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- No risk, no story, right? Hello? Is there anyone here? In today's episode, I venture into the Sahara in Morocco. - This is military. - Military? - Yeah. - Ah. - An attempt to navigate a beautiful 200-mile off-road track through desert, sandy riverbeds and challenging terrain in my 20-year-old Land Rover Defender. I just heard a very worrying sound. No support crew, no backup cars, no company. Just me and my dog doing something that other people have told me is too risky to do alone.
Please work. Well, I guess I'm gonna do it anyway. Oh, damn it. But can I make it all the way? (soft music) Well, this is where I'm starting my day. I'm at the mechanic workshop. Nothing's wrong, I don't think. I've just come here preemptively because I'm about to head into the desert for several days, and I just want to make sure that everything is in order, just so I don't encounter any nasty surprises that could have been easily prevented when I'm out there on my own. Mechanics workshops may not look like much in Morocco, but Moroccan mechanics have been known to revive desert wrecks and fix engine problems with bits
of spare wire, so I think I'm in good hands. So this is Brahim, and Brahim has been working on a lot of really cool 4x4 trucks out here in the desert of Morocco and abroad, so he's just checking Odyssey to make sure that we're good to go. (both speaking in foreign language) Okay, all done. Nothing major, thankfully, but Brahim just kind of looped everything up, so it's nice and smooth. I had a few long days ahead of me in the desert, so as soon as I was out of the garage, I headed for the dunes to set up camp and get some rest. As expected, everything is already covered in sand.
Take a look at this. Okay, fine, it doesn't look too dramatic, but this is only from like half an hour of driving in the sand, which is not much time and quite a bit of dust. With overland travel, you're guaranteed a daily dose of chaos. Things breaking, dust getting everywhere, losing your way and your patience, but then you get to call places like this your bedroom. Good morning. What an amazing feeling to wake up to this view. Not this view, this view over there. Honestly, it was such a beautiful, peaceful night.
Just complete silence, the kind of silence that rings out in your ears. Hey, Vilk, did you make it to China yet? Where's China? (laughs) Good boy. Okay, well, once you get there, let me know because you might need a visa. I am mostly packed up already, so all I need to do now is get off the sand. So here is my plan. Over the next three days, I plan to tackle a challenging off-road route in the southeastern corner of the Moroccan Sahara.
It's a risky expedition to do alone because of how remote it is, but it's supposed to be gorgeous and give you that full rugged desert experience. This track will take me from the town of Merzouga, where I am right now, across dried out riverbeds, mountains, stretches of sand and rock, away from towns and villages. 200 miles off-road, no resupplies, no extra diesel, no support. And since I'll be alone, I need to make sure I'm ready for every eventuality.
I'm going to grab some extra diesel for this trip because there's no gas stations where I'm going. And I don't think I'm going to have to refuel, but you know what? Better safe than sorry. Oh, the excitement of knowing that the tarmac road is about to run out. Here it is, the end of the tarmac road. Hell yes, let's do this. I have also just officially lost cell phone signal. Well, I still have the Starlink, but you know, it always feels a little adventurous to lose cell phone signal. In this episode, I'll be talking a lot about GPX tracks.
You might already know what those are, but in case you don't, they're basically waypoints set over a map that show you a navigable way through any kind of terrain. They're often used by hikers or off-road drivers in places where Google Maps just won't cut it. Okay, we've got sand. So in order to make this desert crossing, I've got some GPX tracks that I got from someone and that I'm following. So I'm not going in completely blind, you know what I mean? But it's interesting because these tracks are a little bit out of date, I think,
and they're not exact. So if I just followed them blindly, then I would probably end up in a lot of shitty situations, like in the middle of, you know, a super sandy patch or in the middle of some kind of like wet muddy patch, because there's plenty of those around here too. Look at that. That's a dried out lake or riverbed and it's a little moist. There's this, you know, kind of clay-like mud everywhere. So despite having these GPX tracks, you still need to pay attention to the environment around you just to make sure that you don't put yourself in harm's way.
Yesterday, Rahim warned me about one spot. He said that there's one spot that I should be careful about because if I keep going down the road that the tracks tell me, I could end up in trouble. So I think this is the spot, Auberge Oasis Ramlia. Yeah, he was saying that around here I should turn north. Turning north meant abandoning my guide rails, i.e. my GPX tracks, and following physical tire tracks the old school way, leading me around the impassible riverbed. We're pretty far out there right now. So yeah, a little nervous, but I really hope that I can follow some existing tracks and end up in the right spot, which is on the way there in the opposite direction to where I'm going.
