HISTORIC SITESMUSEUMFESTIVALTarfaya
POP 6000
The tiny fishing port of Tarfaya was the centre of the Spanish Protectorate of Cap Juby, now
known as the Tarfaya Strip. A Scottish trader, Donald Mackenzie, created the original
settlement in the late 19th century, building a small trading post on a rock just off-shore, which
he called Port Victoria. When the Spanish took over, they appropriated the building, now known
as Casa Mar (house in the sea; Click here ). The area gained independence from Spain in
1958.
The Moroccan government recently upgraded Tarfaya’s municipal status, and the town is on
the cusp of big developments. A new port is planned, with hopes for the relaunch of the ferry
connection to the Canary Islands and greater tourist numbers. Tarfaya will likely retain its
considerable charm; it’s a friendly outpost with a seductively remote feel to the sand blowing
between its crumbling colonial relics.
The town will forever be associated with the French pilot and writer Antoine de Saint-
Exupéry. In 1926 he began flying in the mail service between France and Senegal, and Cap
Juby was one of the stops. In 1927 he was appointed station manager for Cap Juby and he
spent a couple of years here, writing his first novel Courrier Sud ( Southern Mail ), in which an
airmail pilot dies south of Boujdour in the desert of Rio de Oro. He also picked up inspiration for
his most famous story, Le Petit Prince (The Little Prince), which features a pilot lost in the
desert. In the words of one local, ‘The man was born in France but the writer was born in
Tarfaya’.
Sights & Activities
Historic Sites
There are some 22 historical sites in Tarfaya, mostly dilapidated buildings recalling the days
when Saint-Exupéry and the chaps touched down here. The Casa Mar is abandoned but still
standing, and can be easily reached at low tide. A monument was erected in Saint-Exupéry’s
memory at the north end of the beach: a dinky green Bréguet 14 biplane, the sort he used to
fly. Behind the nearby museum is the 1930s cinema and next door is the tower built by
Mackenzie; in the same area, swashbucklers swapped anecdotes between flights at Bar des
Pilotes . By the airstrip on the northern edge of town is the House of 100 soldiers , where the
Spanish stationed their Moroccan conscripts, and 2km south is the wrecked Armas ferry
Assalama . It put paid to the short-lived connection between Tarfaya and Fuerteventura when it
went down in 2008.
Musée Saint-Exupéry
( 0661 07 94 88; admission Dh10; 8.30am-4.30pm Mon-Fri, by appointment Sat & Sun)
Tells the stories (in French) of Saint-Exupéry, the airmail service’s founder Pierre-Georges
Latécoère, and the incredible service itself, which eventually became part of Air France.
Rallye Saint-Exupéry
(www.rallyetoulousesaintlouis.com) In late September or early October, the airmail service is