The First Indian To Cycle Across The Sahara In 28 Days

Anindya Mukherjee is a freelance travel and adventure writer based out of West Bengal. He has a passion that allows him to take on the world’s wildest adventures from exploring mountains such as the Himalayas to documenting its unknown areas. He has climbed and hiked Mount Kilimanjaro, Mount Kenya, and the Rwenzori Mountains. That’s not all, he has also biked from the Equator in Kenya to the Tropic of Capricorn in Namibia.

He says, “For the last 12 years of my life I have had a love affair with Africa and its wilderness. Every trip of mine has renewed a sense of curiosity and has fed my longing to go back to Africa. I want to absorb the intense human vibration and spirit a little more. The daily struggle, resilience, music, colours, sights, and smells excite me. Africa is one continent that has reinstated my faith in positivity towards life, and has helped me to keep powering ahead, no matter what comes my way.”

His experience of Africa comprised of his visits to 6 countries within the East, Central, and Southern parts of Africa. He was yet to discover the North and Western parts of Africa. And eventually, he had an opportunity in February 2017. He chose to cycle through the Sahara Desert while also exploring the North and Western parts of Africa.

Planning the Journey

Since I was in school, I have always been deeply fascinated by the Sahara and have even dreamed about crossing it with a caravan of camels. I did my research on the region and its geopolitics and realised that the safest route to travel by on a cycle alone would be through the Morocco-Western Sahara-Mauritania route,” said Anindya.

Apart from his research on the geopolitics, his selection of route was limited to the Morocco-Western Sahara-Mauritania route because it is the only route that allows international border crossing. “Gone are the golden days of the 1980s when one could take more central routes through Algeria, Libya, Mali, or even Niger. Since the 1990s, there have been regular acts of terrorisms, political disturbances, and armed conflicts which have resulted in strict rules regarding Trans-Saharan overland travel.”

During his research, he found reports of cyclists who had recently crossed the Sahara, and after studying those reports, he concluded that maybe it was possible to cycle across the Sahara without carrying a tent, sleeping bag, and cooking utensils. He also realised that it would be possible for him to cycle from one human post to another in a day. “The longest distance between two such posts is around 160 kilometres, and I formulated my itinerary according to that. I decided to cycle at an average of 100 kilometres per day. This allowed me to travel lightweight, and I didn’t even require a front pannier.”

Obstacles on the Road

Anindya originally planned to start cycling from Rabat, Morocco but was unable to do so because of visa issues. Although he is an Indian citizen, he needed to acquire visas for the route he had chosen to travel. Senegal was the only country that didn’t require him to have a visa. After getting the permits, Anindya faced another problem. He was issued a visa from Morocco with the wrong dates which gave him very little time to reach the border from Rabat. Due to which he had to wait in Rabat for four days, and after that, even Mauritania stamped the wrong dates on his visa. His Morocco visa was expiring on the 15th of March, and the Mauritania visa was expiring on the 25th of March.

This scenario forced him to cut short on the riding days and only allowed him a window of 10 days in which he had to complete his travel across Mauritania. Before that Anindya had to reach Guerguerat which is located on the border of Morocco and Mauritania by the 15th of March. Hence, he started riding from Guelmim, which is known as the ‘Gateway of Sahara’. Anindya took a CTM overnight bus from Casablanca to Guelmim on 26th February in the morning. The very next day, he started cycling with only 17 days in hand. He had to cover about 1,300 kilometres to reach the border before his Moroccan visa expired and ten days to cross Mauritania. This made Anindya feel like he was racing against time.

Details:
Number of days cycled: 23
Number of days rested: 5
Total distance covered: Approximately 2,380 kilometers
Total distance cycled: 2,015 kilometers
Distance cycled on an average per day: 87 kilometers
Longest distance cycled in one day: 190 kilometers, Laayoune to Boujdour
Distance not covered: Around 285 kilometers (237 kilometers in Mauritania and 48 kilometers in Western Sahara)

Anindya’s Observations

The reason behind Anindya’s journey was to prove that anyone can cross the Morocco-Western Sahara-Mauritania route on a cycle. It is easy to find a police post, village, town or a shop in the middle of nowhere with the required amenities. So, one need not worry about finding food and cooking or camping.

According to him, one of the challenges is facing long routes and their emptiness. “It becomes hard to ride miles and miles with nothing or no one around. Towards the south of Nouakchott in Mauritania, villages tend to become a little more frequent. But there are other challenges to face as well. After all the solitude, the wind can be a problem. There is a lot to consider in terms of force and direction. It is almost always firm, and on average, the speed of the wind was 30 kilometres per hour. Cycling would prove to be a strenuous task because, on 50% of the days, I would face headwind drafts or sidewind drafts. Mauritania is also a more remote and sandy compared to the rest of the stops on the route.”

Luckily, Anindya was able to receive mobile signals almost daily. But the most miserable connection he faced was in the north of Nouakchott. “Another good thing was that it was possible to a sim card with 3G or 4G connection at every border post. I used 'Inwi' in Morocco, Mauritel in Mauritania, and Orange in Senegal.”

As Anindya recounted his experience, he said that “It is not very difficult to cross the No Man’s Land between Guerguerat and Mauritania border posts. But you do have to be careful as there are landmines even beyond No Man’s Land, and I have seen signs with warnings. So, it is better to stay on the road.” He even saw signposts for landmine warnings in Bou Lanouar.

Anindya’s experience in Morocco was something he simply didn’t imagine. While cycling through Morocco, he experienced hostile behaviour from the White Moors of Morocco. Their actions, such as looking at him or not talking to him, suggested that they might be racists. Children in the villages even pelted stones at him. Because of this, he skipped riding the 237 kilometres from Gare du Nord to Nouakchott. Stones were still thrown at him even as he continued riding south of Nouakchott. Whereas, his experience with the Black Moors of Mauritania was far more pleasant as the people were kind and helpful to him.

He even talks about how the road conditions were good in Morocco and Western Sahara, although not wide enough and with a lot of traffic till Dakhla. However, the road conditions in Mauritania were not as good, and the roads had a lot of potholes. The roads in Senegal were relatively better and with people who are heart-warming and sensible drivers. “The army and police in Morocco and Western-Sahara are helpful to cyclists.”

Anindya always carried around 4-5 litres of water with him during his ride as he found that to be sufficient. He said it was also possible to buy bottled water in most places or refill bottles at the army or police camps. Knowing the French language even at a basic level, is very helpful, along with keeping the Google Translate App in hand. One can also consider staying at restaurants, cafes, petrol stations, shops, and mobile towers when halting at night along Morocco and Western Sahara. The mobile towers are usually manned, and the people operating the towers are courteous. They are kind enough to provide shelter and food for cyclists. “Although I never needed to stay at a mobile tower, I got my bottle refilled with water a few times."