Finally, and after carefully assessing our funds and the contributions received until now we decided to donate the Beast to a healthcare or educational organization in Bamako. We have identified a charity organization in Mali as potential partner and will announce the details soon.
In order to make this an even more valuable donation, there are a few more things to do:

• overhaul the transmission,
• replace all main electrical wires (new harness),
• give the car a new white finish.

Friends and fans out there: please help us to achieve our goal and donate to our project!

Pascal has joined our team this week:

Adventure, charity and team spirit was the magic cocktail to convince him to jump into the Budapest-Bamako 2011 challenge.
Western Africa has remained unknown during his previous 8 trips to Africa, and discovering this part of the continent will ensure the right level of adrenaline. The magic of Africa is a magnet for him composed of the kindness, the simplicity and the hospitality of the people.

We survived the first offroad mission with the Beast, and, even more important, the Beast is still alive too. New defects are arising every day, but most of them are manageable:

• the actuator of the windscreen wiper is broken (but you can grasp it through the side window and move manually)
• dashboard lights sometimes work, sometimes don’t
• right side mirror sometimes falls out of its frame

 The only two bigger issues are the heating radiator leaking and worrying noises from the 5th gear.