"Marathon des Sables 1996" Western Sahara by gussymons


Western Sahara Travel Guide: 230 reviews and 573 photos

Mad dogs and Englishmen

Crazy place. Nearly died. Younger sister one of the first UK women to complete the race and was in Cosmo to boot.

I was evacuated by camel and medic was never going to let me continue. Despite that, was an amazing experience and probably made me want to run 'ordinary' marathons in cooler climates.

Camel evacuation

These aren't the actual camels that took me and the berber out of the dunes and to relative safety, but I like camels so here is a picture of two random camels in the Sahara.

Coke in the Sahara

Its possible to get a Coca-Cola anywhere in the world! I got one in the middle of the Sahara at some small oasis populated by a few berbers, their children, and some goats.

A helicopter from the organisers of the marathon flew down and landed 15 minutes drive from the village and all the children rushed to see it.

  • Last visit to Western Sahara: Apr 1996
  • Intro Updated Jun 30, 2003
  • Add to Trip Planner (?)
  • Report Abuse

Reviews (7)

Comments (1)

Post a Comment   Submit Comment  
  • Bonobo2005's Profile Photo
    Bonobo2005 Jul 1, 2003 at 5:48 AM Report Abuse

    146 miles in 6 days? Western Sahara? How do you mean "extreme sports"? There are some "crazy" people in this world ;-). Great to read about though!

Top 5,000 Travel Writer
Member Rank:
0 2 5 3 1

Badges & Stats in Western Sahara

  • 7 Reviews
  • 10 Photos
  • 0 Forum posts
  • 1,356PageViews
  • 0 Cities

Have you been to Western Sahara?

  Share Your Travels  

Latest Activity in Western Sahara

Friends

See All Friends (1)

Top Western Sahara hotels

Cabo Bojador Hotels
3 Reviews - 6 Photos
Laayoune Plage Hotels
28 Reviews - 63 Photos
Semara Hotels
9 Reviews - 36 Photos
Guelta Zemmur Hotels
4 Reviews - 6 Photos
El Aargub Hotels
0 Reviews - 4 Photos
Ad Dchira Hotels
3 Reviews - 11 Photos
Bu Craa Hotels
0 Reviews - 2 Photos
Bir Gandus Hotels
12 Reviews - 30 Photos
Bir Anzarane Hotels
0 Reviews - 2 Photos
Ad Dakhla Hotels
17 Reviews - 55 Photos
Laayoune Hotels
19 Reviews - 54 Photos