29th December 2006 .
Well, here we are on the first day of our challenge I am sitting comfortably in the warm but loaded Punto with the driving rain and wind in the darkness of 5.00 am , as I am driving through a post Christmas Cork city , I was the only car on the road , and I am heading to pick up my co-driver Bryan O Halloran . I am recapping on how we got this far. I thought back to successfully applying for the challenge last April having watched the website Plymouth Daker – the poor mans Africian rally. Due to importation restrictions of older cars , the finish line was moved past Daker and further south to Banjul , the capital of The Gambia. I first heard about this poor mans rally about a decade ago in the travel section of the Sunday Times , which was the first rally . I finally got my timing correct as I waited at the computer for the opening of the list that April night . I put my application in and I was successful and got excited about driving into Africa . At this stage I needed a co-driver, a car , sponsorship, a total kit out for the car – in fact everything . I spoke a lot about it over the next six months , without accomplishing very much . I was chatting to good friends of mine , Noel O Halloran and his son Bryan , and Bryan said that he would be interested in going on the trip. The partnership with Bryan greatly contributed to the success of the trip. And anyone going on a trip where you are spending 24 hours with a person , depending on that person to stay calm and not get moody , driving in a hot car through dusty roads, or more like tracks , waiting for many hours at border posts , I strongly advise you to chose wisely . Bryan ticked all those boxes and he was a great driver and was a mechanic as well. He was a perfect travel mate . Here I was, at last , driving through Cork to pick him up, thinking of how we got serious last October and started to get a plan , what car we use , get sponsership , what do we pack , book the tickets , get the inoculations , satellite phone , insurance etc. The car had to be left hand drive and at first we decided to buy a Cherokee Jeep 4X4 in England and after getting it back to Cork , using about 10 gallons of petrol and about 25 gallons of water we decided to leave that one in Cork . One morning I got a call from Bryan wondering if I would go through Europe , onto North Africa , into the Sahara and then on into Black Africa to Banjul in a FIAT PUNTO . Of course I said no problem . The reason behind this , is that Bryan felt confident that no matter what went wrong with the punto he could get it going and we did have a lot spare parts . Calling to Bryan,s house at 5am in the morning in appalling conditions of wind and rain , hoping the ferry would be running ex Rosslare later on.
ON THE FERRY OUT OF IRELAND AT LAST
Had a cup of tea and we were off , got the ferry , down through England to get the Brittany ferry to France . We got to France early morning and drove all day and arrived in San Sabastian Spain at 10.00 pm . We booked into a hotel , got up at 6.00 and we were off again through Spain, we drove and grabbed food at the petrol stations, filling the tank 3 times and reached Tarifa at 9.00 that night in time for the New Years celebrations . We found that all the locals were also celebrating New Year and the hotel bar and restaurant was closed. The chocolates kept us going for another night. As this is the first the teams met up there was great crack and story telling and a bit of drinking as well . Jan 1st was a day off and we relaxed in Tarifa , and we could look across the Mediterean at the continent of Africa and wondered what the next few weeks would bring.
LOOKING ACROSS AT THE AFRICAN CONTINENT
Going across into Morocco from Europe is only 12 Kms , but it is a total cultural shock which was imidiatly apparent as while we were the last to come off the boat , by slipping the helpers a few bob we were moved up the queue and were one of the first onto the road. We traveled around finishing up in Fez the first night.
We drove onto Marrakesh for the second night.
On the third night we got to Casablanca . The following morning we headed into the Atlas mountains and climbed up to about 7,000 feet and through the Tiz-n-Test pass , where we stopped and I ate one of the most memorable meals I have ever had , in one of the most sparse and strange restaurant I have ever been in , actually sat outside .
NICE VIEW - NICE DROP OFF ROAD
RESTAURANT AT THE TOP OF THE WORLD
The roads were narrow and twisty , with unbelievable drops on the outside . An exciting drive , no doubt , both going up and coming down. And then we were down , driving on the flat plains of the Western Sahara . We had the Atlantic on our Right Hand Side and the start of the Sahara on our Left Hand side, and the endless track of the power cables on huge pylons running parallel to the road and so it was for days the same vista punctuated with towns of different sizes and a clear empty road . On and on we went , dinner in Tan-Tan and got to Tiznet for nightfall , where we found and booked in to a lovely 4 star hotel which we paid €120.00 for 2 rooms [4 people] .
09.00 the next morning we were up and tank filled we headed ever further South . I will always remember passing a sign with “DAKLA 1600kms. ” , a town we were passing through , and so on we went south with Atlantic to right and Sahara to Left , we arrived in Layonne at nightfall , a U.N. stronghold , with all personnel, each having their own white 4X4 and U.N. painted on the side . They have been there since the early nineties , getting paid a fortune , there because the elections of , I think , 1996 were deferred for a period – and were never held , so here the UN stayed.
