Morocco 4x4 overland tour, post tour to do's for the next time

Tips and tricks when overlanding in Morocco in a 4x4

Looking back on this years tour I've tried to put some things which we would have found useful with hindsight.  You know, we have all been there, got to a country and forgotten the phone charger etc.  Anyway, here we go.

Navigation

Planning our tour we spent enough time working out the route, but we were unrealistic about how far we could get wen we were off road in the deserts.  Also we didn't know how difficult some of the tour would be.

We found ourselves three times just not getting to where we thought we would do.  If your going in the deep south think how far you will go and then double it, this way you will not get stressed out as we did.

Also, don't kid yourself if you think looking at the map that the country has well marked roads around you will get lost a lot.  Most of the country away from the coast,  or south of Kenitra gets more difficult to get about.  There are signs but sometimes we found we could not find the roads, they were moved a couple of times, or they were just not there.  Use the maps as guides for going in the right direction and try to take time to check your route by village or town name.
 
We got help once from a local in the desert, it cost us about £2 for him to guide us 10 miles till we got on the right track and he drew a more accurate map then most companies can, you can trust some but not all of the locals to help out, just remember to them you are rich and they will expect a tip for helping.

The maps we had were ok to understand roughly where you were, or to get around on the major roads but that was about it.

GPS systems were ok, but we found that they can only point you in the right direction, not actually get you exactly where you need to go.  So the approach we had to adapt was "the gps thinks were going that way".  This means that although the GPS thought there was a road often there was nothing there so we picked our way around in the rough route we were going.  Do not go to Morocco in the deserts and only rely on the GPS.  After our initial navigation cock up which was caused by Google Earth and a GPS system we started to do some sensible spotting on routes and being a little more careful.  This did not stop us from getting lost, but we did not get in as much trouble again.

Also, if your in the crap, turn around and go back, then find a better route.  This happened to us three times, we got very good at finding alternative routes when things got tough.  We only had real issues in the desert when the sand was getting us stuck....

Next time we go I will have a large screen GPS, maps and CB as I did this time.  But I'll change the planning and distances we need to cover.

Car preparation

We made sure our car had been very well looked after mechanically and although Larry looked a mess due to the replacement of the front end before we went we had no mechanical issues.  What we did have though was things fall off, this was caused by the bashing Larry took.  You will never know what will fall off till it does, but be aware of the headlights on a disco 1, the plastic clips break easily when you give it some on the corrugated roads.

CB radio's are a must and learn how to use them.  This caught us out until I set all the radios onto the same channel and same European frequency set .  If you are in a Defender get an external speaker of you will not hear anyone when you are on the rough stuff and also get a good external antenna.  We had quite a few issues here and they are invaluable, without the CB's in the sand storm we probably would have lost each other.  CB's are a must we used them everywhere.

Tyres, I think you can use any type of tyre in Morocco, we never had bad mud or snow.  However, if you are using standard road or cheaper AT tyres they will not come back in good nick on the hard stuff we drove on.  Only the Goodyear AT2 equipped cars (2 of us) had no tyre damage, the other cars all had bad tyre damage caused by rocks cutting to the tread.  I don't know if other tyres are as tough as the AT2, but they worked.

Other than that as long as the car is in good nick then you are ok.  It was only the 90 that had real issues, it lost a diff and a drive shaft, this was caused by incorrect gearing putting to much torque into the transmission parts, not James driving.

Kitting out our car

This is a quote from Mike "I was overtaken by a bottle of bolognese source at high speed".  The tip here is take nothing that is glass it will break, unless its beer which is made from special glass, and put things in boxes.  Also make sure everything is tied down and in boxes or bags which are tied down.  Tie things down and put stuff in boxes, getting the hint. 

The P38 and Kens 110 were really well kitted out and they had no problems at all.  Make sure you have everything in boxes tied down and what you need the most you can get at 1st.  There is no point having your spares near the doors and the beer deep down in the cabin.  You will always need to get to the beer 1st and if you break down you will have time to get the tools out.

Not having things in boxes and tied down caused a right mess in Mikes car and we had two tents wrecked because they just rubbed against other things moving around in the car.

The exception here is the compressor you should have for inflating your tyres, your spade, tow rope, jate rings and matts, you will need these a lot in the desert.  Get them somewhere easy to hand.

So ties stuff down and keep things you need to keep you going to hand.

The need for beer

This is a debatable thing, we would normally not have taken beer but wine, however when its over 40c in the day you may need a cool drink and there is nothing better than a cold beer.  We can't thanks the guys enough for them having cool beer on hot days, it is just nice to pull over and have a cold beer.  Other than that I can see no need for a fridge in the car.

Water is really important Ken was not drinking enough and this caught up on him a bit, so water is more important than beer, I know this is hard to understand but its true.  You can drink water warm as well, unlike beer.

You should be gulping 2-5 litres of water a day depending on where you are and how many time you will be digging out the car in the sand.

Driving tips

 I can summarise the driving tips we used here quite easily;

1. Sand, put your foot down and keep going, as soon as you slow down you will get stuck
2. Dunes, as above but take your foot off just before the top son you don't get air
3. Rocks go slowly and if its really difficult get someone to spot you, a portable CB is good here
4. Corrugated roads, you need to pickup speed till the bumps go away, but remember your effectively bouncing on the top f the road so you will have very little grip or steering and can spin easily
5. Moroccan towns, go very slowly and be careful

You just need to be sensible, ensure you deflate and inflate your tyres where needed and be sensible.  You will soon get used to driving on sand or you will get stuck, the corrugated stuff is the more difficult skill to get perfect so your not losing your teeth.

Breaking down

We made a rule for us before we drove anywhere difficult which was if someone broke down one of the others would tow them to a garage after we got them to a road.  We did this once leaving the other three to go ahead and meet up.  We took this approach because we knew we would be going places where it was likely we would not see anyone else.  The reality is we would not have been alone for long if we broke down and stayed where we were.  Morocco has a lot of people out looking for you to give you help.

Also if you need to repair your car and get parts you can for Landies, I'm not sure the P38 or my EDC Disco 1 would have got parts easily but the Defenders were ok.  But it will cost you a lot of money, they know you are broken down with no parts so haggling is not going to work well.

Take as many sensible spares as you can, but I can't see anyone taking whole spare transmission systems.