On the trails of the Paris-Dakar Rally

On the first travel day, we gather with our off-road vehicles at 8:00 AM in front of the Eiffel Tower in Paris, which was built by Gustave Eiffel from 1887 to 1889. The official start takes place right here, just like at the Dakar Rally. You have the opportunity to join the guide from Germany with your off-road vehicle and arrive in Paris as a group. After a brief introduction and some instructions, the journey starts right away.

The day's destination is the highest dune in Europe, the Dune du Pilat, with a height of 110 m, a width of 500 m, and a length of 2.7 km in a north-south direction near Bordeaux in Arcachon. After that, we will continue to our first hotel along the route. In the evening, we will eat at a cozy fish restaurant right by the harbor.

One does not know exactly where one is at the moment. Northern Spain is sparsely populated, and the vastness of the landscape and the surroundings remind one of images known from adventure travels in America.

On the evening of the third day, we spend the night in a hotel in Talavera de la Reina, from where we set off on the fourth day to our last stop on European soil. We need to cover miles so that we can reach the destination of the fourth day early and still have some time for beautiful Seville after we check into our hotel.

Spain's fourth-largest city has one of the largest old towns in the world, alongside Venice and Genoa.

The route takes us along the coast to Rabat, the capital of Morocco and the seat of the royal family, before we turn onto smaller roads towards the Atlas Mountains. The Atlas stretches roughly 2,300 km through Morocco, Algeria, and Tunisia.

The traffic is lively and unfamiliar, and driving requires a lot of attention and concentration. We slowly make our way through the foothills of the Atlas towards Ouzoud, where the first mountain passes are already waiting for us. In the evening, we set up our camp at a small campsite in Ouzoud.

In Asni, a mountain village in the High Atlas at the foot of Jebel Toubkal, the highest mountain in North Africa at 4,167 m, we set off together towards the Tizi n’Test pass. Even though the distance isn't particularly great, it takes nearly a whole day before we reach our day's destination, the city of Taroudant on the other side of the mountains, with our expedition vehicles.

On the narrow mountain road, you can encounter everything from donkeys to 40-ton trucks.

The first major desert stage lies ahead of us. We will drive for two days through the western foothills of the vast Sahara towards the desert town of Smara. Along the way, we pass the disputed border between Morocco and the former Spanish-administered Western Sahara.

The history of this region is still palpable today – in the mentality of the people as well as in the language. While French is widely spoken in Morocco, we suddenly find ourselves using Spanish here. Where we spend the night depends on the distances we can cover on the two days. We set up our wild camps where the landscape and the moment dictate.

For two days we cross the vast landscapes of the Sahara along Western Sahara and Mauritania. For this stage, we also reserve the right to choose the quieter route along the coast towards Dakhla at the Atlantic depending on progress and group dynamics.

This passage offers either "pure Sahara" with intense stages or alternatively a more relaxed version along the coast with long beach stretches and subsequent re-entry into the desert. On the coastal route, a stop in the surfer town of Dakhla is also possible if needed.

We follow a section of the approximately 700 km long route of the Mauritanian iron ore train for about 350 km off paved roads before continuing on to Atar. This stage is challenging, and we need two days to reach the oasis city. The legendary train transports iron ore from Zouerate to the Atlantic and is considered one of the longest freight trains in the world.

Atar was once a significant center of Moorish high culture, which gave the country its name.

Before the current road was built in 2006, the official route to Nouakchott ran along the Atlantic coast directly over the beach. The tides compact the sand there firmly and evenly, making it possible to sometimes progress even faster than on some tracks inland. We are using this special route and continuing our journey on this historic route.

However, the drive requires careful coordination with the tides, as certain sections become impassable at high tide and the Atlantic reaches close to the dunes. At the same time, we are experiencing one of the most pristine coastal landscapes in West Africa with endless beaches, fishing camps, and only a few settlements along the route.

Our day's goal is the capital Nouakchott, where today about half of the population of Mauritania lives and which is considered the political and economic center of the country.

We set off from Saint-Louis in the morning and reach Dakar around noon. Part of the route can again run along the beach. As with the Paris-Dakar, our journey ends on the shore of Lac Rose, the pink salt lake on the outskirts of Dakar.

There we spend the last evening together and celebrate our arrival with good food. The following day, the expedition officially ends. From here, there is the option to ship the expedition vehicle by container to Europe and fly back, or to join the tour guides overland towards Morocco, where they usually take a short break.

From Marrakech, the return trip can then proceed on asphalt towards the ferry port.