Western Sahara

Many outsiders have never heard of obscure Western Sahara, and your average Moroccan considers it simply the southwestern frontier of their nation. This former Spanish colony—mostly empty and austere Saharan Desert wedged against the Atlantic Ocean—is claimed by Morocco, ownership unrecognized by the international community and disputed by the Algeria-backed (and based) Polisario Front. Given the deep tension and the supreme difficulty of getting into and around Western Sahara, this is a corner of the world, at present, which likely only the most adventure-thirsty globetrotters will visit. Roughly half of Western Saharans—who include native Sahrawis as well as many Moroccans—live in the capital of Al ‘Uyun, not terribly far south of the border town of Tarfaya, Morocco. As Lonely Planet notes, there’s not much to recommend the city to tourists, but anyone venturing farther afield in Western Sahara will likely pass through. Somewhat more appealing is the small, far flung city of Dakhla on the territory’s central coast; here, you can savor some Spanish-era architecture, tuck into some fresh-caught seafood, or wander the off-the-beaten-track beaches. At present, Morocco and the Polisario Front are still maintaining a decades-long ceasefire, but widespread militarization—including the minefields belting the Moroccan Wall, the vast network of sandy berms separating Moroccan-controlled Western Sahara from Polisario Front holdings—and frequent demonstrations make travel here challenging. Meanwhile, the desert lands in Western Sahara are some of the harshest and least-accessible anywhere—not exactly the place for the recreational dune-excursions or camel-trekking you might run into in more tourist-friendly corners of the Sahara.

For now—and for the foreseeable future—this sparsely populated and long-contested reach of sand and cobble remains effectively off-limits to the foreign visitor.