Early the following morning we were off again and before 18.00 we arrived in Dakla , pushing over 90mph most of the way, as we read that the only bar there closed at 18.00 , and we were trying to get some takeaway drink. By pushing the punto to over 150kph we managed to make it , and we ended up in a shebeen out the back of a dingy hotel . But it was homely in a ballroom of romance kind of decor , with a constant flow of beercans being sold out the door to everchanging males who scurried away with the beers in plastic bags. I never found why. As Dakla was a meeting point for the teams , we decided we would stay in the ”MOTEL/CAMPSITE” with the other teams. we stayed in the motel section ; it was good value . It was a concrete room with nothing in it except two mats to lie on , and the generator went off at 10.00 – total darkness. We stayed for one night – we found an hotel the next day. We also found a roof top bar on top of a 4 star hotel which was built since our guide book was written , obviously . It is the last outpost going from western Sahara into Mauritania and it was a nice town until you try and get petrol to get out of it . After eventually finding a petrol garage [ we found a few diesel only ones] we were waiting in a queue for an hour or more , eventually driving into mayham at the one servicable pump. We had 2 cars with 2 big jerry cans and a Land Rover having 6 jerry cans in the back , all to be filled ; as well as other locals driving into the area and pedestrians walking up with jerry cans , with one attendant . It was bedlam . I do not know how he kept track of the bill , but when he came over to us after a long delay , it seemed to be correct for each of our cars. And so we spent the night on the roof top bar chatting with a self confessed “smuggler” , and looking over the town of Dakla , contemplating our drive deeper into Africa.
05.00 the following morning still dark ,we were off again heading south , and were making great progress on a good road until about 08.00 when we stopped at a mile long queue in the middle of nowhere . We had arrived at the Mauritanian border and as we walked up to the outpost it was a scene of utter chaos. we eventually started to move into no-mans land about 14.00, just before siesta 14.00 to 16.00, about 12 teams got through . According to the guide book all the mines had been cleared here, but so was the road. This was our first off road experience , with a few of us getting stuck and pulled out and after a few miles we arrived at the Mauritanian checkpoint . This checkpoint was just a collection of wooden shacks where a group of officials were put there for a month with no facilities as far as i could see , no electricity maybe some water, and i saw some mattresses on the floor where they slept. It was a pathetic life from my point of view . Anyway we were through in about 30 minutes , and treated nicely even if the guards were wondering if I would give them my sunglasses. However, they were a nice bunch of guards all things considered . Then we were back on hard roads heading into Nouadhibou which is a cross between Dodge city , puck fair and Beiruit – with most cars having no number plates and no law and order . There was streets of sand leading off in all different directions with no obvious pattern . kids playing in what looked like building sites , however the whole town seemed to look like a building site. The guide brought us firstly to a big lockup where all the teams drove in . but we left after a few cross words , and we headed up to a nearby hotel ”The Aljezera ” – it was adequate and when we arrived down to the large dining room , we should have guessed what direction this was going as we were the only ones there . During the evening we changed the wheels and put on the sand tyres and we were ready to head into the desert.
It was early morning 30 degrees,when we headed down the only paved street in town. 20 cars headed in convoy through a poverty-ridden area unlike anything we have here.
Out of town where we passed through the refuse dump which stretched on both sides of the road , with no particular order, just rubbish . Still in convoy we headed across the rail tracks which headed eastwards parallel to the roadway and heads off in the direction of Timbuckoo . . After a few miles we headed south off the road and into sand .The guides directed us towards a raised mound about 3 or 4 miles in the distance where we all gathered and got out and chatted about our first taste of sand – albeit very tame so far and looking forward to our desert drive.Walking up the mound a few of us spent time surveying the area – very flat landscape bereft of trees – just a few scattered around ; with some scrub areas– with a sandy colour – seeing as it was sand it was not surprising , there were a few tents cum shacks dotted around – we commented that they may be holiday homes – but maybe not. It was a desolate scene ; in the distance we saw one of the longest trains in the world about 3 kilometres long consisting of ore carriages – however it was dwarfed by the scale of the landscape.
We divided into 4 groups of 5 cars each , with one 4 wheel drive and one guide in each group , we then had to drop the tyre pressure to about 10/12 lbs .For the first few miles we just followed as a line of traffic on a very rough dirt road – ; we were wondering would it be this easy all the way .It was not to be – the terrain got more undulating and the dirt road disappeared and we were suddenly driving over rough stoney ground – driving slowly –there is nothing like rocks scrapping along the car bottom to focus the mind on the road ahead. Imagining the exhaust or sump being torn off. We started to get separated and our group of 5 headed off as one ; leaving the other groups to work away as they had some big BMW s which are not great in the sand. Our group consisted of an ex-ambulance land rover ; Volvo estate ; V.W. Passat ; Renault 25 ; and ourselves in the Fiat Punto. We had a good combination of drivers and the driving livened up no end when we started going into soft dune areas . driving around the huge dunes was an awe inspiring experience – those dunes are big and a lovely smooth finish – and of course a sandy colour. From a driving point of view you must drive fast over the soft sand and slow over the stony surface. We drove until after 6 – and stopped in an area with a few trees – where we gathered wood and lit a fire – and started doing the camping things – –darkness fell so fast that it was disconcerting not being able to see equipment ; like torches ; which were visible 10 minutes before. However darkness has the advantage of being able to slip away to use the facilities – to coin a phrase ; one was invisible 30 metres from the fire. If you are caught short during the day you have that long walk with your shovel and roll of paper across a barren sandy landscape with the nearest tree – only one tree – about a mile away // hard to be sophisticated or discrete in that situation.
