Southern Morocco Tour – We were lucky  to score one of my favorite waves south of Morocco!  Kasbah, Oasis and a lot of culture made this trip special. Abs

Morocco best for surf travel it’s official according to the article in Surfline which says

‘Morocco’s coastline has the widest swell exposure in the North Atlantic, and right now (and the next couple months) is the best time to be there…

The first ten days of December should see a series of medium to occasionally large northwest swells and generally favorable conditions as the region is influenced by high pressure. By mid December, we should see activity slow down a bit as high pressure briefly strengthens and occupies much of the North Atlantic. A more active pattern, meaning larger surf, will then return for the latter part of the month.  Morocco is ideally situated to receive the best surf for all of these swells, with wind and weather conditions looking pretty favorable…

Meanwhile, the Western Sahara to the south is more of a wildcard. The swell window isn’t quite as open as Morocco’s, and the territory receives some blockage by the Canary Islands. However, with such a sparse population, this area is still somewhat unknown in terms of quantity and quality of surf. There are rumors that the place is holding, however, so if you feel like getting off the beaten path, this could be the adventure you’ve been dreaming of ever since you saw Raiders Of The Lost Arc for the first time.’

This month has been epic already, we couldn’t agree more.

We’ve been chatting to the guy behind the site GoSurfAfrica.com, Mads Pedersen, about all things surf, Africa and his website.  If you’ve not been on the site it’s a huge resource for surfers on all the surfable countries in Africa.  The website was launched this summer (while his girlfriend was writing her thesis) and combines all that interests Mads the most – travel; journalism (previously he was Editor at a Danish travel mag); surfing and Africa (he’s studying for a Master’s degree in African Studies and Development).

Mads has travelled all over the world both privately and as a travel editor.  He’s surfed in Mexico, the Phillippines, Indo and Australia, as well as surfing Morocco, Senegal and Ghana.  But it was his trip to Ghana three years ago that got him hooked on both surfing and Africa, changing his life.  From that trip he quit his job, started his studies, took up surfing and is now working on GoSurfAfrica.com.  He set up the site to help make Africa more accessible to surfers and to provide a platform to promote surfing in Africa, this iswhat he had to say on surfing Africa…

‘Africa is the most adventurous place on earth. To be a surfer in Africa you can’t help but get the feeling that you’re exploring.  It is the least travelled continent and in terms of surfing it is definitely the least explored.  Everyone surfs Asia and South America, Africa is the only white spot on the map.

There’s a lot of prejudice about Africa, people are afraid to travel there.  There’s a misconception that it’s hostile, that people will steal from you.  It’s not like that. Africa has changed tremendously in the last ten years.  So long as you don’t flash your bling you’ll be ok.  In my experience Africans are the most friendly and welcoming, a smile takes you a long way especially in Africa.

Having surfers travel through Africa will give a basis for tourism and help development.  If there is a good break surfers will go there, if there’s no hotel they’ll camp on a beach, but they’ll buy food and sleep in a bed if there’s one available.  Maybe the locals will get used to white people coming through and maybe a service industry will come up from it.  This could open doors for other kinds of travellers, which could turn into small scale tourism that would benefit the communities along the African coast.  There’s a lot of surf potential and development potential along the African coastline, for the many people who live in its towns and villages.  GoSurfAfrica.com was set up to help make the surfers’ adventure in Africa a bit easier.’

Living in Copenhagen Mads has an eight hour drive to get to the surf and the waves aren’t that consistent but he’s heading to Senegal on his next surf trip to a friends surf camp on the island N’Gor in February and is planning trips to South Africa and Mozambique for the summer.  We’re hoping to welcome him back to surf Morocco next year.