And all of a sudden I spotted a dirt bike heading in my direction out of nowhere. The rider, a local nomad, stopped me and gave me some much needed advice. (both speaking in foreign language) All right, so what this gentleman on a motorbike told me was that I actually ended up taking the wrong track. I need to go further north. This is the wrong track because there's a lot of fech on it later on, and fech is like the dreaded slippery sand of the Sahara.
You do not want to end up in fech because you could end up very stuck. So why take all these risks? Well, it's a strange time to be alive in human history. We're inside a sandstorm. On one hand, we're constantly bombarded with horrific news from around the world that we can do nothing to change. On the other hand, there's never been a more comfortable time to be a human being. For most of us watching this video, life is convenient and we're taught to avoid risk, not to seek it out. But I believe this line of thinking can create a soft generation, risk averse and scared of trying new things because they might not work out.
So that's why I think it's worth going out there and challenging yourself with things that feel scary to you. It's not just no risk, no story. It's so much bigger than that. No risk, no growth. Gosh, managed to cross that big riverbed slash plane and I think I'm ready to start looking for a spot to camp. Now, I haven't really seen anything that looks appropriate or cozy enough, but on the horizon over there, there's some trees, camel thorn trees, and those give a little bit of shade. And I feel like that would be a good spot to just, you know, stop and camp.
(soft music) Yes. Well, I guess this little off-road adventure has taken a toll on my stuff. Oh God, look at all that dust. Look at that. Wow. (coughs) It's pretty dusty in there. All right, let's get set up. (soft music) Here. Good. (Vilk barks) Yes, good boy.
Okay. I am starving. So let's make some food. Now, I took out my little bag with vegetables that I got the other day and I just realized that we've had some more losses from this crazy track. Aw. Poor tomato. Yeah, that's not good, Vilk, is it. I actually don't know if that's from the track or from Vilk stomping on it. Could be either. I'm a little bit worried about the eggs that I've got here because I do have eggs in here, but I think they're fine.
Amazing. Ooh. Oh my God. I can't believe it. I'm an idiot. That egg survived that entire route and then I broke it by dropping it. Ugh. Ew. Is that a good egg? Yeah, you like it? So how much risk is too much? Well, that all depends on you. Let's get cooking. The problem with risk is that the more of it you take on, the more confident you become in surviving even more.
It's addictive. You need a bigger, more extreme hit every time. But that's where things get dangerous. Icarus fell because of his hubris. He thought himself invincible and he flew too close to the sun. Frankly, I don't know where the line is or at least I cannot explain it in words. But if you practice risk taking, you build up a gut feeling for it. And that is my personal compass. This place is really quite remote and it's very, very quiet aside from one sound. Howling. And I don't know what is doing the howling.
It could be the African wolf or it could be jackals. I'm not really sure which species are native to this specific part of the Sahara, but Vilk has picked up on it and he's been very watchful. But it's kind of amazing to think that there's potentially wolves around here. Wow. So cool. What do you see? What's out there? You know, I'm not completely feral. I do some bougie things out here in the desert. Yep. I wash my face every night. I don't know if this is how you dry off your skin, but this is how I do it when I'm out here.
Don't have access to fresh towels. And then I also use a little serum. Yes, I have a face serum. And then I have a face cream as well. But you know the most bougie thing I do is ridiculous. I sleep on a silk pillow. I'm not even kidding you. (laughs) I have a silk pillow up there. I want to show you later. I got it for Christmas from my grandma and it is amazing. You know, it's like antibacterial. It's good for your hair. And I brought it with me to the Sahara because why the hell not?
(soft music) I mean, not everything you do in life has to be extreme. There's definitely something to be said for enjoying the little luxuries and conveniences here and there. Good morning. Mornings are always so cold out here. I never want to get out of bed. It's so nice and cozy under my duvet, but it's time for us to go for a run. Are you ready, buddy? You want to go for a run? (upbeat music) Pretty good spot to go for a run.
So I'm running along and I look to the northeast and I realize that there's some really menacing looking clouds down there. Looks like rain clouds potentially. And I really would not want the rain to catch up with me because when you get rain in the desert, it's nice for the desert, but it can also turn, you know, dry patches into deep mud and really mess with the texture of the sand, making it a lot harder to pass. So I'm really hoping that those clouds stay there and don't come near.
