Constructed by Moroccan forces between 1980 and 1987, Morocco considers the area to the west of the wall to be its Southern Provinces, and decided to protect them from Polisario forces seeking Western Sahara’s independence.

The protected area was initially just a small portion of the north-western part of the country, but by building a succession of six different walls, the Moroccans expanded their territory to occupy the majority of the country.

The area east of the wall is called the Free Zone and is controlled by the Sahrawi Arab Democratic Republic, though refugees from the area currently live in Algeria. UN troops are active in the area attempting to enforce cease-fire agreements, though landmines are still a major problem. Polisario supporters have labelled the barrier the Wall of Shame.

The wall begins its journey to Morocco at the Atlantic coast, and on its way crosses mountainous areas, as well as barren, unpopulated desert – where it’s often overrun by sand dunes.

Despite these breaches, the combination of walls, fences, and bunkers makes for a formidable obstruction, thanks to manned observation posts – which in some areas are positioned as regularly as every kilometre.

These forward posts are supported by larger, more heavily armed posts, one of which we can see here next to an ‘official’ border post in the south. Elsewhere we can see what looks like the charred remains of another. I wonder what happened here?

More on the Moroccan Wall at Wikipedia.

Thanks to Chris.

Locations: Morocco, Western Sahara / Categories: Deserts, Structures

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One cannot exist without the other. For example, day cannot exist without night. Light cannot exist without darkness.

How fitting that it should appear, as if by magic, here in a pool of water on the edge of the Saharan desert.

Thanks to Carlos da Costa F.

Locations: Western Sahara / Categories: Large Type, Natural Landmarks, Weirdness

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(More than half of the conveyor is in high-res, but the particularly cool section shown here has been captured in super high-res as part of the National Geographic Megaflyover project.)

The conveyor is 100 kilometres long and runs all the way to the coast from the phosphate mines of Bu Craa (which sounds a lot like a George Lucas place name to me).

If we zoom quite far out (to help grasp the scale of this massive machine) it looks distinctly like a lot of phosphate has been lost to the Saharan winds…

Thanks: Carlos Vlc.

Locations: Western Sahara / Categories: Structures

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Western Sahara has no railways and only 6,200km of roads, but they do have some rather cool large type which (according to our submitter) translates to ‘Allah, the Nation, the King’ – which by all accounts is the motto of the Moroccan Monarchy. It seems to be right next to some sort of encampment and looks to be right on the border of Moroccan and SADR territory.

Spain was in charge here prior to ’75, and over on nearby Gran Canaria there’s an image of the SADR’s version of the Western Sahara flag with text in Spanish that reads “Sahara Vencera”, literally “Sahara Will Win”. However, according to Flagspot this image might well be reversed from its intended direction… Suspicious methinks.

Thanks to Uri and Virtual Globetrotting.

Locations: Spain, Western Sahara / Categories: Large Type

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Thanks to John Seddon (I think, or it might have been Patrick again ).

Locations: Western Sahara / Categories: Weirdness

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Just down the coast there’s another wreck, and as I zoomed out from there I found a third!

Flickr has a picture of a shipwreck on the coast of Western Sahara, but I don’t think it’s any of these three! Can anyone find it?

Update: Reader Brandon found an astonishing 6 more shipwrecks on this strip of coastline! The last two are actually just across the border in Morocco but we’re totally letting that slip

Thanks to Patrick!

Locations: Morocco, Western Sahara / Categories: Deserts, Watercraft

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