Arrival and Preparation

We left with a big group from Brussels on Monday noon, heading for Tripoli airport. Arriving there, everything went very smooth thanks to the local LDC organisation team who escorted us smoothly true customs. It was a matter of minutes, after which we were welcomed with spicy sandwiches and drinks in the transit zone. Then we had our own Afriqiyah charter plane to the Airport of Sabha in the south of Libya. The LDC team that had prepared our camping site next to the airport gave us a warm welcome there.

And warm it was. Everyone was prepared with warm clothes for a cold desert night, but the temperature was just perfect. With a little sweater everyone was happy, building his tent in the soft grass, ready for a good nights sleep to be prepared for the coming days.

Today - Tuesday the 3^rd - is preparation day. The convoy with all the cars arrived by noon. They had come by boat via Tunis and crossed Libya with a police escort.

More and more tents appear on the campsite. All the tuned cars are neatly parked, waiting for their check up - just like the bikes and the quads. The temperatures are rising; the racing fever has hit us all.

Everyone is checking his vehicle and the administration team has it hands full with making sure that everyone will start the race tomorrow according to the FIA [Federation Internationale des Automobiles] rules. Smoke bombs, fire flares, emergency blankets,... Every possible precaution is taken care of.

In the evening the last part of the guests landed by plane and the last convoy with trucks and cars arrived safely, we are complete, alhamdulillah! [That's what they say on this occasion, meaning 'Praise the Lord'].

We are a big group now: In total there are 130 participants, 95 staff, of which 55 European and 40 Libyans, including many journalists and camera crews. To make sure all those people are safe at any moment, on top of that, we have 75 Libyan policemen and soldiers to protect and help us.

Tomorrow at the start, we will have 27 bikes, 30 quads and 28 cars, each with two or three participants. Most of them race against time; some do the adventure raid and a few will do a more tourist tour with an experienced English-Belgian guide.

It's interesting to see how many nationalities we are - Libyan, German, French, Lithuanian, Italian, English, Dutch, Spanish, Romanian, Belgian - and we all share one passion: motor sport in the most breathtaking part of the Sahara desert.

We can't wait for tomorrow to get started!