Landmines in the Western Sahara 

a very informative article on landmines discovered on the web, illustrates just how difficult collecting fossils in this area of the world can be.....

It's well known that certain areas of the Sahara are scattered with minefields, some dating back to WWII, but most laid during more recent conflicts. Anti-personnel mines will blow off your legs and possibly kill you if you step on one, but if you drive over such a mine, you could get away with just a ruined tyre. Larger anti-tank mines will destroy both you and your vehicle. In In Search of the Sahara Quentin Crewe described driving his Unimog over a mine near Nouadhibou in the 1970s. The heavy vehicle was destroyed but saved the occupants from injury. Most years a Saharan party sets off a mine somewhere, all known cases being in the areas listed below.

The best way to avoid setting off a mine is to avoid known minefields altogether. However, if you can't or don't want to do that, hire a relibale local guide to steer you through the danger zone. If you decide to go it alone using someone else's GPS waypoints through a minefield, be aware that the slightest deviation could result in a fatal accident. Follow any existing tracks and be wary of any unnatural barriers across a piste.

Known mined areas in the Sahara

Apart from the Atlantic Route (p.464), Route L6 and routes in Egypt's Western Desert, all the pistes in this book avoid mined areas so you should have little to worry about. Nevertheless, it's prudent to list the known locations of Saharan minefields, though this list should not be taken as a guarantee that mines do not exist elsewhere.

Starting from the far west, the horizontal border between Western Sahara and Mauritania is mined. Even though by now everyone knows the risks of leaving the piste when crossing the border and a new sealed road is complete, deadly accidents still happen as late as

. There is no danger if you directly follow the couple of kilometres of stony track from leaving the tarmac at the Moroccan frontier to rejoining the tarmac at the Mauritanian frontier. Stay on the clearest direct tracks. The 2007 death occured way east of this route - no one knows why they are there but sadly they asked for it.