This chronicle is a tribute to the 41 women and men who with tenacity, ambition, patience, friendship, effort and courage managed to open a new and highly difficult route in the heart of the Erg Murzuq, in the Sahara Desert of Libya, one of the most hostile and beautiful places in the world, in an incredible journey, unprecedented and fascinating. Congratulations to all!
BEGINNING OF THE ADVENTURE
One more year Territori 4×4 faced the most difficult challenge of the season with its trip to Libya, this time with a record attendance, 26 4×4 participants, which forced us to be much more incisive in our organization to compensate for all the trust and affection that so many people placed in us. We also had the honor that the Correcaminos Team were travel companions for the first and last days until their intrepid and innovative track made us separate in the Hamada de Zener and we did not see each other again until Zwarah, but we were permanently pending with the Turayas with each other, in case we had to help each other.
For all these reasons, Territori 4×4 had a great team for this great trip: 3 expert guides in taking groups through the Sahara, the best Libyan guide to cross the Murzuq, 2 Libyan assistance cars, 3 mechanics and a medical team, made up of 2 people, for any possible eventuality, which fortunately we did not have.
Before starting the trip, the Libyan authorities prohibited all tourists from accessing several parts of the country, places through which our route passed, including Akakus, Ghat, Al Waynat and the Waw Namous volcano.
To give more excitement, the shipping company between Tunisia and Marseille, suspended a week before the journey of the day we had planned to return, which forced us to advance the entire route by a week, with the consequent logistical mess that this entailed, but with the goodwill of all the participants and the invaluable collaboration of Fenek Raid, it did not represent any problem and the VII Raid Libia Aventura 2008, finally set sail from Marseille on October 11, 2008.
On 12 October, we arrived at the port of Tunis where we passed the customs controls without incident. By highway, we arrived in El Jem and after lunch at the gates of the amphitheater, we went to our “troglodyte” accommodation in Matmata, where we had dinner, did the first “whisky brifing” (a word used by our good friends “Indinimuniets” in Libya last year) and spent the night.
At 10 in the morning we were at the border where after several hours of quiet waiting, some sandwich, not a drop of alcohol and a lot of patience, allowed us to enter Libya and be able to greet our Libyan team, which this time was made up of two assistance vehicles and 7 people, including police, guide, mechanic and drivers.
AN UNPRECEDENTED AND SPECTACULAR ABWARI ERG
We enter Libya, eager to find a service station where we can refuel our empty tanks, after almost 100 kms of pilgrimage and already en route to Nalut, we find the necessary liquid so abundant in the Libyan subsoil and so scarce in its gas stations.
A wpt gave us the meeting coordinates where we would make the first camping on the sand. It is confirmed in the “wisky brifing” that the Akakus and the volcano are still forbidden and that as announced, we changed our GPS to the one baptized by Manolo as the “contingency” route, that is, the one desired by most of the participants, totally unprecedented and much more difficult. This new itinerary aimed to cross the Erg Abwari diagonally from Derj to the village of Abwari, through the large ranges of dunes and obviating the classic and simpler route that leads to Serdeles (Al Waynat).
In Derj, the last town before entering the Erg Abwari, we refuel and start a navigation stage following waypoints, the scenarios through which it passes are fantastic and are so wide that they allow the participants to enjoy driving in an ocean of sand and hamadas where there is no limit other than the blue of the sky. At 5 in the afternoon most of the cars have reached the base camp, located in some dunes next to a well with water, but a small group of 8 vehicles had not arrived at the hour of respect that the Organization of Territori gives in the camps. A rescue team leaves at 6 p.m. in search of the cars that have not arrived. After 4 hours of route stepping on waypoints, the encounter occurs, a track that was 500 meters before the first point of the gps misled the small group of 8 cars and led them to make a spectacular journey through canyons, dunes, hamadas, which was so exciting and fun that maybe we will put it next year as part of the route.
We had dinner at that meeting point and without any surprises following the wpts set by Territori 4×4 we arrived at the camp, where the rest of the participants were waiting for us awake. Between laughter and comments from one and the other, we went to our tents and spent our second night camping in Libya.
