Morroccan waste disposal site

Arriving at Marakkesh waste disposal site

3. 12. at 1 p.m. passing Marakesh. After the city suddenly bad smells and smoke – finally a proper waste disposal site!

We stopped. The site is run by an Italian company, which collects the garbage from Marakesh in modern garbage trucks. Some private enterpreneurs are allowed to work there for their own business: they collect copper and aluminium which they can sell for small money. They earn about Eur 2,-/day. Everybody has their own „claim“ to work, some are more respected, some are more aggressive, but there is no official hierarchy. They name themselves after movie heroes. There was Bruce Lee and Jean Claude van Damme.

An old man lives in the middle of the waste with his sheep, and it was not advised to come close to his place.

The density of waste causes heat, the ground is smoking, sometimes flames come up, fires are burning here and there. The deposit seems to be an endless hell of smoke.

The private enterpreneurs welcomed us friendly, and I got some nice dividends for our lucky shareholders as a gift.

In the evening back to Tiznit, tired, smelly, but happy about our find. Hot shower.

Mauretanian Embassy

2. 12. at 9:00 a.m. we joined the queue on the street in front of the Mauretanian

Embassy, which was open for visa applications for precisely 1 hour. 2 passport photos required, copies of the passports, 350,- Dirham (approx. Eur 35,-) for each. 2 of us stayed in the queue, 2 were running for copies, photos and money exchange.

Then until 4 p.m. in Rabat. Manuel was sleeping, while the rest of us explored the local garbage bins.

At 4 p.m. back to the embassy, ladies first, yeah! We got our visa, jumped on our Steyr and back on the road.

At night police controls. A smart young policeman found out, that our insurance was about to elapse, penalty Eur 20,-. We are behind our schedule, insurance should have been valied until the Mauretanian border. So no more driving at night because of the controls.

Back to the beginning

1. 12. Tiznit: approx. 1.200 km from Tanger, 1.200 km from the Mauretanian border. Finally we found an internetcafe to put our first pix on the blog.

On the camping site we were told, that there are no more visa available on the Mauretanian border. They have to be issued at the embassy in Rabat. Many cars were driving back for the visa already.

Nightride approx. 500 km back to Rabat, this time on the fastest route, which means highway and toll. The climate became colder, it became really chilly in the truck.

Photos from Casablanca to Tiznit

From Genova to Tiznit

2 days on the ferry from Genova to Tanger. We were not the only truck bringing trash to Africa: lots of immigrant workers bring European trash back home.

On November 26th at 1:30 p.m. picking up Eva from the airport in Casablanca. Then heading through Morocco on the search for trash dividends for our shareholders. Some discoveries so far in Oulidia, Agadir, and on the route along the streets, on the seaside and in old Kasbahs at Anti Atlas.

In Morocco and West Sahara trash companies are privatised and in the hands of European companies from France, Spain and Belgium. The garbage trucks are quite new and in very good condition. People are irritated when asked about trash, but then have interesting stories to tell about it - as well as the trash itself does.

The country is quite clean, with trash islands in between. Here we found our treasures (see choice of pictures)