbs up above the oued on the east flank of the gorge, then drops down again to emerge into a broad valley. The track continues along the right bank of the oued and sometimes gets quite stony.

58
Large cairn on the left of the track.

62.7
The track crosses to the left side of the oued and winds generally SSW.

64
Track crosses back to the west bank of the oued, still winding about.

67.7
Track joins from the left and then in 200m, our track crosses the oued to the east bank again.

69.4
Town of Tisfrioudine with a palmeraie and mosque. Drive past the old ksar and along the palmeraie heading east. As you leave the town there is a rubble hill close to the right and irrigated fields on the left. Soon the track turns SE. Between Tisfrioudine and Timassinine, the track cross the oued a few more times.

75.2
Timassinine appears on the left of the track with access tracks joining our piste. In 2.6km, you should cross 30°N.

80.6
Small building and big stone block marks the junction with the east-west Akka-Afouzar piste ('6838'). Turn left for Akka.

86
Rise above oued to your right. Follow the valley heading NE.

94
Cross a oued and then another couple of small oueds four kilometers later.

101
Descend into valley dotted with acacias.

103
Track joins from the north. Continue ENE. In one kilometer the piste turns east then continues winding in a general SE direction through a stony oued
that runs between low cliffs.

107
Track forks. Carry straight on (left track leads to a village). Keep right in one kilometer where another access track from the village joins from the
left.

110
Ksar visible a couple of kilometers to the right among palms (possibly the fort marked on the maps near Akka Irhen). A track soon leads right, towards
the fort. Carry straight on.

115
Having passed a palmeraie and water tower and under a gateway, you arrive at the roundabout in the center of Akka Irhen near a pink mosque. The paved road to the right of the roundabout leads to Akka Iguren and Tata. You take the left turn heading NE out of town past the barracks. The stony track winds out of town over a flat rubble plain of scattered acacia trees with Jebel Bani to the south.

125
Cross an oued with low banks. One kilometer later, a track joins at right angles from the left. In another 500m, there's a major junction with red arrows on cairns and trees pointing left (north), possibly to Assarakh. Take the right-hand fork that goes ENE, then meanders a bit.

128
Two unusually shaped cairns on the hill to the left: one arch-like, the other a small tower of stones. Soon you come to a junction. Take the left track marked with cairns. Over the next kilometer other pistes converge as our piste descends past straggly acacias towards a small palmeraie.

130
Village and palmeraie to the left. In a kilometer, the track runs right past the ruins of an old ksar and then the village itself, leaving to the southeast along an oued.

132
Having crossed the oued just after the village, you are now heading ESE along the left bank of the oued. Over the next two kilometers, you cross and re-cross the oued.

136
The track forks. Go right and close to the cliff toward a small palmeraie that you will pass.

139
Fork. Go left. In a kilometer, a track joins from the right as you cross an oued that is first sandy and then stony. At N30° 01.8' W07° 21.6', there's a cairn on the left edge of the piste and you leave the oued and head ESE. When you get to a junction at KM141 continue straight, ESE.

143
The track is now going NE (53°) across a stony hammada. Broad vistas of mountain ranges to left and right.

147
Track bears close to north for a kilometer then resumes NE bearing.

149
Curve across a small oued with a few trees, then turn NE and soon ENE.

151
Fork. Take the right branch (NE) across a baked muddy stretch to emerge on the right edge of a low-banked oued. Then continue heading NE.

154
Cross a large oued. In two kilometers, a track joins from the right marked by a cairn.

159
Driving along a hammada, you pass a small palmeraie and stone hut on the right of the piste.

161
Track passes through a small village with a mosque and well, mostly to the right of the piste. Leave village to the NE. Another village is visible some way ahead at the base of the mountains.

162
Fork. Keep right and keep right again in a kilometer. Tracks to left lead to the village.

166
Track joins from the left. Now heading generally east.

173
For the next few kilometers, the track bears 10°-15°, occasionally turning NE.

181
Junction. Turn right along a major piste which curves around a green hill.

183
Major three-way junction marked by a large block. North leads to the village of Taourirt n Tilés. Keep right (east). In a kilometer, you pass a
small palmeraie with a small stone building on the left of the piste, which then starts to follow the right bank of a broad stony oued.

186
Cross to the left bank of the oued and head for the village with palms. In a kilomete pass the village on the left.

187
On the other side of the village, carry on SE. Keep right despite several left forks that lead to Alougoum on the road north of Foum Zguid.

189
Fork, keep right. You pass a couple of palmeraies on the left in the next kilometer or two. Keep right.

195
Pass a few huts. The track is now heading SE along the Oued Tlite and becomes corrugated on a mauve surface. The gap in the ranges marking Foum
Zguid (Foum = 'mouth') becomes evident to the SE.

198
There are a few buildings and palms on the right as the track crosses a claypan.

200
Pass a large water tank and continue towards a long palmeraie. When you get to a junction, go right. Pylons are visible among the palms.

201
Cross an oued and reach the tarmac road. Sign says 'Nisala 17, Tlite 27'. Turn right for Foum Zguid.

205
Sign for the Zagora piste ('6953') that goes north of the Jebel Bani.

209
The route ends at the Foum Zguid fuel station on the northern edge of the town.

RESOURCES

For more information on driving in the Sahara, including routes, preparation, maps and vehicle choice:
http://www.sahara-overland.com/cone.htm

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Copyright 2000. Chris Scott. All rights reserved.