In the hamada of Zener, one of the Land Cruisers has clutch problems that force us to evacuate it along an escape route of more than 300 kms, so that it can be repaired in the workshop of our Libyan mechanic.
The remaining 23 4x4s are left with high morale and impatience to enter the story and make a new itinerary. The group spent the night in front of the first great wall of sand of the Abwari, a colossal mountain range of dunes more than 100 meters high and that we all managed to cross using all the courage, experience and above all, all the power of our cars.
We had entered the Erg Abwari and as a training for all the participants, before starting the unprecedented transversal route to the village of Abwari, we did the first 4 dune ridges, fun and with a certain degree of difficulty that allowed all the drivers to optimize their driving in this hostile environment where we were moving.
At 140 km from Serdeles, we changed the course from south to east, during this stretch of 45 kms, the dunes were overcome with hardly any time left by all the members of the expedition, no one wanted to get off, not even a minute on the orange sand, not even the “novices” who had only made a few dunes in Morocco or Tunisia, nor the “super-experts” who were doing Libya for the fourth time, we were all with “the red needle” as Lluis explained to us in the “whisky brifings” and the desire to cross the Erg diagonally until we reached our goal was the slogan we all wanted to achieve.
70 kms from Abwari village, we started the change of course first towards the SE and then a direct South, overcoming all the obstacles in the form of sand that were in our way.
Finally, and after two days of excitement, excitement and above all incredible riding through dunes and sand, a lot of sand, we reached our goal with the tires at 0.8 and with morale through the roof, we had crossed the Abwari on an undescribed track and without stepping on any tracks that were not our own. At the town’s car wash we met Rafa, Jordi and part of the Libyan team who had already solved the clutch problem in the African way, a repair enough for the Land Cruiser and the whole group to continue rolling together.
We inflated tires, washed and greased cars, ate, celebrated the first success of this trip and went to the Campsite to take a good hot shower and be able to remove some kilos of sand that had been attached, in an unauthorized and abusive way, to our “tanned” bodies.
NOW FOR THE MOST DIFFICULT MURZUQ
We had dinner at the camp restaurant, soup (Jorba), salad, couscous and aged lamb. In the “whisky brifing” we are given another good and long-awaited news, we modify the planned route and we will cross the Erg Murzuq from the Fornons dune to the mythical Tehi-n-Tilemsin pass, at the western end of this gigantic and feared sea of dunes. The track we will do, like the one we have just done in the Abwari, is unpublished, it has not been described and it is one of the most technical, exciting and especially entertaining routes of all the Ergs in the world.
The first problem we overcome is again the refueling of our tanks, this time at a petrol station located 30 kms after the control on the road between Sebha and Germa. With fuel levels at the limit of their possibilities, we start heading south along a road, converted into a track, our way to the town of Murzuq, we cross the gate of the desert and in the middle of the sand, we eat.
We are in the Erg Murzuq, the group is quite divided and a group of 4 cars starts the crossing, at the beginning the dunes remain small and do not represent a big problem, the line is easy and following the tracks of those who open is a piece of cake.
After an hour, the leading group is caught by a second group that helps it in the always complicated mission of opening the way. The first fun 70 kms of the Murzuq are made, we have always traveled with a clear southerly direction. We camp and in the “whisky brifing” we are only told about safety and maximum concentration. Then jokes and a commando of “halberdiers” calling themselves “Scorpion Commando” makes an appearance in the camp initiating nocturnal hostilities that make us all smile because of the wittiness and sympathy of their ideas, we have the most fun between the Scorpion Command and the Magdalena Subcommand (reference to the typical pastry that is soaked with milk), jokes, good humor, pleasant gatherings, how good we are, the pots that others have fallen, in short… nights to remember, as Jacoste says, the best of these trips, the daytime dunes and the nightly gatherings.
