From 2005/01/22 to 2005/01/29
The first part of the journey in West and North Africa consisted of stages of connection to go to the Sahara.
The organization of the tour operator is made up of three 4x4 vehicles with one group leader, one doctor and three mechanics. The participants are eleven crews in 4x4 vehicle and my truck.
Appointment had been given in Aix-en-Provence, January 22 at 8 a.m., at the
agency of the tour operator of the Ténéré-Dakar Raid.
The departure to Marseille was envisaged at 9 a.m.. But information from the SNCM
put of the loading at 3 p.m. because of the delay of the
boat due of to a strong storm the previous days.
The arrival at the port of La Goulette in Tunis took place Sunday 23 at 3 p.m.. The group was unloaded at 3 p.m. 30. The control of police was quickly dispatched. On the other hand the customs formalities were fastidious, need for declaring all electronic hardware: GPS, CB radio, etc.
The first stage was a hotel in Kairouan taking into account the late hour of the end of all border crossing operations. The large mosque in Kairouan was seen in the passing of the convoy.
The Tuniso-Algerian crossing of border took place on January 24 in Nefta Tunisia side and Taleb Larbi Algeria side. The distance between Kairouan and the border posts are of 373Km.
As much the formalities passage was quickly dispatched by the Tunisian officers, as much slowness formalities Algerian side was long and tiresome. They started at 1 p.m. to finish at 4 p.m. 30. However the Algerian Gendarmerie did not allow traffic after 5 p.m.. The group remained at this checkpoint.
Then the Algerian transit started with the stages in Ghardaïa, El
Goléa, In Salah and finally Tamanrasset. The roads are in a sad state making
the progression slow and tiring. Assigned time did not make it possible to
make tourism. Despite everything I could foresee and appreciate the
beauties of Hoggar, due to the low speed authorized by bad road.
The first bivouac took place in El Goléa in a sympathetic palm plantation.
My truck having had technical problems, the group was not able to cross the
Algerian-Niger border January 29 before 6 p.m..
The bivouac was organized at In Guezzam around 9 p.m. close to the border
checkpoint.
These connection stages corresponded to a distance of approximately 2,500 kilometres primarily of road until Tamanrasset and then track to the border.
