chibuku - dresden to banjul 2008

Auction

2008-04-06T12:10:00.001+02:00

The auction was held on Sunday, 6 April, and has generated a total of 30.000 Euro for charity purposes in Gambia. Our Opel was sold for 21.000 Dalasi (750 Euro).

Photos

2008-04-03T13:44:00.005+02:00

More photos on: utabe.ipernity.com

Dakar

2008-03-31T17:25:00.003+02:00

Carsten is still in Banjul, I returned to Dakar. Where the Lebanese are in Africa, there are European style supermarkets, restaurants and bars. Where the French are - or were - in Africa, there's fresh baguettes, croissants and café au lait. Dakar has a real downtown area, with many old buildings, city life, city beaches and a Corniche, and looks a bit like Beirut. What an enjoyable city, no wonder The Dakar ends here.

2008-03-31T15:38:00.011+02:00

Repairing the exhaust and shock-absorber in Banjul.

Recipe book for the Sahara: Coffe with sand in the morning, pasta with sand in the evening. We had four days of sand storm - very unusual our Touareg guides said......aren't we lucky?

Driving in sand with an Opel Kadett: Gas pedal on the floor pan, 2nd gear, 60 km/h.

Touareg-German car repair joint-venture in the desert.

At the Mauretanian border. In the baracks in the background they are selling Mauretanian car insurances; every car entering Mauretania needs to purchase one. I guess thanks to it, we have never seen a country with so much automotive junk - most of it still driving!

Banjul!

2008-03-28T18:41:00.002+01:00

We arrived! All dirty and dusty after so many days in the Mauretanian desert and (unfortunately not so many days) in Senegal, via Nouakchott, St. Louis, Touba, and Kaolakh. Our car lost some parts in the desert and is now nicknamed The Leprosy Opel. We lost/destroyed: One cooler, one shock-absorber, one tire, five v-belts, the tank, the exhaust. We became the mobile desert car repair shop. Reflections on dirt: If it's dirty it's good. The cars go to the auction on Sunday. Banjul is a nice little town with one traffic lights and two main roads. The Gambia Police Force (GPF) No. 2 and 11 picked us up from the Gambia river ferry and convoyed us to the city. It's hot and dusty here and the local beer is called Jul Brew. We swoped our camping chairs with local batik fabrics today and had the shock-absorber and exhaust repaired. Tonight we'll have our welcome party.

In Dakhla

2008-03-18T13:27:00.002+01:00

We arrived in Dakhla yesterday, 2500 km since Tanger, via Marrakech, Tiznit, Tan Tan, Tarfaya, Laayoune, and Boujdour. We spend a day here to prepare the cars for the desert trip. We love Morocco, what a beautiful country. So many different villages and landscapes, mountains, deserts, dunes, camels, rocks, stones, and seemingly endless roads. Recipe for happiness: 1. Africa, 2. driving a car, 3. taking photos. Tomorrow we are leaving towards the Mauretanian border.

2008-03-18T12:38:00.005+01:00

Before Tan Tan.

400 km to Dakhla. Camels, flat land, strait roads, for hundreds and hundreds of kilometers.

The road from Tiznit to Tan Tan.

Waiting in Gibraltar for the ferry to Tanger.

Marrakesh

2008-03-14T13:41:00.003+01:00

A day in Marrakesh, keyboard in Arabic, beautiful smells of food and spices everywhere, very hot outside, but cool in the Souks. The Moroccans are very friendly and we are very tired. We gave up on racing and chasing and started enjoying the lands around us, spent some hours in Cordoba, visited Casablanca quickly, and now have a whole day in Marrakesh. Gibraltar was amazing. Tomorrow we cross the Atlas mountains, towards the Western Sahara region. Altogether we will spend a week in Morocco.

Day 3

2008-03-10T21:55:00.004+01:00

We arrived in Madrid, after two days and 1.730 km. We loved Southern France on a Sunday, laid back and cozy, no trucks on the streets, all shops closed, nobody anywhere. 830 km from Offenburg/Hohberg via Mulhouse, Belfort, Besancon, Beaune, Montceau, and Montlucon to Anglouleme, North of Bordeaux. Bienvenue au pais du rond point. We’ve never ever seen so many round abouts. The French seem to love them. And the sheep and hills. Beautiful. There are black dummies, with a red crosses on them, all along the roads, to symbolise traffic deaths on that road. Black dummies everywhere! Today 900 km from Angouleme, via Bordeaux, Bayonne, café au lait in Biarritz, San Sebastien, Gasteiz, Burgos, to Madrid. It was a stormy day, and everybody’s kind of dead. We were 33 teams at the start, two have left in the meantime. We were first yesterday, and fourth today. Tomorrow: To the South, to cross Gibraltar on Wednesday.

Day 1

2008-03-08T20:00:00.006+01:00

Yes! We won the first stage from Dresden to Hohberg (Germany), 630 km.

2008-03-08T10:28:00.008+01:00

TK1701. On-board snack: "The miracle hazelnut from Turkey". When does a journey begin? On the way to the airport? After take off? After landing? I think travels begin in our thoughts. This one began more than 10 years ago, when we had the idea to do Paris-Dakar one day. Well, this is not quite The Dakar, but it was cancelled this year anyway. Wimps. Stuttgart is grey from top to bottom. There's an internet cafe at the airport, a vending machine sells tickets, 1 hour 2 €. On my iPod: A Guzman, Pintame. I'm hung over. Thank you for the party, guys.

diesel & dust

2008-01-19T14:21:00.001+01:00

the diesel & dust dresden-dakar-banjul challenge is a 7000 km rallye through seven countries. it's a low budget rallye, open to everybody. upon arrival, the teams' cars will be given to charities in banjul, the gambia.

www.rallye-dresden-dakar-banjul.com

the car

2008-01-19T14:19:00.000+01:00

our car is a 1990 opel kadett with: 4 doors, 2 drivers, 4 wheels, and 1 roof rack. it's fully functional and we hope it will live a happy life in the gambia for many many more years.