Our ride is a 1997 Citroen Ax 1.0 ,it's not even 60 cc it was not so even in its golden days when it was brand new and shiny, but today, after 12 years it is mature enough to leave these grey roads and sail off to Africa (obviously with the help of a ferry from Genoa to Tangeri).Once we leave Milan it will really start to feel like travelling by the time we will get to Tangeri. We will have just enough time for a new year's tea drink in Marrakech,stacking up fuel and then off we go again, the green Scarab will allow us to see some of the most fascinating corners of moroccan Sahara. The untamed character of the green Scarab will then be tested again along the atlantic coast roads across the contended land of Western Sahara towards Dahkla and again on the road through the corridor leading to Mauritania and its magnificent dunes. Hopefully with our small ,though compact carriage we will make it into Mali, and Bamako which lies perched on the banks of the Niger river, Timbouctou is just a step away.
We expect to find a combination of concrete,stone,sand and ground paths.There will be no guide. We will have neither mechanical nor logistical assistance of any sort available. If our ride stalls, we can only be in troubles ... unless.. we come across a caravan of Maures and we somehow manage to exchange our car for a camel or at least a fist of dates.