Laayoune

Laayoune lies close to the lower Saguia el-Hamra, where an intermittent Saharan watercourse approaches the Atlantic. The broad wadi crosses a dry landscape from the interior past Smara and towards the coast. Its bed carries water after rain and supports vegetation in a region otherwise dominated by desert. The meeting of the river valley and the ocean gives this coastal plain a distinct place in the geography of the western Sahara.