It’s been more almost 3 weeks since we returned from the Rallye des Gazelles. It might have seem long for some of you, and we apologize for this silence, but for Manel and I this experience is still very fresh and vivid. To be honest, it took us a bit of time to digest this intense adventure and be able to articulate our thoughts.

 

This rallye was indeed a transformative experience. Much more difficult than we expected. Much more rewarding than we could ever imagined.

 

We met amazing human beings, saw breathtaking sceneries, but we also felt more than once the bitter taste of crippling fear our stomachs. Most notably on day 3, when we turned around in circles for several hours having absolutely no clue of where we were, a low fuel light on, and a flat tire.

 

Fear was one thing, but when frustration and exhaustion meet in an hostile environment, it can be explosive. We passed this test on day 6, when during a violent sandstorm, we made an epic climb and got stuck at the tipping point of mad dune for hours that seemed like an eternity.

 

This moment was unreal. We found no vehicle in position to help. Only a media pick-up, some drones and a helicopter actually came around to capture on camera our intense emotions in quite unflattering angles (to their defense, they were forbidden to provide any kind of assistance to participants, and felt extremely bad for us at that point. Their faces could tell).

 

We were on the edge to say the least. We even cried (with a sense of despair like neither of us recall ever have felt) for help to what we thought were other participants watching us afar and soon realized that they were in fact wild camels. And when, miraculously another SSV came to help, it also bogged down trying to pull us out. We soon had 2 sunk vehicles tied by a dangerously tensed rope, both totally immobile. At least we had a beautiful sunset. I remember thinking to myself « oh, it is a nightmare with a view ».  As of today, my fingers still have blisters from all the shoveling done that afternoon.

 

Throughout these 10 days, we saw great solidarity, and some eminent lack of it. We saw vehicles in unimaginable postures and lots of human resilience. We even unfortunately witnessed firsthand another SSV roll over and were the first to assist the injured team in shock.

 

We had our stomachs bundled up, learned what being lost for REAL feels like, and we laughed until we cried more than often.

 

We were looking for a challenge and we found a very well rounded one in which we were tested emotionally, physically and mentality.

 

We caught the most beautiful sunsets, sunrises AND sunburns.

 

We had an incredible experience and this could never have happened without your support.

 

We looked for lengthy and eloquent words to express our gratitude to all of you copied herein, but we could not find anything more adequate than this simple yet heartfelt ”THANK YOU” for supporting us throughout this journey.

 

Your encouragement has fueled our motivation from the early stages of planning until the very finish line of this Rallye. Trust us, the sight of your names on our SSV (now called Bibi for the intimate ones) has more than once given us the push to continue.

 

With sincere gratitude,

Manel & Audrey-Anne

P.S We are officially looking for our next challenge, and hope we can count you in this next adventure to raise funds for Womanity. The fundraising campaign remains open for donations.  Stay tuned!