Intercontinental Rally - RWTD Day 01
Real Way To Dakar Rally.
A mild panic overcame me when I realized I wouldn't be able to land in Dakhla this evening. It was 22:45 and the next flight was 16:20 the following day, but by that point the rally will be in a different country hundreds of kilometres further south.
Below, Dakar coastline
It's now 10am the following day and I'm on plane to Dakar, Senegal, flying south over the rally team. (cheating much?!). From Dakar I'll attempt to fly north into Nouakchott, Mauritania. If all goes well I'll be about 160km south of the Rally, just a short taxi ride by local standards (I'm hoping!)
Much much later.....When my connecting flight lands an Nouakchott the air port is a bit of shock. The man you buy a visa from keeps everyone's change, the security guards have beds and mattresses near the boarder control, the bureau de change is shut and the ATM is broken.
A woman tourist, Jessica, looks equally shocked. She speaks English and French and converses with airport worker who tells us to change money out side. Outside looks lawless. Loads of people milking about, I feel like we are the fish and they are the sharks. The airport worker wakes a man up sleeping on the actual ground to exchange money so that Jessica can buy a SIM.
We agree to go Nouakchott in the same car for safety, however I manage to score a lift to Chami 230km away (where the Rally is camped) and I leave her. Hope it worked out ok, I've got places to be.
My driver is an old chap who speaks no English, the car, a square Mercedes, is older than both of us combined. He has a weathered leather look about him, like a man who spent a life in the sun riding a camel. The road is deadly, we swerve off it several times to avoid other traffic, some with no rear lights or one front light. If not dodging traffic you need to avoid the massive erosions to the road surface. The car smells of diesel fumes so its lucky the windows and doors don't shut or function properly, neither does my seat belt.
My phone doesn't work here so I test the Garmin in reach, i contemplate pressing SOS as we bounce off the road again. I arrive at 2:30am and we're all up at 5am.
Much much later.....When my connecting flight lands an Nouakchott the air port is a bit of shock. The man you buy a visa from keeps everyone's change, the security guards have beds and mattresses near the boarder control, the bureau de change is shut and the ATM is broken.
A woman tourist, Jessica, looks equally shocked. She speaks English and French and converses with airport worker who tells us to change money out side. Outside looks lawless. Loads of people milking about, I feel like we are the fish and they are the sharks. The airport worker wakes a man up sleeping on the actual ground to exchange money so that Jessica can buy a SIM.
We agree to go Nouakchott in the same car for safety, however I manage to score a lift to Chami 230km away (where the Rally is camped) and I leave her. Hope it worked out ok, I've got places to be.
My driver is an old chap who speaks no English, the car, a square Mercedes, is older than both of us combined. He has a weathered leather look about him, like a man who spent a life in the sun riding a camel. The road is deadly, we swerve off it several times to avoid other traffic, some with no rear lights or one front light. If not dodging traffic you need to avoid the massive erosions to the road surface. The car smells of diesel fumes so its lucky the windows and doors don't shut or function properly, neither does my seat belt.
My phone doesn't work here so I test the Garmin in reach, i contemplate pressing SOS as we bounce off the road again. I arrive at 2:30am and we're all up at 5am.
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