Me & My Dunlops
We are pleased to present the first article in our new ‘Me and My Dunlops’ series. This is dedicated to the adventurers among you, where you tell us the places that you and your Dunlop’s have explored, sites you have seen and where exactly your tyres have taken you.
Georges Boussingault from Brussels tells us how he rode with confidence…
Marhaba Trek 2008
With its Marhaba treks, the Bel-Raid non-profit organisation has, for over ten years, been enabling countless bikers to see the wide open spaces of countries like Morocco, Mauritania, Mali and Niger. Bel-Raid is headed by Patrick Lebon, a former endurist turned African adventurer. In autumn 2008, Patrick took his “Marhaba adventurers” on a journey of discovery in Morocco, for a trek called Chegaga 2008.
Morocco is a country which offers an exceptional variety of landscapes, from the white beaches of the Atlantic coast to the snow-capped summits of the High Atlas Mountains, with the sands of the Great South in between. The Marhaba trek is not a timed rally, but rather a sporting journey which enables you to see the sights of the regions you cross at a pace which is still ‘human’.
Therefore, Chegaga 2008 took just thirty participants along Moroccan tracks on a 2,600 km circular route starting and ending in Marrakech, passing through Ouarzazate, Ait Youl, Alnif, Zagora, Chegaga, Tata, Taliouine and Ouirgane.
Clearly, a 300 kg Harley is not the ideal bike for this kind of journey along tracks which are sometimes completely rutted and riddled with stones or sandbanks. However, it’s plain sailing with a slightly modified enduro bike.
For this trek, I had asked Jean-Marc Warrant, a KTM dealer with a great deal of experience in the field of cross-country rallying, to get my bike ready. For the first time, he had fitted my KTM 525 EXC with Dunlop Rally Raid D908 RR tyres. Used to competitor tyres, I was curious to see how they would perform on such a long and demanding route. A 2,600 km trek through Morocco to be precise.
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Fig 1: Enduro bikes ready for an African trek | Fig 2: The Dunlop tyre before we set off |
Saturday 1 November found us in the hotel car park, ready for a 255 km leg taking us from Marrakech to Ouarzazate and, unbelievably, it was bucketing down with rain and freezing cold. It sometimes rains in the south of Morocco, but this was a real downpour. The organisers wisely decided to abandon the all-terrain route, and the participants reached Ouarzazate by road, via the Tichka pass, in Dantean conditions (rain, gusts of wind and hail storms).
At the start of the second leg, 200 km between Ouarzazate and Ait Youl, the skies were finally more clement. This leg led us to Dadès Gorges via the southern side of the Atlas chain. The first part of the leg took us on fairly fast tracks, which emerged onto an oued (dried-up river bed) which we went down for several kilometres.
The second part of the leg took us on tracks that snaked between valleys and passes against the backdrop of the snow-capped summits of the Atlas Mountains, an imposing spectacle made up of arid tracks, immense clouds and majestic mountains.
Following a good night’s sleep and a few maintenance jobs on the bike (changing the air filter, checking the fluid levels and the chain tension – the tyres performing fantastically well so far), the third leg (346 km to Alnif via Tinehrir and M’cissi) looked like it would be “serious”. Unfortunately, due to the heavy rain of recent weeks, which had turned into snow at high altitude, we had to avoid the first part of the leg, which started by ascending a mountain pass, something which looked immensely imposing. The last section of this leg went into the Moroccan Great South via tracks formerly used by the Paris-Dakar Rally. Good navigation, a sense of direction and care were needed at all times. It was a fast but steady ride, and we managed to reach Alnif and its Inn of a Thousand Stars without incident.
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Fig 3: Going down an oued | Fig 4: Snow-capped summits |
After a day like that, a good night’s sleep was called for to recover and get our strength back before starting a fourth leg which was almost as long (323 km), which would follow the Marhaba caravan to the old caravan town of Zagora and its superb inn, La Figule du Draa. This extremely demanding leg would be a perfect summary of the great Saharan legs, i.e. lots of navigation, fast tracks, stones and crossing a chott (dried-up lake). Suffice it to say, we wouldn’t be bored between Alnif and Zagora, via Tafraoute, Oum Jrane and Tazarine. In fact, the leg was utterly daunting! Technical, undulating mountain passes covered with loose stones, slippery tracks snaking along the mountains, little wadis to cross, tracks running alongside the Draa for tens of kilometres… what a variety of landscapes, what splendour!
Following a somewhat complicated finale along little tracks snaking through the large Zagora palm grove, the day ended and we arrived, exhausted but happy, at the town’s oldest hotel, La Fibule du Draa. A true wonder of authenticity, where we received a Moroccan-style welcome. Without mobile phones ringing, you almost believed that you were back at the beginning of the 20th century, when the town was still an unmissable stopping place on the track to Timbuktu.
