GUESTHOUSECAMP SITE, HOMESTAYTIGHMERT
There are a few basic guesthouses around this oasis, mostly located some 20km southeast of
Goulimime off Rte d’Asrir.
Maison d’Hôtes Nomades €
( 0667 90 96 42; www.darnomade.com, in French; off Rte d’Asrir; s/d/tr Dh150/200/250)
This pisé house right in the oasis has camels in the stables, and argan and cactus products for
sale. Rooms have en-suite bathrooms and the views from the roof terrace are magical. The
proprietors offer oasis and desert tours, and meals on request (Dh80).
Domaine Khattab €
( 0661 17 64 11; [email protected]; Km 12 Rte d’Assa; caravan & camping Dh50, s/d
Dh100/150, bungalow incl breakfast Dh150/200) This welcoming family farmstead has a tiny
zoo featuring horses, rabbits and the like – fun for children. There are spacious bungalows and
sadder rooms in the so-called maison d’hôte (small hotel), plus camping and a restaurant
serving simple set meals (Dh60).
FORT BOU-JERIF
This French resort ( 0672 13 00 17; www.fortboujerif.com; camping from Dh60, incl half-
board s Dh470-580, d Dh760-960; khaïma per person incl half-board Dh300; ) offers a
taste of the desert, 40km northwest of Goulimime via the Sidi Ifni and Plage Blanche roads (it’s
well signposted). The last 9km is rough piste, passable in a normal vehicle at glacial pace. Built
near a ruined French Foreign Legion fort, the compound has a range of sleeping options, from
hotel and motel rooms to khaïmas (nomad tents) and camping. There is also a bar-restaurant
(set menu Dh180), where the speciality is dromedary tajine. Owner Pierre offer activities
including 4WD trips to Plage Blanche, a little- visited and unspoiled stretch of beach 40km
southwest of Bou-Jerif.
Tan Tan & Tan Tan Plage
POP 50,000
South of Goulimime, across the dry Oued Drâa, you enter the cauldron of the Sahara proper.
The 125km of desert highway to Tan Tan is impressive for its bleak emptiness and harsh
hammada (flat, stony desert).
If you weren’t stopped by security on the way in, you could probably drive along the N1
(known as Ave Hassan II within Tan Tan’s boundaries) without realising you were in the middle
of the town, which spreads south of the highway. The majority of the inhabitants are nomads
who settled here, and blue robes are a big feature. The army and police presence is also
noticeable, due to the proximity of the disputed Western Sahara. Look out for the middle-of-
the-roundabout stop sign west of town; the police at the post beyond are not shy of issuing a
ticket or pocketing a petit cadeau (little present) to overlook the infraction.
Tan Tan was founded in the 1940s during the Spanish Protectorate, but had its moment in
1975, when the area was the departure point for the Green March (see boxed text, Click here
). It’s a rundown and occasionally hostile place, where the main attraction is the moussem in