Lac Iriki is a vast lake bed that sits south of the mountains that are called Jebel Bani, between Foum Zguid and Mhamid in Morocco. In the past it used to flood often when the rains in the High Atlas plummeted down the Oued Draa that runs to the south of the lake. In 1971 the Mansour ed-Dabhabi dam was built 10km south of Quazazate, so now it actually has to rain on the lake or in Jebel Bani for the basin to flood.

When it does flood the dry bed becomes treacherous for vehicles. The whole floor of the lake becomes a quagmire and if you travel across it during heavy rains it is possible to find yourself with a car sitting on the mud at chassis level with no hope of movement until the mud has dried-could be some time.

In 2010 I was driving across the lake in the Impala Range Rover during a rain storm with Stuart Ziemelis (a friend of mine from Porsche) and Michael Nelki and his lifelong friend Neil in Michael’s Landrover 90 Tdi. I was roaring about enjoying the grip from my Michelin OR tyres and Michael was slithering about with mud filled AT’s and we were very surprised to see ahead of us on an area of sand, only inches higher than the lake bed a new Auberge. It just sat there looking very incongruous, completely surrounded by the wet slippery lake bed. We slithered to a halt and Obiry the proud owner, showed us around its six bedrooms, shop and kitchen before we sat under a parasol in the drizzle to enjoy coffee (courtesy of Obiry) and biscuits (courtesy of Michael or Neil) – quite surreal!!