In the Spring of 2009, we decided to organize an expedition in true “Go Anywhere, do Anything” Jeep-style, intending to demonstrate how this adagio still holds in our modern society, and to show that there are still places on this earth where you need a true 4x4 to get to … Special care is taken to do this with a lot of respect for nature and local people, without the need to drive a super tuned 4x4 to accomplish this.
Goal of the expedition was the Akakus mountain range in Libya, a country of which we mostly know rather dark stories of it’s political leaders, and which is only slowly coming out of its international isolation. Our recon-missions, however, had shown us that the Libyans are very hospitable and that the landscapes are breathtaking.
The expedition was organized by Gerrit Seys, president of Jeepclub Belgium, experienced chief-instructor of the Jeep Academy school, and an experienced world traveler. It was composed of 10 Jeep Wranglers, 2 Unimog 4x4 trucks, and 1 organization MAN expedition truck. Six JK's were manned with Jeep Academy instructors and were driven overland to Sheba, Libya for a plane-group of winners of a Chrysler sales incentive and contest called "Jeep Eco Challenge".
On 30/10/2009 the Group took the ferry in Genova, Italy, after a 1.100 kilometer drive from Belgium. Too bad, the ferry has a 20 hour delay because of bad weather … So, it's off to a hotel and a real Italian pizza. On Sunday, we can board the ship, and after a calm crossing, we reach Tunis, Tunisia, where we easily cross the checks at the border patrol. A quick lunch and a diesel fill-up, and it's off south to Gabes. The next day brings us closer to Libya, through Ben Guerdane and Ras el Jir. The more we reach the south, the more the skies gets dark, and by the time we reach Ben Guerdane, the streets and border crossing are flooded by heavy rains. We decide to organize a camp on the beach of Zuara.
The next day, on our route to Nalut, we stop to visit a few Gorfa's. These are ancient fortified food storage compounds of the Touareg, which were guarded by the elder warriors of the group, while the younger ones herded the flocks in the region.
Next stop is Ghadames, the former capital of the Touareg people. The city is fully enclosed within its protective walls and consists of four separate familial tribes, which are separated from each other by sundown by means of four big gates that are closed, in the city. The whole city is also equipped with a very ingenious canal-based irrigation system. These remarkable features, it's location and its history made Ghadames a Unesco World Heritage site.
Leaving Ghadames, we head for crossing the Uwbari sand sea towards Sheba. More than 800 kilometers of desert tracks await us, without a single refueling point. The chosen route runs in a parallel with the sand sea, offering ever changing views of desert dunes and giving us a mix of sandy and more rocky driving tracks. In the evening, we build a camp in a magnificent oued, to reach the edge of the plateau we have been driving on since Nalut. The views on the great dunes are breathtaking!
From here on, we follow an oil pipe line running next to the track, until it disappears and goes underground in the sand-sea, but not without making a victim: a MAN tire gets punctured by a piece of scrap metal from the installation, and the 120 kilogram tire needs to be replaced in the desert.
Just in time to replenish our water-, food- and fuel supplies, we reach civilization again the next day, to pick up the plane group who just arrived. Well, at least 5 people of the group arrived, as the Tripoli - Sheba flight got overbooked, and the rest of the crew will only arrive the next day … maybe … Inch Allah, so is said to us …Luckily, on Sunday morning, everyone arrives safe and sound, and we are welcomed by Mohammed and his team, who will guide us through the Akakus mountain range. Mohammed will be our very experienced desert guide, and brings a crew of Touareg cooks from Niger. These wizards will succeed to create superb meals every day, with just a minimum of supplies in the middle of the desert … Most of us still think back with great joy to the big flat breads, freshly baked in ashes and desert sand.
And then, it is off to the Murzuck sand sea towards the Algerian-Nigerian border, leading us through the Wadi Barjuj, and the Wadi Matkandush, which boasts some of the oldest and most preserved rock carvings from prehistorical times. Recent heavy rains, the first in 10 years, have flooded the area and make drawings of crocodile, rhino and giraffe a bit more plausible, but in the old days, this Wadi must have been lush and green with a real river in the savannah, before it became a desert. We follow the Wadi Matkandush, which is so muddy that the trucks need to take a big bypass to get to the camp in the Murzuck dunes, in order not to get completely stuck in the mud. That evening, with the Murzuck dunes in our views, the meal around the campfire and the great sky full of stars: "This is it! This is why we drove that whole distance!"
After a superb sunrise and an invigorating breakfast, we leave the Murzuck Sand Sea and leave southward, crossing the Wadi Matkandush, in order to reach the access gate to the Akakus. We air down, repeat the safety rules, take a deep breath, and go for a series of up and down games in the dunes which separate us from the Akakus. Thanks to Mohammed our guide, we easily find this well hidden entrance to Akakus. With only a few minor issues due to bad steering, all Wranglers and our trucks make it. The scenery is breathtaking: dark pillars of rock seem to have been planted in sand … The Ouan Kasa valley serves us as a new camping site, where the sun draws a spectacular light game on the rocks next to us.
