Rallye Aïcha des Gazelles

LEG 5

NEIJAKH / MHAMID - ideal distance 340 km – estimated minimum time 22 hrs – Marathon leg

The marathon leg takes 48 hours, “at your own pace”, you could say… but it is important to adapt your strategy to the distance to be covered, and pay close attention to the closing times of certain CPs. On the first day, the Gazelles will pass through multiple valleys, each more beautiful than the one before. Navigation is difficult, but this daily workout is no longer an insurmountable obstacle. This area conceals many rocky treasures, and miners’ trails criss-cross the terrain. Once polished, some of these black stones will find themselves around the necks of Gazelles.

The first real difficulty (at least by reputation) is crossing Oued Rheris. You get the feeling that “Rheris” should mean “evil” in Berber. Like Oued Ziz, it is, above all, an unavoidable obstacle: extremely long, these natural irrigation channels (temporary for the most part) descend from the Atlas Mountains and disappear into Algeria.

But wherever you manage to cross, it will feel like a small victory that will make the serenity of the hours that follow taste all the sweeter. The second part of the leg passes through some of the most beautiful landscapes of the Rallye. The terrain is wide and flat, the light is always splendid, even in mist or a sandstorm, and navigation is easy. Tonight there will be many bivouacs, “à la carte” and generally quite festive. Sleeping under the stars, without the light pollution of the big bivouac, is the only thing that was missing from the Gazelles’ adventure.

The last section of the first marathon leg leads to Mhamid by a circuitous route that, through regs and zones of dunes, will bring us closer to the Draa Valley.