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Fig 5: Extremely fast tracks to reach Alnif | Fig 6: You can’t go wrong… it’s straight ahead here |
The trek was named after the final destination of the next leg: 268 km between Zagora and Erg Chegaga, a zone where sand has replaced stones. A vast expanse of dunes to the south of Zagora, Erg Chegaga is only accessible via the track, which means it is a site not many tourists go to, in contrast to Erg Chebbi, near to Merzouga.
After the first part of the leg, which was devoted to a high mountain track and filling up with petrol in Tagounite, the Marhaba trek reached the south bank of the Draa oued in a convoy via fairly sand-covered tracks. The last section of the journey took us via rather chaotic and sand-covered tracks to the side of Erg Chegaga for a bivouac and a classic whole sheep roast. Waking up was going to be difficult, but what an alarm call! Watching the sun rise over these magnificent dunes is a rare spectacle.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t much time for sightseeing. After loading up the bikes, everyone got back in the saddle for a 250 km leg to the town of Tata. After a fairly tiring start via tracks thick with sand, we headed for Lake Iriki, which we crossed at the headland for a number of kilometres.
An absolutely unique lunar-style sensation.
We refuelled by the side of the track and then rode flat out along a track marked with cairns, formerly marked out for the Paris-Dakar Rally. This track, which runs alongside the Algerian border, can only be travelled in one direction, to avoid smugglers coming through from Algeria. However, it enabled us to cross superb landscapes, among the most beautiful in the Moroccan Great South, including canyons, valleys, oueds and fords. Such a great variety of different landforms made for a truly magnificent leg. The track ended a few kilometres from the hotel, where a few beers helped us to wash away the taste of the dusty tracks.
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Fig 7: Don’t go straight ahead here! | Fig 8: Filling up in Tagounite |
The next two legs allowed us to leave behind the desert regions of the south and go back up towards the north and cross the Atlas chain. The first of these legs consisted of 275 km of small tracks between mountains and valleys, climbing various mountain passes (one of which was more than 2,700m), finishing with a breathtaking descent towards the town of Taliouine. Taliouine is the saffron capital of the world. However, the town is also famous for the remains of the Kasbah of Glaoui, one of the most famous pashas in Moroccan history.
After a short tour of the town to buy a bit of reasonably-priced saffron (at least by our Belgian standards), we headed for the PLM hotel, a somewhat anachronous witness of Morocco’s French colonial past.
The second leg through the Atlas Mountains, and the all too soon last leg of the trek, took us from Taliouine to Ouirgane via 200 km of absolutely magnificent high mountain passes. Each bend revealed a new landscape even more impressive than the one before, and as always I could trust my bike and Dunlop tyres to do their job as we enjoyed the marvels before us. The trek came to a close by ascending a final breathtaking mountain pass before coming back down towards Ijoukak, and the trek ended with around twenty kilometres by road to the Auberge du Sanglier qui Fume in Ouirgane.
The last evening was an opportunity for a superb meal, before which the most deserving participants were awarded symbolic prizes.
After more than a week of pure bliss in vast, wild and desert expanses, it was soon time to return to Marrakech and its anarchic traffic. In fact, the final 120 km road leg would take us back there all too quickly.
So how do we conclude the Chegaga 2008 trek? 2,600 km travelled, no major incidents and nothing but bliss thanks to impeccable organisation, a precise and varied roadbook and, more than anything, thanks to a group of participants who were never lacking when it came to helping each other and providing companionship.
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Fig 9: The dunes of Erg Chegaga | Fig 10: Small oued in the middle of the desert |
A final word of thanks also goes to Jean-Marc Warrant for having prepared my bike so well, to KTM for the bike and to Dunlop for the tyres. In fact, speaking of tyres, the Dunlop Rally Raid tyres stood up without faltering to the 2,600 km of a route which is among the most demanding when it comes to treks. They strike a perfect balance between roadholding and strength, both on stones and on sand. Few all-terrain tyres can boast such performances under such difficult and varied conditions.
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Fig 11: Remains of the Kasbah of Glaoui in Taliouine | Fig 12: The Dunlop Rally Raid tyre after 2,600 km |
Do you have an adventure to share with us?
Send us your ‘Me and My Dunlops’ story and be in for a chance of winning a brand new set of Dunlop tyres. All articles should be sent to: meandmydunlops@dunlopmotorcycle.eu
All stories:
Me and My Dunlops 05 by Denny Lannoo - Belgium
Me and My Dunlops 04 by Roberto Finetti - Italy
Me and My Dunlops 03 by Andy Müller - Switzerland
Me and My Dunlops 02 by Miriam Philippsborn - The Netherlands
Me and My Dunlops 01 by Georges Boussingault - Belgium
