A-List Adventures – The Great African Run

Starting this week – we will be bringing you an all new ten week Adventure Series called A-List Adventures. We’ll be picking ten trips that will be sure to get you telling stories of what transpired until your golden years, and if you’re one of the lucky few to go on any of these trips – well… we assume your grandkids will thank you one day.

That being said, we start of this week’s A-List Adventure with the Budapest-Bamako Rally. Up to 100 teams compete in the rally whose guiding principle is simply: Anyone, By Anything, In Any Way. To add to the whole trip, the rally is not only a touring competition but also a charitable event, where each team is encouraged to bring direct aid, or volunteer in a local development project – meaning your adventure doesn’t necessarily has to stop after you’ve completed the run.

Originally styled on the concept of the Paris-Dakar, which offered its early participants a sense of adventure, and a certain romance of Africa, the Budapest-Bamako is sure to satisfy the most jaded of adventurers, and with Dakar’s departure from Africa in 2008 it’s the only thing of this sort you can get involved in.

The rally offers two types of driving categories, the Racing category for those looking to test their wits against the desert, and an Adventure category for those adventurers who are more interested in the cultural aspects of the regions that the run passes through. It should also be noted that the race version of the run is also more expensive.

Don’t worry though, the run won’t clean you out, Budapest-Bamako is cheap in comparison to say the Dakar, at most it will set you back €1600 + 550 for each person, compare that to the minimum €12800 for its north African predecessor, it’s a bargain.

TOP TIPS

• Typically the run takes place in from the 2^nd week of January and runs on average 14 days.
• Contestants pass through the following countries – Hungary, Slovenia or Austria, Italy, France, Spain, Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Mali
• Aside from the track being safe, there is still a fair level of risk and danger. Prior participants have been incarcerated in Africa, and while well organized the event cannot be held responsible for corrupt border officials and other irritants that happen with general bush driving and crossing borders.
• Natural dangers are also quite prevalent, these include sandstorms, landslides, floods, and to a lesser degree quicksand.
• Registration for the 2011 rally should begin towards the end of February of 2010.