Dakhla : The heart of Moroccan Sahara

Dakhla is a city in Morocco. It is the capital of the Moroccan administrative region Oued Ed-Dahab-Lagouira. It has about 55,618 inhabitants and is built on a narrow peninsula of the Atlantic Coast (Península de Río de Oro) about 550 km south of El Aaiún (Laayoune).

The area was inhabited by Berbers since ancient times. Dakhla was expanded or possibly founded by Spanish settlers during the expansion of their empire.The Spanish interest in the desert coast of Western Africa's Sahara arose as the result of fishing activity carried out from the nearby Canary Islands by Spanish fishers and as a result of the Barbary pirates menace.

Spanish fishers were seal fur traders and hunters, fishers and whalers along the Saharan coast from Dakhla to Cabo Blanco from 1500 to the present, engaging in whaling for Humpback whales and their calves, mostly around Cape Verde, and the Guinea gulf in Annobon, São Tomé and Príncipe islands through 1940. These fishing activities had a negative impact on wildlife, causing the disappearance or endangering of many species, particularly marine mammals and birds.

Dakhla was occupied by Spain from the late 19th century until 1975, when power was then relinquished to a joint administration between Morocco and Mauritania. There was a United Nations-sponsored ceasefire in 1991, but as recently as 2006, the majority of UN member states have refused to recognise Moroccan sovereignty in the area.

The main economic activity of the city is fishing and tourism. In recent years the town has become a centre for aquatic sports, such as kitesurfing, windsurfing and surf casting and is known as a centre for watersports. Golfo de Cintra and the World Heritage of the Banc d'Arguin National Park located in south.

Like most areas in Western Sahara, Dakhla and vicinity areas are very poor in vegetation and are mostly covered by the Sahara Desert. Unlike on land however, sea waters are or had been very rich in sea life due to the highly productive Current System of Canary flowing offshore and the renown Nouadhibou upwelling which is located nearby as well. These environmental factors provides blessed conditions for local fisheries, and resulting in strong local biodiversity especially for birds. Among this, there has been a UNESCO proposal to create the Dakhla National Park