January 28, 2024 – Zebrabar, Senengal
Feb 7th, 2024 by rallyadmin
Today we drive into Senegal and on to the Zebrabar, south of Saint Louis. The border crossing shouldn’t be an issue on either side, exiting Mauritania and entering Senegal. Of course, things may not turn out the way we expect.
But first we have to get to the border and that is a challenge all it’s own. The last 10 kilometers are the worst roads that we have or will have traveled without question. It’s very common for the last miles to or from a border to have poor conditions but this stretch rivals the north entrance to Albania from Montenegro and that’s saying something.
The road is washed out so badly that normal cars bottom out just trying to avoid the erosion gullies. (It’s a severe understatement to call them potholes.) And that is a big concern for Billie, Team 2, who is towing the Team 21 Volvo. The boys have fashioned a hard bar to simplify the towing but the gullies may be a too serious obstacle.
Pinky and I are one of the front cars doing a recce of road conditions for the L200/Volvo pairing and it doesn’t look very good. In the worst areas, there is a side road that avoids the gullies but the problem is getting off the main road onto the side road without bottoming out one of the cars or, worse yet, breaking to hard bar.
We wait but the L200/Volvo combo doesn’t arrive and just as we are about to go back to search for them, we see them stopped at the beginning of the stretch of deep gullies. They slowly make their way up the road at stop where we are and we notice that the hard bar has become more of a tow strap rather than a hard bar.
Earlier in the day, the L200/Volvo combo had an incident that broke the jury-rigged hard bar and that repair was responsible for the delay. The repaired hard bar required that the combo run more slowly which, in turn, caused the Volvo, with the leaking radiator, to overheat more frequently which required the combo to move more slowly which required the combo to stop occasionally to cool the engine. The towed Volvo would have been very difficult to drive behind the L200 without power steering and power brakes and the engine would have to be running for the power steering and power brakes. But running he engine caused the engine to overheat. Now, the question now is will the engine survive the towing to Nouakchott for proper repair or will it give up the ghost after so much effort to save it,
Whatever is going to happen to the engine, the Volvo can not remain here on the worst road in Mauritania. It’s decided to risk the overheating issue and at least get off this road and get into Senegal. The L200/Volvo combo starts moving with us right behind.
The combo makes it over a couple of the smaller gullies without bottoming out but over the next one the Volvo bottoms hard and there is suddenly a dark liquid trail in the dirt between the rear wheels of the Volvo. We frantically radio Billie and the Volvo to stop and turn off both of their engines because one of the two vehicles appears to be leaking fluids.
They stop but the Volvo team has already determined that the Volvo has suddenly lost all of its oil. Bottoming out has apparently cracked or holed the Volvo oilpan. So much for occasional stops to cool the engine. The L200 is okay but driving the towed Volvo off this road, clearing the border and continuing to Nouakchott is going to be a serious challenge.
We leave the L200/Volvo behind and drive the last few kilometers to the border. After we cross the bridge at the border, we stop complete the document formalities and cross the short no man’s land to Senegal customs.
As usual, simple confusion reigns at immigration. We get the passports and car documents done relatively easier but, as last year, the car insurance, which we have included in the fees for the Challenge, is taking a while and we just have to wait. Finally, insurance done, we enter Senegal and head for the Zebrabar just south of Saint Louis.
Last year, Clemo and I didn’t leave the Senegal customs until after the sun had set making us to drive through the Saint Louis traffic at night, violating the Challenge absolute run, “No Driving at Night.” This year, things will be different. “No Driving at Night.”
With that absolute rule in mind, we leave the customs area just after sunset again. We drive through Saint Louis in the dark. Again. But this year, we arrive at Zebrabar without making any wrong turns and successfully check into an en suite room which is a great improvement over last year when Clemo and I arrived to find although we had reservations for a room, somehow the room was gone and we pitched a tent for the night.
The remaining cars from the desert run slowly arrive and check in. Later, dinner and beers ad later bed. Tomorrow, a rest day at the Zebrabar.
Obi-wan