Well we ate and drank and chatted in the middle of the desert – and prepared for leaving at daybreak on the following day. We did head off early and had a bracing drive along flat sand at speeds of about 100 kms . it was exhilarating to have the 5 cars driving laid out in a straight line and coming up close to each other. We stopped for a break and a brew – noticing a rise in wind . it was blowing hard when we stopped for lunch , and within an hour we were driving through a sandstorm . it was like driving in a snow storm but warmer and that old sandy colour again as always.On leaving the safe quiet atmosphere of the car your face is sandblasted and difficult to focus on anything and hard to speak with the noise ; and it is great to get back into the cosiness of the car.As we drove along at one stage we were surprised to see a herd of camels being herded through the sandstorm ; and I thought it was strange to see them . On reflection , I think the herders were more surprised to see 5 cars driving through the Sahara in a sand storm.There were many incidents of getting stuck in the soft sand and tempers were getting frayed and language was as bad as during a dail debate. The guides were fantastic at getting the cars out of the sand – only using the land rover as a last resort –.We were driving into the dark for about an hour – an exciting end, before we got to the camp site at the beachhead with a hundred miles of driving along the beach the following day We were the second group – 2 other groups came after and they were in bad state with exhausts ; back bumpers missing and holes torn in the floor pans – 1 group had to stay out in the desert again, although our camp site was not much better – as I went in to the tent first I lit the gas burners and was stuck making the food – boil water – put in noodles – add soup and any other packets around // other pot for tea /// serve in bowls // a meal fit for a hungry desert traveller. After chatting we fell into a sleep with the wind blowing through the tent
Not a bad thing after the menu served !!!!!
Early the following morning with dawn just breaking we were on our way again – the cars and occupants were getting tired by now - we had a limited time to drive down the beach between tides . we drove the cars at speed down the beach over the soft sand to the waters edge . the car roars and bucks through the soft sand then swinging parallel to the water and drove along the waters edge. Moving up and down with the waves coming in – we picked the speed up to about 100km – if you moved up the beach u started to bog down – if you moved down the beach you started to get sucked into the water with spray everywhere. It was a thrilling drive as we lifted cars over the undulating beach and sudden drops At the end we came off the beach – again driving hard across the soft sand and into a fishing village .We had to stop here to pump up all the tyres as we were just a few miles from tarmac road .The village was surreal in the sand storm ; it was a collection of shacks with no roads ,paths, lighting , cars , and civilisation . we were a novelty carnival distraction . all the cars and occupants were swarmed with children and teenagers looking for “cadeau” presents . to be walking around that poverty – seeing the poor people with nothing ; treasuring anything we would give them ; seeing the sand storm screaming around their shacks walking around was draining as you dragged your feet back towards the car . the peace you got as you sat in the quietness of the car – with their faces pressed against the glass – looking for presents . It is belittling trying to see how you could sort this mess out — . Looking around the car it is as bad as the village sand everywhere – camp and supplies thrown in the back – sand in every part of the car – even behind the glass in the speedometer.Eventually we left the village behind – and a quiet drive into the capital Nauochaot where we took the easy way out and booked into the best hotel – - most stayed in a camp site ; and I was able to go up to the room strip off and take a shower and see the sand wash away with a strange red colour and feel refreshed — I dress up and head down to the carvery and have a lovely meal — leaving the people in the village still out there in the sand storm .For us it was a great drive in the country.
Fantastic!!! . I went for a walk towards the rainbow bridge , the bridge to U.S.A. . I walked along the river bank and it was breath-taking to see the water crashing over the ridge and down into the frozen river full of ice boulders and as it was getting dark had an eerie light shining on the scene. I was now directly below my hotel Sheraton Falls – no hat or gloves –and a little cold .I walked on thinking I may find a road back to the higher main road from the other side of town, it was getting colder . As I walked it got colder and the lights and people got scarcer; it was becoming a concern. I decided to try and retrace my steps all the way back to the hotel. It is startling and frightening how cold it gets around Canada , compared the mildness of Ireland . At last, back in the room , warmed up and all is well . Down for a bit of pub grub then off to bed. Early the following morning I came down for a charming breakfast then off down town with the video camera . Firstly I found an extremely tall tower with an observation platform on top . I walked around and could see the whole landscape laid out in front of me and the direction marked under the window. Then I went off to an Imax show of the Falls with a Museum nearby well worth a visit great show. Afterwards down to the Falls proper, and it started to snow – very picturesque . I was right up next to the water as it poured over the ridge and could feel the cold spray as it iced up all along the barrier . Boy was it cold .
