1. I found all the medicine boxes, of course at the far end of the truck, so I had to move more than 100 other boxes first. Everything is in our car now, ready to be handed over to Mali Health Organizing Project on Sunday.

2. The stage today was short and beautiful, most of the time we spent in a national park. Chimps are said to live there, but we could not see any of them. Janos spotted some rhinos and we got very excited until we realized they were cows.

3. The body of the car of Duro racing team separated from the chassis (all bolts either broken or lost), together with 4 other teams we helped them to fix the car. Never lifted a car by hand before.

4. In the afternoon we went to the village Bambaran to hand over some gifts (torches, pens). We gave everything to the village chief and told him to distribute, but he put everything in his own pocket.

5. The camp site was beautiful, the Swiss teams started to prepare goulash from a gout they bought in the village. Everything looked perfect.

6. Around 8:30pm we realized that the fires around the camp were not those of nearby shepherds. A massive bush fire was approaching the camp. We decided to evacuate the camp. Had to leave the goat goulash behind :-(The departure was quite chaotic, the touring teams were supposed to set up camp a few kilometers away, but many of them continued to Bamako.

7. Because the first geo challenges of tomorrow are close to the camp, the last stage was started immediately. However, we soon realized that it is impossible to race in between and in the dust of all those touring cars. Hence we stopped and set up camp now in the middle of the bush.

8. We will continue tomorrow at 6am and hope to cross the finish line around 1pm.

The plan for today was to have a nice offroad stage, crossing the green border into Mali and reporting to customs and to the police only in Bamako. But Malian authorities rejected the plan in last minute, hence the race day was canceled. In expectation of a relaxing day with only 450km on tarmac road I was happy about the decision.
But reality is always different from the expectations in Africa.

Here the events of the day:
1. In the morning the engine did not start, ran on 3 cylinders only, smoked like hell, did not rev above 2000 rpm, and the check engine light was on. Crap African diesel… We replaced the diesel filter, but that did not change much.
2. The smoke did not came out of the exhaust pipe but from under the car. Our exhaust pipe was broken. We went to a garage to have it welded, which took until noon.

3. In expectation of a lengthy border crossing we rushed to Nioro.

4. On the way crazy kids threw stones at our car. Most of the children just ask for cadeau, but every year there are a few throwing stones. Don’t ask me why. No serious damage.
5. On the way we were stopped by another car with a broken clutch. We decided to tow it to Diema (250km plus the border crossing).
6. While towing the other car, the engine returned to normal operation, we seem to have cleaned the fuel system by high rev towing.
8. Our GPS logger died. Unfortunately it starts beeping permanently if it does not receive a valid signal. Four hours in the car surrounded by permanent beep-beep-beep. Meanwhile the logger has been repaired.
9. The border crossing was indeed lengthy. We were supposed to pick up our lassez pass (the customs certificate stating that you have legally entered Mali with your car) at the customs office 64km behind the border, but that was closed already when we arrived. I thought we would have to go back tomorrow (200km detour), but fortunately one of the rally organizers picked up all passes and we should get them tomorrow in the camp.

10. We had to repair the car I was towing (the battery cable came loose, no lights, no engine and hence no power steering and no power brakes).
11. We arrived at the camp in Diema at 11pm. We were supposed to pick up our medicine donations here, but the donation trucks were not here yet. Stuck at the border.
12. While repacking our stuff to make room for the med boxes we realized that they will not fit in. We will leave the sand ladders and other stuff here in Diema and pick them up on the way home.
13. Its 1am and the trucks just arrived. There are three of them and nobody knows in which one our boxes are. Medicines are always a problem at the borders, therefore our boxes have been relabeled. Nobody knows what the new labels say and the packing lists only contain the new labels. It is impossible to find them now in the dark, we will get up at 7 tomorrow and hope to find them quickly. The race stage starts at 8.
14. Its 2am and I am going to the tent now. The soldiers guarding the camp are playing loud music (some African hip-hop) 10m from our tent. Probably no sleep tonight either.

1. Gumisember Team, 174.8 points
2. Team Desert Patrol, 142.9 points
3. Sandergök, 109 points
4. Dig Deep Dig Deeper, 84.5 points
5. Duro Racing, 77 points

🙂