Today was the first full offroad day, no single meter on sealed roads. In the briefing meeting Andrew (the organizer of the rally) said it would be the most difficult stage, but it was OK, the Beast is doing well even in deep sand. We didn’t even have to use our sandplates, deflating the tires and a little shoveling was more than enough. A bit disappointing, but finally we at least have some pictures showing the Beast bogged down in sand. It is a pity we only have satellite Internet and cannot upload the movies abour our dune crossing.
In the afternoon, in the middle of deep sand, our engine was overheating and the coolant container started leaking, but some two component glue and lots of duct tape seem to be an adequate temporary solution. Tomorrow in Nouakchott (the capital of Mauritania) we will buy a new one.
We had the best dinner of the whole trip today (sorry, I have to say it as I was the chef): we bought 4 fish from fishermen who just arrived back from their trip when we passed by and made fish couscus provencal (using more or less everything we have in our kitchen box). A Hungarian couple we met on the ferry brought us a few cans of beer and we invited them to dinner. There was nothing left over to give to the soldiers protecting the camp (we gave them some rice). It is strange that in Morocco, where selling alcohol is legal, we never managed to buy beer, but in Mauritania, where alcohol is forbidden, it is easy to get it.
The camp site tonight is called B2 Beach (B2 stands for Budapest-Bamako), regular camp on the Bamako, directly on the beach between the dunes. It is beautiful here, I decided to sleep outside watching the stars and listening to the waves.
Michal is well again, but now I have got kind of a flu, trying to ignore it.
Reading your Blog is even without photos fascinating, will be interesting how this trip has changed yourself;-)
google helped me to find Nouakchott and Bamako 😉
http://maps.google.at/maps?f=d&source=s_d&saddr=Nouakchott,+Mauretanien&daddr=Bamako,+Mali&hl=de&geocode=Fd3
Outdoor kitchen, looks good
And finally a picture of Andras … the kids were already asking for that for some time. Great Chef!
I see i have to prepare my washing machine for a very hard work after your return!!!
But therefore I do not have to cook (while our kitchen is not soo well equipped as the one from the Beast ;-))!!
It is a real love between Michal and the top of the Beast.You should bring home the top as a future stage for Michal!!!
incredible that google shows the route from Nouakchott to Bamako – but I was recently searching for Vienna->Banja Luka and didn’t get any results 😉