I always wonder what would a camel herder think if he saw a random person running across the desert? He'd probably assume that they were in need of very urgent help. And we're back. Oh my god, camels. Holy shit. Camels. When you're out in the Sahara, no matter how remote your location, you're guaranteed to run into camels a few times a day. Most of the time they're on their own, just roaming the desert in big herds. They can be extremely valuable by the way, and a single camel could be worth $4,000 on average.
Anyhow, after admiring the camels, it was finally time to get going. I had a pretty big day ahead of me. The off-road track I had been navigating was leading me deeper and deeper into remote areas of the desert. All I knew about today was that I would be driving through a lot of sand, and that in itself is a pretty scary proposition. I'm a little nervous about today because, you know, I have now veered off my original GPX tracks because of the diversion yesterday, and now I am on a different set of tracks. And I don't really know what these tracks are like.
I don't know how passable they are in my truck. And yeah, I guess I'm just a little nervous about what today is going to bring. It's supposed to rain tomorrow, which is not good news because rain means unstable conditions in the sand, and I could get stuck. And I don't want that because there's, this is like really remote right now. Don't get stuck, don't get lost. Those are my two goals for today. I am just so gutted that I couldn't bring my drone to Morocco since they're illegal here.
It's impossible to show you the true scale of this place without one. Anyhow, good news, eventually I found a way to rejoin my original GPX track a little further along the route. I'm really glad that this old lake bed is dry right now because I can imagine that when it gets wet all of this becomes like sticky clay, which would make it difficult to pass for sure. But right now I can just speed across this giant plain, no issues. 60 miles and a few hours later through rough terrain and sand, I was ready to pause for the night. Perfect. Yeah, this is our spot.
Yeah. Okay, a few little practicalities of life on the road. This is my water filter. So any water that I put in here is drinkable, clean water, wherever I get it from. And this is the water that I use for drinking, for Vilk, for cooking, all that good stuff. It takes a little bit of work to make it happen because you have to manually pump it to make the filter work. And tonight for dinner we are making the exact same thing that I make every single day, which is my onion, potato and vegetable fry. It's very simple, very easy to make. I can get the ingredients anywhere. At this point I was just trying to enjoy my evening but in the back of my mind I knew that soon I would need to tackle a repair.
My inverter has been acting up. I had no idea if I could even fix it, but that's something for tomorrow morning. One more thing, got a pretty significant upgrade since my last big overlanding trip and that is my kitchen setup. I now have a washing up sponge and washing up liquid. All natural, baby. (soft music) Good morning. Good morning from a very windy desert. It's been blowing all night and all morning. I still went out for my morning run with Vilk, which I'm very pleased about. And everything is great aside from one thing,
which is not great because we do have one problem. And the problem is my inverter, which supplies power to the only socket that I have in the truck. And that's a pretty crucial socket because that socket powers my power bank, my Jackery, my laptop, a lot of things. And yesterday I noticed that the inverter wasn't switching on and I wasn't sure why. So I'm going to try and diagnose the problem. So my friend who installed it for me is going to guide me through it a little bit. So the first thing I need to do is use this thing to try and see where the current, where the voltage is going or not going.
(soft music) Okay. This thing is showing me 0.07 volts. That doesn't sound good. Okay, he's getting me to check the fuses, but the fuses seem fine. Okay, it is a fuse after all. I've got this fuse. This is the one I'm gonna use. Okay, first things first, I'm gonna have to switch off the power supply to the car so I don't get, you know. (light music) Okay, the old fuse is out.
(light music) Okay, the new fuse is in. Let's try and turn on the inverter. Please work, please work. Oh, damn it. It doesn't work. Still not turning on. Okay, well, the voltage seems fine on the inverter now, but for some reason it still doesn't want to turn on. Okay, the next step, and please do not do this at home, is sticking a fork into the inverter. I can't explain why I'm doing this. This is my friend telling me to do stuff that I don't understand, that he understands much better than me. And he's saying that this is safe. So I'm gonna stick my fork into the inverter to see
if I can get it started that way. Oh, it's flashing green again. Something's happening and now it's staying on. Look, the little green light. Ah, yes. Plug this in and see if it's actually working. (gentle music) It worked. I fixed it. (laughs) Well, my friend helped. He did most of the work virtually, but I was just the hands, but I did it. Yes, yes, yes, yes, yes. I'm so relieved, honestly, because without a working inverter, I still could have done the expedition, but I wouldn't have had power, really.
