Dakar City Guide - events

Dakar Rally
Although the start has moved from Paris to Lisbon, the light at the end of the tunnel remains Dakar. Since 1979 participants have been traversing the thousands of kilometres of the Sahara desert, and as African political circumstances have changed over the years, so have the routes. In 2008, however, the rally, due to traverse Morocco and Mauritania, was cancelled due to security concerns following the murder of French tourists in December 2007 in Mauritania, as well as threats to the race by terrorist organisations. The race will resume in 2009. A number of professional rally drivers partake but most of the entrants are amateurs enthralled by the sheer test of it.
Venue: Lisbon to Dakar
Date: January 2009, TBC
Website: www.dakar.com/indexus.html