The next day we went to pay tribute to Fornons’ car, which we abandoned last year in the Murzuq, all the participants gathered around the old Toyota, whose soul flew to the sky with 35 virgin vans, as explained by its owner, who also invited us to celebrate it with Rosa, his excited wife. Many photos, signatures on the body of the car, finding objects that had been forgotten last year and an emotional goodbye. The expedition continued for about 10 kms southwards, until a small valley in the middle of a dune gives way to what was going to be one of the greatest feats of Territori 4×4 since its creation, crossing the most extreme and difficult Murzuq. Our coordinates were 24º 56′ 30″ N and 13º 15′ 02″ E.
At this point our incredible track in a straight line began and since the Murzuq, first opened with an off-road vehicle 15 years ago, no one, with so many 4x4s at the same time, had tried to cross in an East-West direction. Going back was not going to be possible, the dunes in virgin descent of more than 100 meters high, would prevent us once descended from returning to the starting point. Ahead of us are many kilometers with impressive crests, heart-stopping descents and terrifying climbs. Guided by our sappers who opened like a mini army of guerrillas through the gigantic mounds of sand, always with adrenaline running high, we were moving slowly but irreversibly through a sea of atrocious dunes, all virgin, without rolling in their sand and that only an extreme spirit of adventure and an unimaginable coldness were capable of allowing that inexorable advance.
The day comes to an end, we are all well and above all very happy, no accident, no breakdown, all safety regulations have been respected, the concentration of all the pilots and co-pilots has been maximized, no one has been distracted for a moment, that day everything went perfect, impeccable and we were all ready to spend the night in the heart of the hardest and most beautiful sea of dunes in the world.
The commandos Magdalena and Escorpión were tired from the psychic wear and tear of the day, which allowed for a quiet evening, with some jokes and gatherings of the happy, but exhausted participants, who were eager to go to bed and above all, wake up the next day to continue the odyssey.
The sun rises in the bowels of the Murzuq, after breakfast the camp is dismantled quickly and punctually, as every day, and at the exact time the group that opens, begins the march. The route is becoming more and more technical and the ridges are higher and more vertiginous, after lunch the group of riders in front, tells us by radio that there are difficulties in passing, several pots and dunes impossible to climb, block the way. After almost an hour of exciting waiting, we are informed that a ridge has broken and after a descent of more than 100 meters of slope in almost vertical, there is a passage between pots of almost 50 meters, which leads to one of the dry lakes that remain in the Murzuq and will allow us to continue our route. They have been intense moments, brilliantly solved by the leading cars, the rest of the group in silence and with extreme concentration, is overcoming the high ridges of dunes and the imposing descents. The day is nearing its end, today we have advanced about 80 kms, but we were already only 60 kms from the Tehi-n-Tilemsin pass.
We camped as we do every day with the sunlight, with great satisfaction and pride for the work done by all of us who were there, we understand now, because the track we are doing is unprecedented and no European club had dared to do it, it has been complicated to get here but thanks to the gods, people and cars we were in top shape, without any accident and no breakdown. We had dinner and spent a pleasant and relaxed evening where Rafa with his extraordinary knowledge and magical hands repaired chronic and old muscle injuries to most of the participants, who hallucinated and amazed queued to undergo the contractures, squeezes and severe massages to which he subjected them, to see their bone-muscle situation greatly improved a few minutes later.
The next day, we started the march as usual at the exact time, the initial sixty kms were inexorably reducing after overcoming some complex passes through the narrow and high, a few dunes with great slope and some dry lakes that served as a relaxing rest, until finally after three days of incredible struggle, to go up and down dunes as we had never done before, to overcome ridges with no other reference than the hope of finding a pass that would allow us to continue, the team of guides who were opening reached the western limit of the Murzuq, had crossed the Tilemsin pass and the hamada that was in front of us indicated, that the Murzuq had been defeated by one of its most difficult parts and not with one or two cars, but with 26 cars that in a methodical, calm, precise way and with the utmost discipline and concentration launched the satisfaction of having achieved a feat that will be difficult for us to forget.
