25-Aug-2015 -- Although having been in Morocco with my family nearly every year during the last decade, I did not succeed in visiting more Confluences than those already collected. I still have some on my list, but failed in organizing a suitable AND affordable all-terrain vehicle which will be necessary to attain those goals.
As usual, we had also this year only a small rental car at our disposition that was suitable for tarmac roads. We planned to pay a visit with it to the scenic region of the Anti-Atlas and the city of Tafrawt on one day. Although I knew that the road to Tafrawt would bring us near to the confluence point 30N 9W, I had no firm idea of visiting it because it would imply a detour and I already had visited this point twice before.
So we took the main road R105 from Biyugra, where we stayed for vacancy in our house, in direction southeast towards our destination. On the first 30 km we made good progress on the road to Ayt Baha. But shortly after this town, the road turned into a rugged, bumpy and dusty track because the road’s surface was being scarified for renovation. We could only make slow progress; frequently I had to slow down abruptly because of many deepened cross-drains, and we were often trapped behind trucks going at even slower pace. These road works extended over a seemingly unending distance of more than 30 km, so we were really happy as we could finally go on again at normal speed on intact roads. When I had driven about 70 km from our start, we passed the turnoff at 29°55'23"N 9°0'24"W where I knew that the side road leading to 30N 9W branches off.
We continued our way to Tafrawt and passed a nice sojourn there and in its scenic surroundings. Not too late in the afternoon we departed because I knew that we would have to spend another couple of hours on the road back to Biyugra. I was not keen on struggling over the long stretch under construction and thus veered off at the already mentioned turnoff. So we were unintentionally for the third time on the way to the Confluence 30N 9W. On this side road to the R105 is very little traffic and the road is in perfect condition, so we reached the Confluence quickly after driving about 11 km from the turnoff.
Already some time before reaching the very point, I recognized the surroundings although I had been here for the last time more than eleven years ago. Since then hardly anything had changed noticeably, at least as seen from the Confluence. I took the opportunity to take pictures for a panoramic view; unfortunately the sun was already low in the West. It was now half past six o’clock (UT + 1), the GPS receiver indicated an altitude of 1167 m and an EPE of 4 m.
After a short stay at the point, we continued our way back towards Biyugra. I still had to find out where exactly the side road would reach again the main road R105 to document how the Confluence can be accessed when coming from the opposite side. The road runs roughly in northern direction, passes by several smaller villages and after about 17 km reaches a T-junction in the village El-Halat. Here we turned to the left. Soon after El-Halat, the road veers slowly towards west and after another 20 km finally reaches the main road R105 about 3 km south of Imi Mqorn at 30°8'20"N 9°13'30"W. When we arrived at Biyugra, the night had already fallen.