Morocco Overland ~ Route Index
UPDATED February 2010
The 49 routes in the book are spread across six regions of southern Morocco. The Atlantic Route and five other routes are all-road (with off-road excursions), the rest are pistes, some with road approaches or finales.
In good weather many are do-able with a suitably modified 2WD or a big motorbike two-up. Some will be suitable for MTBs (all known wells are indicated), while on a couple you'll struggle even in a short 4WD or on a light enduro bike. In bad weather any route, however easy, may be temporarily impassable. Nearly all start and end at a fuel station which usually means a town with accommodation and other services.
Click on a part of the map above, or the list below to go to each region's index page. Here you'll find an aerial image with the the exact route as recorded by GPS, and selected waypoints for a given route, though not all routes are covered. As the book says on p99: "Don’t get over-excited about the .gpx files – you’ll soon learn that most routes are navigable without a GPS, it’s merely a good back up when things go awry and can save time if the way ahead is not clear".
.gpx downloads
I've generated .gpx files from my Mac which I am told are readable by PC-only GPS software and so can also be imported into a GPS unit.
Errors are easily made on such a repetitious, cut & paste job so if a .gpx file points to Greenland, please contact me.
Each route includes the start and end waypoints (usually a fuel station) and each waypoint is identified as follows:
. .... MS4KM321
where the first 2 letters correspond to the six M regions; figures 3 and possibly 4 correspond to the route number in that region; and the last 5 figures relate to a kilometre reading along that route and so the corresponding description in the book (to the nearest km). The example above being Kilometre 321 of Route MA4.
Morocco East ~ ME • 8 Routes from 40- to 165km long
Covering the southern Rekkam plateau and the northern Hamada du Guir between Missour, Erfoud and Figuig.
Morocco High Atlas ~ MH • 12 routes from 45- to 317km
From Marrakech to Midelt, and Aoulouz to Alnif, including four trans-Atlas routes as well as Jebel Sirwa and Jebel Sarhro.
Morocco Sahara ~ MS • 10 routes up to the 1500-km Desert Highway
Along the Algerian border from Tata east past Erg Chegaga and up to Erg Chebbi.
Morocco Anti Atlas ~ MA • 11 routes from 84- to 276km
An area of dry ranges and canyons running west of Foum Zguid as far as Timoulay near Bou Izkarn on the N1 coastal highway.
Morocco West ~ MW • 6 routes from 121- to 391km
Essentially more Saharan routes, some with some long desert stages.
Morocco Ocean ~ MO • 2 routes + free download ~ from 194- to 1147km
An excursion to Plage Blanche and the Atlantic Route to Mauritania and beyond.