Like extra power for things like my Starlink or my laptop, which would have been extremely inconvenient, but we're good. Okay, let's keep going. I'm ready to finish off this desert trail. Another 60 or so miles to go today until the end of the track. If everything goes according to plan, by the end of the day, I will have completed the entire 200-mile route, but not before I encounter some trouble on a mountain and with the truck. Okay, I'm just approaching the military checkpoint.
Vilk is not happy with that. (both speaking in foreign language) Okay, that was just a standard military checkpoint in the desert. I gave them a little slip of paper that had my information on it, which is called a (speaking in foreign language) here. It makes it a lot easier because then they have all my data and they don't have to copy it by hand from my passport. I'm pretty close to the border of Algeria right now and Morocco and Algeria do not get along, so that explains the military checkpoints.
There's apparently a few more in this area and I'm kind of hoping to spend the next week or so roaming around these parts, so I'll probably encounter a bunch more. But in the meantime, my plan for today is to get to a little town called Zagora, which is probably like a three four-hour drive and I am desperate for a shower. I'm desperate for some laundry. I haven't done any of that stuff in like almost 10 days, 11 days. So I kind of just want some comfort and clean hair and then tomorrow we'll set off again into the desert. (speaking in foreign language) - Your friend is very vicious, not love me.
- Oh, yeah. Taking this direction? Yeah? - Yes. - Not this one? - No. - Okay. - This direction is this way, but this is military. - Military? - Yeah. - Ah okay. You are insane. Can you stop barking at the important army people? Okay, that was another military checkpoint and the nice soldier told me that I can't take the direction that I was intending to take, i.e. where my tracks were leading me, because it's a military zone. So this must be some kind of recent development because I've never heard of that before on any of the forums or resources that I looked at. But yeah, can you stop hogging the camera?
But that's fine because we can just take another way. There is another way thankfully. So yeah, let's see how it goes. (soft music) This is a bit of a rough section. Oh god, I'm losing power. No. Low gears it is. Well, this new detour was getting pretty technical pretty quickly. An extremely rocky track uphill and downhill and once again no GPX tracks to follow. Just a real life track and direction northwest. All right, we went up the mountain and now we're going down the mountain and it's quite a steep descent down this little rocky path.
I'm not sure how I feel about this. And that rain is looking pretty imminent. (soft music) Hang on, I just want to show you something. I passed by this one spot just now and I was like what? No, that's not. No. But I think it is. Look at this. Literally my wheels went here. Just a big fat gash in the face of the earth.
Hello? Is there anyone here? Okay, let's get it done. (soft music) Yeah, this feels pretty extreme. I mean the track itself is extremely rocky and I'm really glad I have very high clearance but I think the main thing is that drop to the side. Ooh, I do not want to make any mistakes here. Oh! Holy shit. A full-on drop to one side is scary enough but this track was also quite rutted and eventually I came across a rut that was over a foot deep and I just didn't know if Odyssey could make it
through safely, especially without anyone to guide me. You know what? I am not loving that section and I don't feel comfortable driving it so I'm gonna back up and try a different way. (soft music) Oh god, it's actually starting to rain now. So this is where I went just now, that little trail over there but there's a couple of other options including this one and I think this is gonna be safer. It's starting to rain which means this is all gonna get wet any minute now. That is not good news for me. I really need to get off this mountain and all these slippery rocks ASAP.
Not long now but it's important we get moving. Come on buddy. Okay, pray for me. (soft music) Okay, I think we're out of the weeds. That was a little stressful. Hopefully no more rocky mountain passes at this point because I would not want to be up there in the rain that's coming. Another mountain pass would be the least of my problems. I'm about to experience something a lot more serious. Whoa and just like that I am back on tarmac.
I'm hoping to get back out on the trail either tomorrow or the day after that but I just need a little bit of time, probably like one full day in a town to resupply my groceries, take a hot shower, do a little bit of work, and to catch up on these videos and then we'll be back on the desert trails again which I'm super excited about but yeah also equally excited about that hot shower. Oh yeah. My excitement wasn't gonna last very long. A few moments after getting to the asphalt road I heard something like this.
(booming) Whoops, I just heard a very worrying sound. What could it be? I don't see anything immediately wrong. Is everything kind of like a little lower than it should be? Look at that. I definitely heard a worrying sound so it's a good thing that I'm not on the trail anymore. I'm back on tarmac. I'm gonna see if I can keep driving her to the nearest town and get her checked out there. Unfortunately I wasn't wrong.
Something was off with Odyssey and it needed urgent fixing but that's all coming in the next episode. (soft music)
