Sahara Challenge

But this is Africa and the culture, architecture and population present a completely different world. The colourful towns and villages teem with people living their simple but traditional lives and going about their daily business in a manner that has changed little in centuries.

As the route climbs from the Anti Atlas toward the High Atlas, the “European” influence dwindles and the Berbere influence increases. The Berbere people of the Sahara, unrestricted by political borders, freely roam the desert and that influence becomes increasingly apparent; coffee is taken at roadside, family run shacks, lunch of the local speciality, Tagine, at the kasbahs that lie along the route.

The roads meander up and down remote valleys and pass through breath-taking and very dramatic scenery. The route alternates between civilised asphalt roads and off-road tracks traversing remote deserted mountainsides which afford a very real sense of isolation while inducing production of the rally competitor’s fuel – adrenaline! Traffic is a word that doesn’t translate into Berbere. In fact, the sighting of another vehicle is reassuring both security and social wise! This is rallying with adventure, a true trait of Peking to Paris. Beyond the Atlas, the desert beckons and the competitor is thrust into the realms of GPS navigation as the route crosses sections of “open desert” and the competitive skills with which that is associated. Virtually trackless, the route instructions take the competitor around Bedouin camps, through wadis and other notable features in a logical, disciplined manner – perfect training for negotiating the wilds of Gobi, or simply a good cross country rally experience.

Fear not, this is not a “sand and shovel nightmare”, the route and tracks are chosen to be well suited to classic 2WD vehicles and, proved, by numerous past events! However, the crews who successfully negotiate these sections can depart Peking with confidence in the knowledge that the crew and the vehicle are a very capable combination and a place on the Parisian podium is a potential reality if only an aspiration!