The next two days are simply breathtaking, while we drive across the bottom of the valley, visiting a lot of the rock paintings in this area. It is easy to understand why this region, with the highest concentration of rock paintings, is actively protected by the local authorities, and has been promoted to Unesco World Heritage item. The ultimate reward is the group pictures we take under the "Arch", a spectacular phenomenon created by millions of years of erosion by wind and sand. That evening, we even camp near the "Elephant Arch" , which is a bit smaller, but in which one can find the head, legs and trunk of an elephant.
Our next waypoint takes us southbound, and although the passage to Ghat is open, the track would take us through Algerian no-man's-land, and our guides find this too risky, so we take an eastbound route towards Serdeles, which we reach the next day. However, it is only after 860 kilometers that we reach the first signs of civilization and a petrol pump. Too bad it has only petrol, so our CRD Wranglers are left in the cold, and as the petrol burning TJ's want to fill up … the station runs out of lead-free too … This creates a bit of an anxiety, so we have two options: send one of the trucks back to Ghat to get fuel (400 km. detour), or we take the gamble and use the last petrol we have to get North towards Tekerkiba, hoping to find petrol in Uwbari or Garama.
We decide to chose the second option, but unfortunately the Uwbari pump is empty, so we drive in extreme ECO-mode to Tekerkiba. By sundown we reach Tekerkiba, but helas, no petrol here neither … We decide to stop and set up a camp, and as the MAN truck is low on fuel too, the Unimog gets sent out, with all our jerry cans in the booth, to go and get fuel. Finally, after one hour, the reassuring phone call is there: "We've got fuel!" The MAN truck takes off towards this pump at At Tanhama, and after 1080 total km. of track, we find our much needed diesel. With a giant sigh of relief, we fill everything up, and after transferring 3000 !!! liters of fuel, we go back to Tekerkiba.
A night of rest, a shower and a fill up are all we need the next day to take off for the Mandara lakes. Only, the only passage we have to get through a gallery of dunes is only 10 meters wide. We have no problems with the Jeeps, but the trucks find it impossible, even with the lowest possible tire pressures, to conquer the soft sand. There is just no way we can get them through, so we have to abort this piece for our trucks, who return to the camping site.
As staying behind at the camping site is not an option because of the beauty of the Mandara lakes, the truck drivers and passengers become quad and Jeep drivers and passengers that day. Amidst an enormous sea of sand are about ten volcanic lakes, surrounded by a patch of palm trees. The weather is warm and the water very salty, so we all have a great rest floating in the lakes. This is an experience never to forget, but it took from both man and machine to get there. Luckily, the Wranglers did a great job!
Unfortunately, this highlight also marks the end of the trip for our group of plane passengers, who return for Sheba airport the next day. The Overland team decides to take an additional detour towards the Oum El Ma lakes, which are situated to the East. We also visit the ancient Roman site of Sabratha , one of the best preserved Roman sites along the Roman coastal road from Carthago in Tunesia to Cairo in Egypt.
After a last fill-up in Zuara (0.08 euro for 1 liter of diesel and 0.1 euro for petrol) we prepare to cross the border. Thanks to the excellent help and preparation of al our paperwork by Mansour of the AANIA agency, this goes very smoothly. A last stop in Sousse, and we are off to take the ferry in Tunis, back to Genova and Brussels.
The Jeep Ecospedition was driven with 10 Wranglers (6 JK Unlimited CRD Rubicon auto + 2 JK Unlimited CRD 6 speed manual and 2 Wranglers TJ). All cars were stock, only additionally protected with the MOPAR skid plates. We had prepared all cars to have similar tires and wheels for easy assistance, and every Jeep was equipped with camping gear for the crew, personal luggage, 4 Jerry cans of diesel and 1 Jerry can of water.
The MAN TGM expedition truck carried these spare parts: 4 shock absorbers, & steering stabilizer, all filters, water hoses, turbo hoses, fuses, sensors and all fluids. Apart from all the usual tools and tire repair kits, we also took a Star scanner to help detect any problems. The only issue we encountered was a burned fuse of fuel injection pump on a Rubicon Wrangler, and two starting malfunctions because of fuses that came loose driving on the washboard tracks . We had two flat tires which we could repair, and one ripped tire that was lost.
In all, for the total distance of 8000 kilometers with 10 cars, we can say that the Jeeps did very well, and that the Wrangler really deserves it's place in the Overland Car hall of fame.
Finally, a big bravo to the Jeepclub.be-team that took everyone through the desert, and who guided our guests, with no previous desert experience, through this difficult expedition.
The Jeep Ecospedition Libya 2009 was made possible also thanks to:
