My "Saharagelber" 300TD » sahara http://300td.org A story of one of the legendary W123's of Mercedes on vegetable oil Wed, 27 Jan 2010 11:24:11 +0000 en hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.0.4 Relax day in Essaouira, after the monster trip from Bamako http://300td.org/2006/11/08/relax-day-in-essaouira-after-the-monster-trip-from-bamako/ http://300td.org/2006/11/08/relax-day-in-essaouira-after-the-monster-trip-from-bamako/#comments Wed, 08 Nov 2006 20:58:44 +0000 blurg http://300td.org/?p=332
Nice bus from a dutch fellow I met on Essaouira camping

Another friend at the camping :)

Interesting overlanders vehicle!

Back in Essaouira again

Lots of elderly people from Europe enjoying the warm winter in Morocco

Essaouira square

Picturesque Essaouira

Square in Essaouira

Saharagelber in Essaouira

Saying goodbye again to my two friends

Essaouira beach
]]> http://300td.org/2006/11/08/relax-day-in-essaouira-after-the-monster-trip-from-bamako/feed/ 0 Driving 16-17 hours a day in the immense Sahara heat, no problem for the W123! http://300td.org/2006/11/06/driving-16-17-hours-a-day-in-the-immense-sahara-heat-no-problem-for-the-w123/ http://300td.org/2006/11/06/driving-16-17-hours-a-day-in-the-immense-sahara-heat-no-problem-for-the-w123/#comments Mon, 06 Nov 2006 22:48:43 +0000 blurg http://300td.org/?p=307
The long lonely road continues for thousands of kilometers

Tar and sand

Now listen ya’ all! I am your host for today and will tell you about the Sahara.

Enormous heat in the Sahara

Western Sahara coast line

Camel transport. How many are in there?

The Sahara dunes

My own campsite in the Western Sahara
]]> http://300td.org/2006/11/06/driving-16-17-hours-a-day-in-the-immense-sahara-heat-no-problem-for-the-w123/feed/ 0 A loooong way through the Sahara http://300td.org/2006/11/06/a-loooong-way-through-the-sahara/ http://300td.org/2006/11/06/a-loooong-way-through-the-sahara/#comments Mon, 06 Nov 2006 21:17:37 +0000 blurg http://300td.org/?p=305
Seeing the sun rise in the Sahara

Good colors early in the morning just after sunrise

Abandoned W123 T modell in the Sahara

Sahara early in the morning, Mauritania

Saharagelber in the Saharan desert on the way back to Europe

On my way to Nouackchott

Sahara, Mauritania

1 camel and 4 persons in the back of this Landcruiser

W123 300TD in the Sahara

Saharan desert

The Sahara

Grazing Camels in the Sahara

Sahara, Mauritania

Transatlantic route, Sahara

Sahara, Mauritania

119000km on the clock!

W123 Taxi, Mauritania

Driving the Transatlantic route through the Sahara (Mauritania)

Sahara, Mauritania

W123 in the Sahara, Mauritania
]]> http://300td.org/2006/11/06/a-loooong-way-through-the-sahara/feed/ 3 Driving through South Mauritania and spend the night with some saharan nomads http://300td.org/2006/11/04/driving-through-south-mauritania-and-spend-the-night-with-some-saharan-nomads/ http://300td.org/2006/11/04/driving-through-south-mauritania-and-spend-the-night-with-some-saharan-nomads/#comments Sat, 04 Nov 2006 21:29:37 +0000 blurg http://300td.org/?p=301
On my way to the north, driving back home, I’ve got 5 days left and 9000km to drive

Direction Nioro, North-East Mali

Very useful tool: The compressor.
My spare tire had to be inflated first.

Hitting 118000km

Broken tyre this time.
It’s sometimes difficult where to place the jack. I collected some stones to place the jack on so I could lift the car, instead of the jack digging itself in.

Entering the real Sahara again

Saharagelber in the desert

Baobab tree

Driving to Mauritania, close to Nioro

Sign close to the Mauritanian border

Main road to Aayoun El Atrous (Mauritania)
Driving and driving…. and driving.

Sahara sunset

Bush camping with the Saharan nomads.
I asked some nomads if it was okay I stayed with them, they were okay with that. That evening I sat with them but we couldn’t exchange any words, they didn’t speak french but only their local language.

Cooking gear

Relaxing and enjoying freedom
]]> http://300td.org/2006/11/04/driving-through-south-mauritania-and-spend-the-night-with-some-saharan-nomads/feed/ 0 Our stay with the sahara Touaregs, northern Mali http://300td.org/2006/09/23/our-stay-with-the-sahara-touaregs-northern-mali/ http://300td.org/2006/09/23/our-stay-with-the-sahara-touaregs-northern-mali/#comments Sat, 23 Sep 2006 00:21:26 +0000 blurg http://300td.org/?p=194
Tombouctou town

Sandy Tombouctou

D(r)iving into the Sahara
Our german friends stayed behind en we went into the sahara with the good old Benz

Staying the night with saharan nomads

Feeling utterly relaxed, drinking tea with the nomads under the stars

Our stay with the nomads in the desert
]]> http://300td.org/2006/09/23/our-stay-with-the-sahara-touaregs-northern-mali/feed/ 0 Terrific Tombouctou http://300td.org/2006/09/22/terrific-tombouctou/ http://300td.org/2006/09/22/terrific-tombouctou/#comments Fri, 22 Sep 2006 17:13:24 +0000 blurg http://300td.org/?p=192
Waking up with the camels.
Our friends from Switzerland slept in the chairs of the germans and hung a mosquito net over it. Looks pretty cool

Sahara sunrise with the camels

Waking up at 6am, time to go on again

Camel with blue eyes

Ready to go to Tombouctou today

Direction Tombouctou

Taking the side of the dyk was a bad idea

The Ferry to cross the Niger

All cars stuffed on the ferryboat

Yes!!! Tombouctou!!!

