TOUAREG TRAIL 2007 ITINERARY
Brussels 27th October
Barcelona 28th October
Morocco 29th October - 5th November
Mauritania 6th – 9th November
Mali 10th – 15th November
Burkina 16th – 18th November
Benin 19th – 25th November
UK 26th November

POINTS SYSTEM
There is a points system throughout the month long trip. Points are gained through tasks listed below and points are lost through asking for technical support or breaking safety rules such as arriving after dark or driving irresponsibly. The team with the highest points at the end of the trip win free entry into the 2008 Touareg trail.

DAILY TASKS
Lots of driving
Picture or film task.
Questions from the locals
Picture spotting from road book and photographing.

GENERAL UPDATE
Making some really good friends along the way, mainly through helping each other out. There are penalty points for asking for organization assistance, so everyone tries to help each other first.

Seeing many Amsterdam – Dakar rally drivers along the way, who all seem quite impressed with our massive support truck and army food lorry. Our Dutch chef Mark is absolutely amazing and we miss his cooking when we are sampling local food for a few nights. Last camp meal was fresh mussels from the beach we were staying at 4 euros a kilo! As well a spaghetti, pesto and salad.

For a map of our exact route please look on the ‘DYMO’’ 2cv page through the Touareg Trail official website. http://www.touareg-trail.be/

MOROCCO
Now we are completely out of the Atlas Mountains, but we have enjoyed the action packed journey. All cars have been put through some serious hill climbing and very rocky dirt track driving. Campsites have been both bush camps, traditional Moroccan tents and even a hotel! The sights have included sleeping to the sound of a massive waterfall and waking to the view of beautiful and famous Kasba forts.

Everyday we move further along the track it is getting noticeably warmer during both the day and night. There has been lots of off roading as well as tarmac. This has allowed us to see very rural parts of Morocco. My favorite has been the traditional ‘Berber’ people housing which are box shaped mud construction and are scattered across the Atlas Mountains. All the people are generally very kind and helpful with our daily project questions, which are set to encourage interaction with the local people and also so we learn something about their culture.

The Younger generations are the least polite with constant requests for pens, money and cigarettes in French. This being a direct result of previous ill advised foreign travelers. The elder members of the community are against the begging and often tell children to move. As a group we have been encouraged not to make this situation worse by giving from the car. Instead giving to village leaders or schools if we feel the need or occasionally if someone has been particularly helpful. We have also been told that the Berbers are comfortable compared to future countries and to hold out with help till later on.

SAHARA
Rocky and sandy, but definitely dessert stretching for miles. Free range camels along the way! Many designs for landmines as we near the border. Impressive ship wrecks
Lots of beautiful beach campsite with plenty of getting stuck in the sand. Still perfecting the sand driving technique. Dj is too slow and gets stuck every few meters and I’m too fast and cause a drive shaft to putt out when we hit a bouncy spot. Managed to get it back in without undoing anything, but both have learnt lessons. Opps.

As part of a daily task we were asked to find a fisherman and photo him with catch of the day. This lead to an amazing encounter with three locals, a hand made Moroccan blanket tent and some beautiful fresh fish, which they insisted we took with us.

As I write we are driving south along the coast on the edge of the cross the Mauritanian border 5 hours wait in the heat more driving in the sand have a feeling we will be stuck at least once tomorrow.