El Chott or Taureg rallye
 

Has anyone done either the El Chott (Tunisia) or the Taureg rallye (Morocco)?

I am planning on entering one of these this year and would be interested in thoughts on organisation, route, difficulty etc. Both seem to be roughly the same price and geared towards amateurs, but the El Chott seems to be slightly longer?

cheers

actually done both! last years tuareg and el chott in 2005. i found the el chott in 2005 very tough, lots of soft dunes... impossible to get through on a 640 adventure, spend 2 nights in the desert during the rallye!

i would recommend tuareg, since its in marocco the scenery is changing a lot as you go south... its a great first time rallye with relaxed atmosphere, still challenging driving through riverbeds/canyons etc, and 1 week only.

there is long dune stage where you crisscros the dunes in merzouga for the whole day! the dunes are far easier to ride on, harder yellowish (not white) sand and more rolling... there a some lovely big dunes ! this time i used my 450EXC but still very much doable on a 640Adv

some pics on my website for el chott

Thanks Gozell,

Some nice pics on your website. Would love to read your trip report of the El Chott is you publish it in English.

I will probably be too rushed to prep my bike in time for this year's Taureg, so it seems it is going to be the El Chott. After your comments on the 640 Adv, I am rethinking my bike choice.......Aside from the soft dune sections, is the rallye track open flowing piste, or is it tighter technical riding? I could take a 450 instead, but thought that would be underpowered on the open tracks.

Any comments on the organisation of the El Chott - I have heard it isn't so great?

cheers

I planned on doing the Erg Oriental rally in Tunisia last year on my 640 LC4 but for various reasons the plan wasn't realised. A riding buddy finished it in 05 (on a 450 EXC) and highly rated it.

But, I only plan on one more attempt at a desert rally (unless someone will sponsor me for the Dakar!), and it's going to be the Libya Desrt Challenge - who knows when. Everyone I've spoken to who's done this event gives positive reports - to me it seems like a great opportunity to ride in parts of the Sahara which one might find difficult to get to on an unsupported overland bike trip.

Use Google to find the home pages of these events and/or join the UK Yahoo! Rally Raid group.

Cheers.

Hi Ian, could you give a link to the Yahoo Rally Raid group? - can't seem to find it, thanks.

From what i heard less and less motorriders are turning up at the chott (less than 20 - not much).., erg oriental seems the popular choice.. I have link of a dutch group who did the Erg last year, but aye dutch again...

from what i remember, there were less sand crossing than the chott and doable on 640 which they were riding. also drz, exc...

as for the chott dune sections, thats all finding your own track on a bearing / waypoint if you are in the lead or use the tracks as a guidance if you are bit behind (like me..).. no established pistes.


:: forgot to mention earlier that el chott was my introduction to rally riding coming from a africa overland (west side) trip to capetown with not much offroad experience. NOW would prefer tuareg as a first time rallye or rallye of croatia -cancelled for 2008- or erg oriental. remember africa rallye's are the bomb but also expensive.

For what it's worth, I entered the Erg-Oriental on a 640LC4-E - I'd say I have average off-road ability, and I have a bit of desert experience.

I considered it a good desert rally for a first attempt.