Driving through the town Tombouctou

300TD monster reached Tombouctou

Dirt looks cool

Strong W123
]]> http://300td.org/2006/09/22/terrific-tombouctou/feed/ 0 Filling up with vegetable oil and hitting the road again http://300td.org/2006/08/07/filling-up-with-vegetable-oil-and-hitting-the-road-again/ http://300td.org/2006/08/07/filling-up-with-vegetable-oil-and-hitting-the-road-again/#comments Mon, 07 Aug 2006 22:10:49 +0000 Jurgen http://300td.org/?p=96 Afther breakfast we filled the Benz up with SVO (straight vegetable oil) and filled the car up at the gas station for 4,42 dirham per liter, something like 60 eurocents! In the evening we turned from the road and drove over the sand and through the bushes and found ourselves a nice spot in the Sahara, some 1000 meters from the road about 130km north of Dahkla. It felt great to park just somewhere in the western sahara and set up the rooftent. It was peaceful and quiet and the wind made it feel relaxed.
Camping Le Bedouin. In the middle of nowhere, and it feels just that way. One stand just on the sand and can use the shower and the toilet.

Look out for the sign in the middle of all the other signs around!

An odd road sign we don’t have in Europe

Lots of boring parts…

…and sometimes a boring place, but atmosphere it has! It feels like we’re on our own road movie.
]]> http://300td.org/2006/08/07/filling-up-with-vegetable-oil-and-hitting-the-road-again/feed/ 0 Lots of sand and Mercedes http://300td.org/2006/08/06/lots-of-sand-and-mercedes/ http://300td.org/2006/08/06/lots-of-sand-and-mercedes/#comments Sun, 06 Aug 2006 21:09:09 +0000 Jurgen http://300td.org/?p=95 Today we departed for the sahara, we saw some wild mules and an amount of nice birds. It was a long trip today we had already seen the big dunes. Furthermore the area consisted of great plains with stones. I found out the car was leaking motor oil today, which was strange and I hoped this would hold for the rest of the trip, I have to keep an eye of this. During the trip we did not see a lot of cars, and the cars we saw were mainly Mercedeses. Lots of W123 taxi’s but also loads of W201′s and W124′s.
That night we arrived at the camping ‘Le Bedouin’. After you see the sign ‘Le Bedouin’ you drive for about 5kms over a piste and then you arrive at the camping, there is practically nothing but sand and stones over there. It is windy and small place but very clean.
You just park on the sand and during the day you can stroll around.


The Cactus, a real die-hard able to survive in the dry sahara

Melissa being excited. Fort Bou-Jerif

Endless roads

Are we there Yet?

Bird watching

Some nice part with a small lake and greenery


The dunes, Sahara


Our favorite time of the day: cappucino with a bit of Amaretto while driving and enjoying the surrounding views.

The official beginning of the Western-Sahara

The camels


A camel with the sea in the background

Spooky..

]]> http://300td.org/2006/08/06/lots-of-sand-and-mercedes/feed/ 0 Real oasis: Fort Bou Jerif http://300td.org/2006/08/05/real-oasis-fort-bou-jerif/ http://300td.org/2006/08/05/real-oasis-fort-bou-jerif/#comments Sat, 05 Aug 2006 21:23:34 +0000 Jurgen http://300td.org/?p=100 This morning we strolled over the camping and breathed in the atmosphere of traveller who all have great destinations. Some stay in Morocco, and lots are heading for the sahara, some are travelling through the whole African continent and some are just travelling the world in a couple of years.
Today we drove to Tan-Tan, we saw this camping on our Michelin map. After some driving we found out we had taken the wrong direction, we had some bad roads but it was worth taking these road, as the environment over here is pretty nice.
Our place, not too good, directly in the sun, but it was just for one night, as we will continue for the Sahara now!

Americans, so BIG TRUCK, ‘nough said :)

An Unimog truck, also way too big if you ask me.

Yeah, what to say about this? Higher as an average house! Just the biggest truck I’ve seen, 6 wheel drive MAN truck. Higher price than an average house too, must be around 250000/300000 dollars I guess, including living room, bathroom, and so on.

Old firearms Mercedes overland truck, 1/100 of the price of the MAN 6×6 overland truck I think.

We had to take some stony and sandy pistes. We finally arrived at Fort Bou Jerif, in fact this really was an Oasis! It is a great bastion which is really a recommendation, it’s in the middle of nowhere. We had some great dinner over there, it was good food which made this place really a perfect one. After dinner we sat outside below the starry sky, from this place you can see a massive amount of stars.
Coast line

Their filosofy: If it’s able to drive, it’s not too much to carry on the roof.

W123 Taxi, Agadir, Morocco

W114 taxi, Agadir

Taxis in one of the duty-free, sandy villages in the western sahara. In various parts in Morocco they have their own color, as in other african countries. Here you see the often used white/blue combination and the sandy brown color, which is the same color as they were originally in Germany.
Most of the time they use the 240d’s with manual gearbox.

On the Transatlantic route. Here you see the W123′s where 7 people are stuffed in the car, sharing the taxi costs to cross the sahara via the transatlantic road.
Most of the time they use the 240d’s with manual gearbox.

W123, queen of the saharan highway

Very motivating with 40-something degrees celcius :)


Another queen of the sahara, all stations are Peugeots of the 504 type, and not the T-modell of the Mercedes W123 somehow.

Around Tan-Tan, a stony part of the Sahara

Around Tan-Tan

Camping in the open at Fort-Bou Jerif
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