‘I paid £1,700 to paddle from Morocco to Spain’: Inside the reception centre where 1,500 migrants have arrived in seven days as the Strait of Gibraltar becomes the new gateway to Europe and the local MP warns: 'Africa is unstoppable

Cheikhou N’Diaye revealed how he waited just three days in Tangier before he boarded an inflatable dingy 

The 20-year-old from Senegal is one of more than 500 migrants housed in a reception centre in Algeciras

He wants to get a job and send money home, explaining: '[I will work in] Spain, France, Germany – anywhere'

More than 1,500 migrants have landed on Spain's southern coast in the past seven days, most in Algeciras

An African migrant has told how he paid almost £1,800 to be smuggled into the Spanish port of Algeciras - dubbed the new Lampedusa by its own mayor - from Morocco.

Cheikhou N’Diaye revealed how he waited just three days in Tangier before he boarded an inflatable dingy with 30 other migrants and paddled across the Strait of Gibraltar before he was rescued by the Spanish Coast Guard.

The 20-year-old from Senegal is one of more than 500 migrants housed in an emergency reception centre following an unprecedented influx of Africans arriving in Spain.

MailOnline gained exclusive access to a migrant reception centre on the outskirts of Algeciras, where migrants revealed their dangerous journeys - walking across the Sahara Desert and risking their lives in treacherous seas separating Africa from Europe – in the hope of a new life.

N'Diaye told MailOnline: 'I paid 2,000 Euros [£1,780] for my passage across the sea from Morocco to Spain.

'There were 30 people in my boat. It was an inflatable and I had to paddle. We set off from the beach and paddled through the night. Finally we were rescued at 8am.

'It was a dangerous journey but I am in Europe now.

'Now I want to get a job and earn money to send home. I don't mind where I go in Europe as long as I can get a job – Spain, France, Germany – anywhere.'

Inside the sprawling Los Cortijillos camp, next to a busy motorway, the hundreds of residents queued impatiently for their midday meal, handed out by scores of Spanish volunteers.

Armed officers from Spain's Guardia Civil paramilitary police wearing face mask against infection stand guard inside the camp and barred access to the defunct sports hall and outside football pitch to members of the public.

Local residents pass packs of cigarettes through the wire fences surrounding the centre in acts of quiet generosity.

The centre is currently home for 549 migrants who are given regular meals, clothing and medical support. Some 50 women and children were last night transferred from the sprawling Los Cortijillos camp to a new migrant reception centre which has opened further down the cost.

But as the local authorities struggle to shelter the new arrivals the men must sleep on the hard concrete floor and share two toilets and two showers between them. They queue in a line stretching for hundreds of yards for a meal of pasta, bread and fruit.