With the groups far apart and at a distance of a few tens of kms from each other, the participants went along the Erg towards the North, directing our destination to Wadi Mathendush, where we could admire ancestral rock engravings of animals such as elephants, giraffes or crocodiles, which lived here less than 2000 years ago. After the visit and subsequent lunch, we crossed a stony area of several kilometers which was followed by a reddish sand tané that looked like a bright sea due to the great luminosity that the Sun radiated at that time of day.
Two hours later, we arrived at the camping point where we set up our tents, had dinner and went to bed after a lively evening gathering.
The next day was a transition through the immense wheat fields of Berjus to the Takarkiba campsite, taking the opportunity to refuel, shop to replenish drinks and part of the food and have a little contact with the Libyan population, from which we had been so far away during the last few days. A good shower, as well as a classic dinner based on soup and chicken at the campsite, were the prelude to a night where finally and after many days without doing so, we could sleep in a bed.
LAKES AND PERMITS FOR AKAKUS
In the morning, before the group separated, there was good news: after weeks of negotiations with the Libyan authorities, we had managed to have the official accreditation to be able to visit Akakus. So with a double feeling of joy for being able to access the Akakus with permits and a lot of sorrow, for the separation of a part of the participants who were already going home, we set out to travel for the last time all together on this trip, visiting the unique region of the lakes of the Doudas.
The lakes, reminiscent of the wet past of the Sahara desert, are now drying up surrounded by high dunes and seas of sand, with palm trees being the only companions of their agonizing goodbye.
We do the typical great descents that surround Lake Gaboroun, many photos and finally the sad moment of goodbye, we all know that it is not a goodbye forever but a see you soon; hugs, heartfelt and sincere kisses, emotions, memories of a few days that no one will forget, that’s what the desert has, it makes friends for life.
The participants who were already returning to Spain, following the tone of the trip, made an unprecedented route to the palm grove of Brack, passing through several lakes and incredible desert landscapes, without forgetting the occasional descent, which reminded us of those other colossal descents that we had made a few days ago in the Murzuq. From there to the Tunisian border, Hammamet and back home with an enthusiastic and unforgettable memory of his trip to Libya in 2008.
The group that stayed a few more days, did not miss the opportunity and from the lakes east of the Abwari they made a live through sand and dunes to the village of the Abwari, completing the Erg route with an unpublished, entertaining and above all very fun track.
By road we reached Al Waynat, from where a very complete two-day Akakus was made, visiting numerous sites with cave paintings, a reflection of the life practiced by the inhabitants of the Sahara thousands of years ago and admiring the colossal and unparalleled beauty of the landscapes of this impressive plateau, formed by the contrast and variety of mountain and rocky formations. worn by the erosion of time that surprise and amaze every human who visits it.
After the Akakus, we went to Erg Tiserine and Magidet, another beautiful and remote place in Libya, right on the border with Algeria and which is a beautiful extension that is a World Heritage Site, called Tassili N’Ajjer.
We slept at the top of the place, surrounded by birds, dinosaurs, bears and an endless number of stone figures that, illuminated by the flares of Paco de Málaga, made all of us present think that far from Earth we were in the bowels of Hell, due to the spectacularity of the colors and shapes that were drawn in that dark space resulting from a moonless night. It was an incomparable culmination of a trip that was difficult to beat, 41 people enjoyed one of the most hostile places on the planet and in which, thanks to the effort and above all the will of all, we managed to beat Murzuq and Abwari crossing them where until today no 4×4 club had done it before.
We returned home through Leptis Magna, an ancient Roman city declared a World Heritage Site by UNESCO and where some policemen, once we had paid for the admission ticket, forced us to take and pay for a local guide who also did not speak Spanish, this upset us all, not because of the money it cost, 30 euros, but because of the obligation to do something we didn’t want to do and that only applied to the tourists who approached those ruins. This visit was tarnished and with a bitter-sweet taste. Tripoli, where we toured its medina and ate a superb dinner of fresh fish in a magnificent restaurant on the beach. Sabhrata, an ancient Roman city, also declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site, with a well-preserved theater next to the Mediterranean Sea.
Back in Tunis, dinner in front of the Jem amphitheater, night in luxury hotel in Hammamet, port of Tunis, ferry and home….
Jordi Tobeña
