Sunday 20 Jan (28 miles, 3237 in total)
I’m really concerned about the horrific journey to come as we exit Dakar. I say it will be the worst possible introduction to Sénégal, but the roads are comparatively clear. Then we realise it’s Sunday.
I later check on the dates of previous rallies and they have all finished on a Sunday. Maybe this is to ensure that the competitors can at least get from the Meriden Hotel (where most spend the previous night) to Lac Rose through what would normally be totally gridlocked roads.
When we arrive at Chez Salim at Lac Rose there are seven or eight army-type lorries lined up to take a group of tourists out on the dunes. They think they are having an adventure, then spot our bike arriving and their jaws drop.
Le Cocq’s and Moneyron’s bikes
There’s the sound of engines in the dunes and there’s a Dakar competitor truck (sponsored by Senegal Airlines) and a couple of Dakar bikes on display. The noise is coming from a couple of Dakar cars playing in the dunes.
Nissan that was to have been co-driven by a Senegalese
After watching for a while I ride over to the official finish area outside the Niwa Oasis hotel. There’s nobody there, they are all still playing in the sand dunes, so I proclaim myself the winner of the 2008 Dakar Rally.
Afterwards I meet up again with the four Dutch guys on the WR450s that I last saw at Hotel de la Poste. I am chatting with Wim and he mentions the police road block below Saint-Louis and I find they paid €50 each for the same infraction as us. He says they paid the money as they were in a hurry.
There’s two ways of looking at this, one is to say that the more people pay corrupt police officers the worst it gets for those who don’t want to pay. On the other hand, faced with intransigent travellers who refuse to cough up, perhaps the corrupt officers will not push hard knowing there will be others coming along shortly who will be easier targets.
Tim
There and Back Again 